The Unknown Mountaineers

The film is about a group of young women who are aspiring mountain climbers from Shimshal, a remote valley in northern Pakistan. The documentary follows 18-year-old Hameeda Bibi and her friends who couldn't go to school and learnt technical high-altitude mountain climbing from the men in their community. This is something almost unheard of in a conservative Islamic country. These men work as porters and guides in mountain tourism, which is the economic backbone of this area. Shimshal is at an altitude of 10,000ft and with single cropping, little grazing ground near the villages and a rugged terrain life is brutal and breeds people with a natural capacity for high-altitude mountaineering. The men scrape a living by risking their lives in what is undeniably among the most dangerous occupations in the world and yet they encourage their women to follow their dreams with regular trainings to make these dreams possible. However, without the means, education and possibility of sponsorships the women are left living their simple lives of subsistence farming and yak herding though they have set national records in their country and even climbed a 20,000ft summit in the winter! This film aims to follow their expeditions while also showing their culture and the harshness of their lives. It aims to give the women, these Pakistani Sherpa, the recognition they deserve. It's a story of strength, struggle and survival set in a breathtaking landscape about a people who dare to dream.