‘Death threats’ for Norway’s record-breaking climber who denies stepping over dying sherpa to reach K2 summit
- Norwegian climber Kristin Harila said she and her team did everything they could at the time for 27-year-old Mohammed Hassan, a sherpa from another team
- Drone footage shared by other climbers on social media showed Harila’s team and others on a narrow, harrowing passage, stepping over Hassan’s body
A Norwegian climber who recently became the fastest person to summit the world’s 14 highest peaks has addressed controversy after critics accused her of walking over a dying sherpa to set her record.
In a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday, Kristin Harila, 37, said she and her team “did everything we could for him at the time”.
Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjin “Lama” Sherpa became the fastest people to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre mountains on July 27 after reaching the top of K2 in Pakistan’s Himalayas.
They completed the feat in three months and one day, surpassing Nepal-born British adventurer Nirmal Purja’s 2019 record of six months and six days.
But controversy emerged on social media after drone footage shared by other climbers showed Harila’s team and others on a narrow, harrowing passage, stepping over the body of a fallen sherpa from another team, who later died during Harila’s ascent.
She was also criticised for celebrating her world record at base camp that evening.
