A renowned Norwegian mountaineer has denied claims her team stepped over a dying helper while climbing K2 – one of the tallest peaks on the planet – as part of a world record bid.
Kristin Harila, 37, says she is the victim of “misinformation” and has had “hatred” aimed at her – including death threats.
Last month, she became the fastest climber to scale all the world’s 14 highest mountains – completing the achievement in just 92 days.
Her final climb was of K2 on 27 July, after which she arrived with fellow record-breaker, Nepali mountaineer Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa, in Kathmandu to a hero’s welcome.
But during the K2 climb, a local helper who was part of a team ahead of them, slipped a few metres from a narrow ledge, became tangled in ropes and later died on the mountain.
Video has emerged showing climbers appearing to step over the high porter, named as 27-year-old father-of-three Muhammad Hassan, from Pakistan.
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A mountaineer attempts to help Muhammad Hassan. Pic: ServusTV
Two men, who were climbing K2 on the same day, have since criticised the group, and claimed Mr Hassan was treated like a “second-class human being” by other climbers.
However, Ms Harila told Sky News her team “tried for hours to save” Mr Hassan – and that one member even took off his oxygen mask and gave it to him because he did not have one of his own.
“We were just behind him when he fell,” she said.
“We saw him hanging upside down – very early on we decided we needed to try and turn him around.
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Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila with Nepali mountaineer Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa
“Lama tried to turn him around, but he wasn’t able to because this is a very narrow and very steep place, and it is not safe to stay here.”
Ms Harila said it took around an hour to bring Mr Hassan back on to the trail, at what she described as a “dangerous bottleneck”, with ice and snow hanging over it.
She said the group also decided to split, with her and Lama continuing to the top of the mountain, after her forward fixing team ran into their own difficulties.
“The main reason that we got this message on the radio that the fixing team were having problems,” she said.
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‘We tried for hours to save him’
“So we had to make a decision to split up. And in this place, it is a very, very narrow trail, and it is impossible to have 10 people help around because there’s only room for one behind and one in front.
“We decided to split up, but we were sure he was still to get help.”
Asked about the location of the incident, she said: “This is probably the most dangerous part of K2 and K2 is probably the most dangerous mountain of all the big mountains.
“We know it is very risky to stay there – but we had to try to save him.”
She said her cameraman, Gabrielle, remained with Mr Hassan, and gave him warm water and oxygen by giving him his own mask.
Ms Harila previously hit back at criticism of her decision to continue to the summit in a post on Instagram.
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“I am angry at how many people have been blaming others for this tragic accident,” she wrote.
“This was no one’s fault, you cannot comment when you do not understand the situation, and sending death threats is never okay.”
After reaching the top, Ms Harila filmed an “emotional” celebrating their record-breaking climb.
She said she only discovered Mr Hassan had died as she climbed down the mountain, and that she and her team were unable to recover his body because it was “impossible to safely carry him down”.
“It is truly tragic what happened, and I feel very strongly for the family. If anything, I hope we can learn something from this tragedy,” she added.
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K2, referred to as ‘killer mountain’, is located in the Karakorum mountain range. File pic: AP
German cameraman Philip Flaemig was on K2 at the time and recorded drone footage – but decided not to continue up the mountain as the conditions were too dangerous.
He said when he reviewed the footage back at base camp, he saw dozens of people walking over Mr Hassan.
“He was still alive. In the next picture, there was just one person rubbing him, and I said: ‘Why? Why haven’t they brought him down?'”
“From my expertise of mountaineering – and I have been doing this 35 years – nobody can tell me that this man couldn’t have been helped.
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German cameraman Philip Flaemig
“There are examples more and more about people at 8,000m who help people down. I know where he was found. I know what is the possibility to bring him down. It’s only snow slopes.
“There’s no reasonable explanation for this kind of behaviour.”
Austrian mountaineer Wilhelm Steindl, who was also on the mountain that day, but turned back due to the conditions, told Austria’s Standard newspaper: “lt would be unthinkable in the Alps.
“He was treated like a second-class human being. If he had been a Westerner, he would have been rescued immediately.
“No one felt responsible for him. What happened there is a disgrace. A living human was left lying so that records could be set.”
Read more from Sky News:Body of climber missing since 1986 discovered on melting Swiss glacierSherpa guides rescue freezing climber from Everest ‘death zone’
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June: ‘Almost impossible’ rescue from Mt. Everest
Mr Steindl has since visited Mr Hassan’s family and has set up a GoFundMe page hoping to raise up to €100,000 (£86,500) to support them.
“He was 27 years old and had a family with three young children,” he said.
“When we found out about the family, we personally went to the mountain village to support the family.
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Wilhelm Steindl with the family of Muhammad Hassan
“The mother is desperate because she has no financial means. In these remote villages, women are not educated and cannot earn money in the strictly Muslim country.”
K2 is widely regarded as the one of the hardest peaks in mountaineering – with 2018 figures showing that over a fifth of attempted ascents end in death.
Experts say K2 – the world’s second-tallest mountain above sea level – is even more dangerous than Everest – the tallest – because less of the mountain flattens off, and it is prone to avalanches and rock falls.
