Kristin Harila couldn’t savor her incredible summer performance for long. Having become co-holder on July 27 (with her Nepalese guide Tenjin Sherpa) of the world record for the 14 peaks over 8,000 m climbed the fastest (in 92 days), the Norwegian mountaineer has since defended herself against the outburst of criticism on the networks. social. Many Internet users accuse him of having stepped over a dying Sherpa to complete his ascent of K2 in Pakistan. Drone footage shared by other climbers shows her and her team hovering over the visibly injured body of Mohammad Hassan, a Sherpa from another team, as she continued her ascent of the second-highest peak. top of 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,” reads, for example, among the comments on Instagram. “The blood of the Sherpas is on your hands”, adds another Internet user, in reference to Mohammad Hassan, who died shortly after crossing paths with Kristin Harila. She also came under fire for celebrating her ascent after returning to base camp on the mountainside. The 37-year-old athlete claimed Thursday evening on Instagram “to have done everything for him”, namely Mohammad Hassan.
The group was “not able to lower the body”
She also denounced the “death threats” which she has been the subject of since this episode. She assures that in the company of her cameraman Gabriel, as well as two other people, including “Hassan’s friend”, she spent “an hour and a half” trying to bring the victim 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. The cameraman Gabriel stayed with Hassan, she assures us, in order to share with him his oxygen and his hot water.
After another hour, the cameraman decided to leave, as he needed “more oxygen for his own safety”. On their descent, they found that Mohammad Hassan (27) had died. But her team, made up of four people, “was not 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 was not properly equipped. His death is “really tragic and I have a lot of pain for the family”, she still confided, but “we did our best, in particular Gabriel”.