Samina Baig

Samina Baig grew up in Shimshal, a remote mountain village in the Hunza region of northern Pakistan, one of the few places in the country where mountaineering was a normal part of local life rather than an unusual ambition, since many Shimshal men worked as high-altitude porters and guides. Even there, a woman setting out to climb seriously rather than support others' expeditions was unusual, and Baig has spoken about resistance from people who felt mountaineering was not appropriate work for a Pakistani woman.

Her brother Mirza Ali, an experienced mountain guide, trained and climbed with her, and in 2013 the two reached the summit of Everest together, making Samina the first Pakistani woman to do so. The climb carried a weight beyond personal achievement in a country where women's participation in public physical activity of any kind often draws scrutiny and criticism, and Baig has described receiving both support and open hostility after the climb became national news.

She went on to complete the Seven Summits, the highest peak on each continent, becoming the first Pakistani to do so, work that required years of further training, fundraising and travel largely without the sponsorship infrastructure available to climbers from wealthier mountaineering nations.

She has since worked as a United Nations Women advocate for gender equality, using her climbing career to argue directly against the assumption, common in parts of Pakistan, that ambitious physical achievement is something only men should pursue, framing her summits as arguments rather than only personal milestones.