A tragic death during a world record attempt on K2 has ignited a row in the mountaineering community over whether local porters are treated as expendable by western climbers.

After Pakistani porter Mohammed Hassan fell close to the top of K2 in the country's Karakorum mountains in late July, two climbers who witnessed the scene say that he was left to die by mountaineers who were more interested in setting records than saving lives.

Austrian climbing duo Wilhelm Steindl and Philip Flämig say that they recorded drone video footage on the day which showed climbers walking over his body instead of trying to rescue him.

"It's all there in the drone footage," Mr Flämig told Austria's Standard newspaper. "He is being treated by one person while everyone else is pushing towards the summit. The fact is that there was no organized rescue operation although there were Sherpas and mountain guides on site who could have taken action."

"Such a thing would be unthinkable in the Alps. He was treated like a second-class human being," Mt Steindl added.






An 'egotistic' mountaineer has been pictured celebrating reaching the summit of K2 just moments after climbers 'walked over a dying porter'.

Critics accused Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her team of being 'more interested in setting records' than helping the dying Sherpa. They also revealed how Harila and her team threw a party after reaching the top of the mountain.

As Mohammad Hassan lay seriously injured, 1,300ft from the summit of K2, dozens of fellow climbers carefully edged towards him, risking their lives as they clung to the side of the narrow ledge.




Critics accused Norwegian climber Kristin Harila (pictured celebrating her summiting of K2) and her team of being 'more interested in setting records' than helping a dying Sherpa.





As Mohammad Hassan lay seriously injured, 1,300ft from the summit of K2, dozens of fellow climbers carefully edged towards him, risking their lives as they clung to the side of the narrow ledge




'What happened is in no way his fault but it shows the importance of taking all of the possible precautions so that we can help ourselves and others.

She added: 'It is truly tragic what happened and I feel very strongly for the family.'

The climber clinched the record that saw her summit 14 of the world's highest peaks in just over three months despite Hassan's death.

Fellow mountaineers, reigniting fury about how Sherpas are treated as 'second-class human beings', said a Western climber would not have been left to die in the same instance.







Norwegian climber Kristin Harila said that she and her team did everything they could to help Hassan but the conditions on K2 were too dangerous to move him




As Hassan, a high-altitude porter and father-of-three from Pakistan, who worked for Lela Peak Expedition, lay dead after an avalanche on July 27 pushed him over a ledge, Harila, 37, and her team scaled the 28,300ft K2 mountain.

Harila, who last month scaled her 14th highest peak in just over three months, became the world's fastest climber to reach the peaks of all the world's mountains above 8,000 metres.




She has since said that she and her team did everything they could to help Hassan but the conditions on K2 were too dangerous to move him.

But mountaineer Philip Flämig, an Austrian who was climbing with Wilhelm Steindl, said footage the two recorded using a drone shows a trail of climbers walking over the stricken body instead of helping Hassan.

'He is being treated by one person while everyone else is pushing towards the summit,' he told Austria's Standard newspaper, referencing the drone footage.

'The fact is that there was no organised rescue operation although there were Sherpas and mountain guides on site who could have taken action.' Harila and her team members were among those climbers, The Telegraph reported.

He called the death a 'disgrace' and said 'such a thing would be unthinkable in the Alps' - referencing the ongoing debate about how Sherpas are used in the Himalayas.

'If he had been a Westerner, he would have been rescued immediately. No one felt responsible for him,' he told the Austrian publication.

'A living human was left lying so that records could be set.'

Harila defended her actions and choices on K2 last month to The Telegraph, saying 'we did all we could for him'.

She told the publication: 'It is simply not true to say that we did nothing to help him. We tried to lift him back up for an hour and a half and my cameraman stayed on for another hour to look after him. At no point was he left alone.'




She said that given the conditions it was not likely that he could be saved as he had fallen on to what she said was 'probably the most dangerous part of the mountain where the chances of carrying someone off were limited by the narrow trail and poor snow conditions'.

The footage of the fatality last month shows people physically climbing over Hassan as he lies helpless in the deep snow.

The video then pans over to show clouds several thousand feet below them, revealing just how high they were when the footage was taken.



The air is so thin at this elevation that all people seen in the video were wearing oxygen masks.

It appears that just one person ended up helping him, an unknown rescuer who managed to keep him conscious for a while before he died of his injuries. There was no rescue operation to help the young man.










Steindl, who participated in the climb but had returned to the base camp earlier due to the dangerous conditions, also told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that he was sickened by the inaction of the fellow climbers.

'It was a very heated, competitive race to the top. What happened there is scandalous.

'A living person is left behind so records can be set. It only took 3 or 4 people to save him. Had I seen it, I would have climbed up to help the poor man.'

Despite these strong claims, differing accounts of the tragedy have circulated, leading to uncertainty over exactly what took place all the way up K2.

