Jousaf Khawaja of Pakistan and his 15-year-old daughter Selena have been descending from a failed summit attempt on Nanga Parbat for the last three days, exhausted and in bad weather. All the summiters from previous days have already left Base Camp. The Khawajas finally reached Base Camp today, but their attempt has raised concern among the international climbing community and reopened the debate about responsibility and age limits on the 8,000ers.
The pair left Camp 3 (6,850m) at 9 pm local time on July 10 and climbed through July 11 in worsening weather. Finally, they turned around at about 7,525m at 4:15 pm — after nearly 19 hours! — and retreated back to Camp 3.
One day earlier, a group of climbers reached the summit, but others, such as skiers Anna Tybor and Tom Lafaille, turned around when the weather worsened, as they considered conditions unsafe.
On Friday, the Khawajas were reportedly too tired to move from Camp 3. They spent the day and the following night there. They finally moved to Camp 2 yesterday and continued to Camp 1, according to sources in Base Camp. Finally, the pair, who climb with supplementary O2 and two high-altitude porters, made it to Base Camp earlier today.
Yousaf Khawaja’s tracker on Nanga Parbat on July 13 in the evening, Pakistan time.
‘Harrowing’ summit push
Apparently, Selena’s summit push was also harrowing between Camp 1 and Camp 2, which they climbed two days before retreating. That section includes the vertical section known as the Kinshofer Wall, and the young Khawaja wrote a dramatic Facebook post that was deleted shortly afterward. Here it is:
A post on Selena Khawaja’s Facebook page, later deleted.
If this is confirmed, it is not surprising that she was exhausted before setting off from Camp 3.
Age limits
The Khawajas also raised concerns on Broad Peak in 2021 when the father became sick in Base Camp and left his daughter, then 13, alone with two porters and with instructions to climb the mountain by herself.
Last year, they attempted Nanga Parbat.
Minors who have not yet turned 16 are banned from climbing 8,000’ers Nepal. The minimum age in Tibet, at least for Everest, is 18.
