Kristin Harila, joint world record holder of the 14 fastest-climbing peaks over 8,000 meters, has defended herself following criticism accusing her of stepping over a dying sherpa (dressed in yellow in the video below). below) to complete his ascent of K2 in Pakistan. With her Nepalese guide Tenjin Sherpa, the Norwegian climbed these 14 peaks in three months and one day (92 days), snatching on July 27 the world record previously held by the Nepalo-British Nirmal Purja.
But that feat has just been tarnished by controversy. Drone footage shared by other climbers shows her and her team passing over the visibly injured body of Mohammad Hassan, a Sherpa from another team who died shortly after, as she continued her ascent of the second peak tallest in the world to break the record.
They were at that time on the Bottleneck of K2, a narrow and highly dangerous corridor overlooked by seracs of an ice field just 400 m below the summit.
“No one will remember your sporting success, only your inhumanity,” wrote one user on Instagram. “Sherpa blood is on your hands,” another added. Kristin Harila also came under fire for celebrating her ascent after returning to base camp on the mountainside.
Late Thursday, the 37-year-old athlete said on Instagram “having done everything for him (Mohammad Hassan)”, denouncing the “death threats” she has received since the accident. She assured that she had, in the company of her cameraman Gabriel, as well as two other people including “Hassan’s friend”, spent “an hour and a half” trying to get him back up after his fall. It is not indicated where the Sherpa team was, but many climbers were “behind them”, said the Norwegian.
The mountaineer then continued on his way, after an avalanche alert transmitted by his team. Gabriel stayed with Hassan, she said, sharing her oxygen and hot water with him. After another hour, the cameraman decided to leave, as he needed “more oxygen for his own safety”. Upon their descent, they found that Mohammad Hassan, 27, had died.
But her team, made up of four people, “wasn’t able to lower her body” safely, because it would have taken at least six people to do so, defended the Norwegian who noted that the Sherpa n was not properly equipped.
His death is “really tragic (…) and I have a lot of pain for the family”, she said again, but “we did our best, in particular Gabriel”.
Many users have come to the defense of Harila, noting the dangers incurred during such an ascent. Others wondered why the Sherpa had not been properly equipped, with one Internet user denouncing the unequal treatment between Western mountaineers and Sherpas: “the life of the locals is cheap”.