Lakpa Sherpa, a mountaineer who was on the climb and took the video, told MailOnline that the footage doesn't capture what actually happened:  

He said: 'Some of the climbers and sherpas tried to save his life although he passed away.

'The climbers have all spent a lot of money to do this climb and there is the value of time too for the climb. Hundreds of climbers tried to save him but they cannot give up their mission.

'The reality is they have tried to save the life and this is below the great serace bottle neck, where it's impossible to cross without rope so it's a very difficult situation.

'Many climbers and sherpas told him to go back as he had very poor equipment and was not well equipped and also there was very bad weather during the summit window but he did not listen and then he fell down.

'It was very difficult to bring the body down. They have to summit the mountain. There's only a little chance for them.'

Bulgarian climber Silvia Azdreeva, who was on the trip when Hassan died, said in a Facebook post that climbing K2 is not for the faint-hearted: 'On K2 there is no one to save you that fast, you'll have to wait for days if something happens to you.

'This mountain is not for everyone. K2 has a very heavy character.'


Continued

Damn that's sad.  It does look like it would be impossible to carry someone out of there.  

That path down didn't look easy.

Never saw the appeal of it. I imagine those that can't do it pay for rides on experimental submarines to say they went down that deep.

Someone is claiming that the video lied?  

Lakpa Sherpa, a mountaineer who was on the climb and took the video, told MailOnline that the footage doesn't capture what actually happened:  

Everyone knows the risks… it’s not like you’re going to carry him down on your fucking back. That being said, taking a selfie at the top with a smile is in bad fucking taste and exposes the insufferable ego of these people.

Play stupid games......

Sherpas are easily replaceable, therefore they do everything they can to keep their jobs. I’m not going to judge leaving wounded on K2. It’s terrible what happened. Also, the people summiting those mountains may only have one chance. The risk is all priced in. Would I call off the climb? I don’t know. There are several factors to take into consideration.

That's cold.

I haven't climbed anything like K2, but everyone knows there is no "rescuing" from mountains like that.  Lots of bodies on those big mountains.  And they're going to stay there forever.

Meet Super Sherpa.




Sherpa who saved climber in Everest death zone says it was hardest rescue ‘in my life’

Link

Yes, it's not that simple.  If 'dozens' of people walked past him, why are they trying to lay it on thed one woman who was setting a record and has credible descriptions of actions her team did take?  It's awful for the family of the climber but a lot of this smacks of opportunistic, holier-than-thou trash from people who would  never be in the position to make such a decision.

Looking at this pic yes he was in a sketch part but wasn’t far to a snowy hill,walk.

Attached File

No..
That the video does not contain all the context needed to make the accuser correct.

He was there and says people did in fact attempt to help him but he died before anything of substance could be done. It’s a dam dangerous place with zero outside help. Barring some different info..I’m ok with it.

Above I think 26,000 ft is called the Death Zone for a reason.  Even with oxygen tanks, your body is still dying from lack of oxygen.  It's a life and death challenge to keep yourself alive at that altitude, much less try to bring someone down who's not capable of moving under their own power.

There's no help there - if you can't make it down yourself, you're going to die.

Bullshit! Everyone there knew of the challenge and the risks and the drive to get to "the top", they ALL had challenges and are driven to accomplish the "end goal", Sad to see tho, like leaving a combat buddy, wounded and alone that the mission could be accomplished. Still, I wonder, what was so important?

What more context is needed that can't be figured out from a drone video of the event?
I think what people are mad about is them stepping over a dying man to climb a mountain and taking happy selfies, not that there is very little they can do on the side of a mountain.

If they did take the time to try and help or work out a plan of some sort that is one thing, but it doesn't read like that is what the video actually shows happening.

The context of what occured...

The totality of the circumstances...

That’s a weird looking drone.

There comes a point where the person is past the point of no return. It happens pretty regularly, the routes to the summit are littered with bodies.

And how is that missing in a video of the event?

Everyone there is risking death by their very presence and they knew that going in.  And yea, those folks that reach the top are likely very happy indeed.

Many of those outraged likely have no idea of the extent of his injuries or the hazzards of the "Death Zone" because none of that is readily apparent from the video on it's own.  They probably think he could have been moved 100 meters away from the rock face where a helicopter would land and fly him away or some such nonsense.

I’m mostly with you, but look, there’s probably a side to her story about the amount of effort, time and $$$ was involved to get to that point. So taking selfies up on top of K2, was not at all inappropriate. And did she have any medical training that could help him? The cold side of me says, congrats, she made it while someone else up on the mountaintop was struggling. (My friends heat stroke kept us from reaching the top of bear mountain here locally (4,500 ft climb)

On the other side, I was an EMT for 7 years till recently, and 12 years with SAR, still participating in a very limited capacity due to being disabled.

Anyway, it would have been really difficult to pass up someone in need like he was, and depending on how far away the top was, I mighta hurried up some there with the pics, and started right back down, not have a damn party!

Yeah, they are littered all over Everest.

