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Norwegian climber Kristin Harila was going for the record and nothing was going to stop her, not even the body of one of her sherpas. Harila was summiting K2 to complete a world record for fastest climb of the world’s highest mountains when Mohammad Hassan was knocked over a ledge by an avalanche. He had gone ahead to fix ropes for the other climbers. As he lay dying, Harila and all but one of her party barged past him in order to reach the summit. Mountaineers Philip Flamig and Wilhelm Steindl were also climbing K2 that day, and recorded the entire incident with a drone. Flamig described what he saw to the Austrian Standard newspaper: ‘he is being treated by one person while everyone else is pushing towards the summit… there was no organized rescue operation although there were Sherpas and mountain guides on site who could have taken action.’ Harila, who filmed herself throwing a party at the summit, was criticized online for her ‘lack of humanity.’ However she has defended herself, telling the Telegraph ‘it is simply not true to say that we did nothing to help him.’ She said that treacherous conditions prevented Hassan’s rescue, and even blamed Hassan himself for causing the accident. Lakpa Sherpa, who was also on the climb, reiterated that ‘many climbers and sherpas told him to go back as he had very poor equipment.’ Pakistani authorities are investigating the death.
