BERLIN — A record-setting Norwegian mountaineer pushed back Sunday against claims that she could have done more to save the life of a Pakistani porter who slipped off a narrow trail near the peak of the world’s most treacherous mountain and died there after several hours.
The circumstances of Mohammad Hassan’s July 27 death on K2, the world’s second-highest peak, sparked ongoing controversy, with two climbers arguing that he could have been saved if all those on the mountain that day had aborted their climb and focused on getting him down safely.
The fallout from Hassan’s death overshadowed a record established by Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Sherpa guide, Tenjin. By climbing K2 that day, they became the world’s fastest climbers, scaling the world’s 14 highest mountains in 92 days.
Harila told The Associated Press on Sunday that “in the snowy condition we had up there that day, it wouldn’t be possible to carry him down.”
“I’m sure that if it was possible that we saw a chance to carry him down from there, everyone would have tried that,” she said by Zoom from Norway. “But it was impossible.”
The uproar had been sparked by drone footage showing dozens of climbers pushing past a gravely injured Hassan toward the summit. The path to the peak was crowded on July 27, described as the last day of the season for a possible ascent.
In Pakistan, local authorities in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which has jurisdiction over K2, formed a five-member committee on Aug. 7 to investigate Hassan’s death. The committee’s mandate noted that it’s crucial to determine the facts after “distressing reports circulating on various social media platforms.”
A son of Mohammed Hassan, a Pakistani porter who died on July 27 during a summit of K2, holds a portrait of his father and grandfather, with Hassan’s mother, third left, and wife at their home in Tasar, a village in the Shigar district in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan,…
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