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At 27,000 feet, in the dead of night and on one of the world's most dangerous mountain paths, a group of climbers were faced with an agonising choice.
Norwegian mountaineering star Kristin Harila and her team came across a dying mountain porter during their record-breaking ascent of K2 in 2023.
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Harila → see → 2023
They had to decide whether to abandon their mission and do everything they could to bring him to safety, or continue towards the summit, where they were just metres from setting a new world record.
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they → have → record
They chose the latter, a decision that would trigger months of scandal, abuse and death threats against Harila and send shockwaves through the mountaineering world.
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that → choose → world
Now, a new documentary features harrowing never-before-seen footage, showing the moment Harila's team discovered Pakistani porter Muhammad Hassan, as well as their attempts to save him before ultimately abandoning the mission.
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team → feature → mission
Harila, now 40, became the fastest climber to scale the world's 14 highest mountains, completing the feat on K2 in Pakistan on July 27, 2023, after just 92 days.
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Harila → become → days
Speaking in the film Savage Mountain, Harila recalled discovering the porter hanging upside down on the mountain, adding: 'We saw there was something wrong with the rope around his legs.
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We → speak → legs
A climber is seen attempting to save a dying porter before dangerously slipping
The film shows the team struggling across the snowy mountainside in darkness as they attempt to reach the dying porter
She described the team's desperate attempts to reach him, with the footage showing one climber trying to secure an ice screw before slipping.
'
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climber → see → screw
People were worried about everything collapsing, so of course no one wanted to stay there,' Harila said, 'I told Lama, we need to do something.'
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we → worry → something
The film shows the team struggling across the snowy mountainside in darkness as they attempt to reach the dying porter.
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they → show → porter
Speaking on camera, Harila's climbing partner Tenjen 'Lama' Sherpa recounted: 'People were scared.
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People → speak → camera
I clipped around 10 people to get closer to the accident.
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I → clip → accident
I picked him up and held his hand.
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I → pick → hand
Harila said the team eventually managed to secure Hassan with a new rope, but said it would be impossible to get everyone to turn around and go back.
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everyone → say → rope
The documentary's cameraman, Gabriel, said Hassan was already in an extremely serious condition when they reached him.
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they → say → him
I tried to warm him, to move his fingers, tried to give him hot water.
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I → try → water
Tried to give him comfort,' he explained.
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he → try → comfort
At around 3.20am, a large avalanche came down from the side of a serac shortly after the Bottleneck, one of the most dangerous sections of K2.
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avalanche → come → K2
Harila explained that two members of the team were already ahead in that area, so she and Lama split from Gabriel and continued upwards, while he remained with Hassan.
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he → explain → Hassan
Gabriel later recalled realising that Hassan had little chance of survival because he was already too far gone.
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he → recall → survival
Despite this, the cameraman continued trying to keep him alive, even giving him his own oxygen bottle, until someone told him he had to keep going and leave the porter behind.
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he → continue → porter
Once daylight arrived, the climbers were unable to do anything more to save Hassan and continued their ascent up the mountain.
The film captures the moment Harila and her team arrive at the peak, joyfully celebrating the record they had set.
But their celebration and a viral video appearing to show the climbers stepping over a dying Hassan would later overshadow the achievement, triggering months of abuse and online hate directed at the climber.
Harila is seen celebrating at the peak of K2 after breaking a world record
A viral video appeared to show Harila and her team stepping over the dying mounttain porter
At the time, Harila said that she had been the victim of 'hatred' and death threats for celebrating her feat, and wrote on Instagram: 'This was no one's fault, you cannot comment when you do not understand the situation and sending death threats is never okay.'
In the film, she says: ‘This [viral video] was filmed in the middle of the day, when it was light.
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it → arrive → day
We were there when he fell in the dark.
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he → fall → dark
We tried for hours to save him.’
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We → try → him
She says their biggest mistake was not coming forward with the full story immediately after they returned from the climb.
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they → say → climb
‘What really happened wasn’t controversial.
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happened → happen → ?
But the story of rich Western climbers stepping over a dying porter to take the record was really controversial.
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climbers → step → record
And that’s what the media wants to have.’
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media → ’ → what
Harila also shared some of the over 20,000 abusive messages she received in the aftermath of the climb.
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she → share → climb
‘F****ing w****, I hope you die in pain,’ one person wrote.
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person → hope → pain
Another said, ‘You f***ing murderer, may you burn in hell.’
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you → say → hell
One particularly awful message read: ‘I pray that next time it’s you, not someone you would declare as “second-class human”.
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you → read → human
More hate flowed in, with one person telling the mountaineer to ‘kill yourself.’
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person → flow → yourself
‘Humans like you disgust me.
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Humans → disgust → me
I hope you are left with a life of misery.’
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you → hope → misery
An inquiry was subsequently opened into Hassan’s death.
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inquiry → open → death
It concluded that the expedition company had failed to carry out adequate checks and balances, with questions raised over the porter’s poor equipment and lack of preparation.
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questions → conclude → preparation
The company he worked for was required to suspend operations for two years.
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he → work → years
Sirbaz Khan, the first Pakistani to summit all 14 of the world’s highest peaks, was involved in the investigation, and said in the film: ‘There were 100 people trying to summit that day.
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Khan → summit → film
Why was Kristin singled out?’
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Kristin → single → ?
Harila said the goal of the expedition had been to prove that women were just as capable as men and could set records, while hopefully making it easier for other female climbers to secure sponsorship.
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climbers → say → sponsorship
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
