Climber denies stepping over dying guide to break mountain climb record

Norwegian climber Kristin Harila has denied she and her team stepped over dying guide Mohammed Hassan during their ascent to the summit of K2.

A video circulating on social media shows a line of climbers climbing over the body of a mountain guide as he hangs from a rope on the side of the mountain. 

K2, Bottleneck traverse. This section of the climb is INSANE. You spend several hours underneath a giant ice cliff in an exposed position at 8200m+, 1/3 normal oxygen levels & knowledge that many people slipped and fallen off from here. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/i0QFNM1kxb

— Everest Today (@EverestToday) August 5, 2023

The incident occurred at the end of July at a point on the way to the summit of K2 called the bottleneck, a tight path across a sheer cliff face that is necessary to reach the peak. Climbers must walk in single file as they carefully make their way across the dangerous path.

According to rumors on social media, Harila, in her bid to break the record for the fastest summiting of all 14 peaks above 8,000m (26,000ft), climbed over the body of Hassan along with a number of other climbers.

Harila denies this and explained that they had tried to help and that her cameraman had stayed for nearly three hours to try to rescue Hassan. However, as can be seen in the video, the area is extremely steep and very difficult to traverse.

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A post shared by Kristin Harila (@kristin.harila)

Harila explains that safely carrying someone down the mountain takes a team of six people, but the area where Hassan fell could only allow for three people to be near his body, making it impossible to perform a safe rescue.

Harila also explained that climbing K2 is dangerous and that Hassan had not been properly equipped as he was missing gloves and proper clothing. Additionally, he lacked an oxygen pack, a necessity for any mountain climb. She questioned the company that had sent him up into the mountain with too little equipment.

The plight of the guides

One of the climbers who saw Hassan's plight started a GoFundMe for his family. At the time of writing, the fund has reached over 110,000 euros.  

Hassan's death has raised questions about the ethics of touristic mountain climbing and the exploitation of mountain guides in dangerous positions. Many social media users noted that the local guides are considered disposable by tourists and treated incredibly badly.

One of Harila's guides, Tenjen, gave an interview to AP News where he highlighted the difficulties guides face, specifically the lack of fair compensation and increasing difficulty climbing as they age making it very difficult to retire. Many simply migrate because opportunities in life are scarce.

“It is not possible to just continue climbing mountains as you grow older, so what else is there than to think of migrating abroad,” he told AP News. “That can all be stopped if they were given land, houses to live and other opportunities here.”