Please explain to me how you would get the guy in the video of that face? K2 is a much more dangerous mountain than Everest, much more…

1in 5 people die climbing K2. This isn’t an isolated incident or something that is abnormal. At some point, with that risk, people’s mindset change towards death.

There wasn’t a chance to save the guy. It’s not a western vs eastern race thing. It’s not callousness. It’s climbing.

I thought that was common practice and everyone understood that once you start up the mountain, it's ever man for himself.

"Nobody left behind!" doesn't apply when mountaineering these peaks.

This.

No one cares how dangerous it is. It's a stupid sport and a dumb record.

They summit and are taking selfies and celebrating not once going "Jesus a guy who helped make this possible and only did it to feed his kids just died so we can claim a record".

Had he been one of the Paying For It wealthy climbers they'd all be singing the blues about the tragic loss of a beloved colleague.

Sherpas risk their lives to save climbers and even bring back dead bodies from the death zone.

Not surprised a bunch of yuppie cocksmoking lawyers and Wall Street money men walked over them on the way to the summit so they can post a sweet Instagram selfie and tell everyone how they "climbed K2".. while neglecting to mention how a Sherpa carried all their oxygen bottles like a human wheelbarrow

So narcissistic rich people ignore someone dying for glorification.

ehh what else is new.

When you’re up that high, you are on your own. If something happens, it doesn’t matter if someone is 5 feet away-might as well be 5 light years.

If you have a problem and you end up in distress, it is up to you to get back down. if you can’t, you’re going to die. If someone tries to help you they will most likely die too.

You’re alone up there. You accepted that risk.

This is the absolute truth. Additionally,  it sounds like his gear was crap and people were telling him it's a bad idea for specifically YOU to go from here to there today. There are multiple accounts from other climbs where it's said that if you stop for more than a couple of minutes on that mountain, you die. All of that said, it's my goal to do a Basecamp 1 trip someday. I would not go further.

Video is incapable of showing what was going on up there.

But, if you don't believe Lakpa, why in hell would you believe me?

Wow, that's crazy, I bet Sherpas don't regularly step over the dead bodies of non Sherpas up there

Hundreds of millions of lives have been lost over people's ego and greed. Nothing to see here folks. Good night sweet sherpa prince.

The camera is pointed up.  That's probably not an accurate depiction of things.

This. From what I’ve seen/heard/read you’re lucky to walk out of there under your own power and you’re on the verge of death if all things go well. I’m pretty sure everyone knows “if I can’t walk out under my own power I am dead” going into it.

I can’t think of a more narcissistic group of people. They do something pointless that may be impressive if they didn’t have to hire help

I would say that this post is like being lectured about gun violence by a pink haired, left coast, lesbian communist  But, that's an insult to pink haired, left coast, lesbian communists.

Everybody here is doing what they wanted to do.  They all paid their dues.  Anybody on the push above Camp 4 had made the big time, even if they were just in an unglamorous support role.  For every downtrodden brown person in that video for whom you so lament, there are countless others wishing they could be that guy, working their asses off to be that guy.  Because it's what the want to do.

Sherpas leave people behind all the time.  It's exactly what happened here.  And, they shortchange others all the time.  If nothing else, because it's a competitive business.  But, it's way more than that because it's at the limits of human physiology.

For the lawyers and Wall St money men, good for them.  They found what they wanted to do, and they found a way to pay for it.

OK, but what do politicians even have to do with this thread?

It's always a possibility in high altitude climbing that if something goes wrong you might be left to die. There's only so much that can be done. You can only carry so much gear, and can't rely on anyone else to save you.

Happens often, and it's always a scandal.  Even Edmund Hillary had reservations about putting achievements over humanity, but it's a traffic jam on mountains nowadays, lots of people, lots of money, but only so much time.

Would that Sherpa really have wanted people to die trying to rescue him?

All different types of people climb, they do it because they want to, doesn't mean there all narcissists. That being said, yes many of them are rich brats, who buy their way to the top.

The incremental cost for an attempt at something like K2 is on par with the money saved by driving a paid-off car for another 5 years.

Or the sunk cost of what's on the table in the average dinner pic posted in GD.

I always assumed that was kinda SOP for those types of activities... You get fucked up, nobody is coming to save you.

This is policy. There's no way to rescue an injured hiker up in the death zone.

She is islamaphobic, racist, and sexist while flaunting extreme white privilege.
Judging by the pictures she is probably homophobic too.

The socialist liberals have trained their General Discussion well.

I would have gone with "they're all white men exploiting the native population" rather than the rich vs. poor argument.

He knew the risks

Don’t worry … they’ll make more.

I hate to say it, but these experienced people probably knew he wasn’t getting off that mountain alive in his condition, so they continued their climb (goal). It’s cold hearted, but that is just how life can be sometimes.

The article kind of want to put the image in the readers subconscious that the Sherpa was begging for aid and people were walking over him. I know the article doesn’t state that, but that is the image the writer is flirting with.