The Facts
A Norwegian mountaineer has denied allegations that her team climbed over a dying porter to reach the top of the K2 Mountain in Pakistan to secure a new world record.
In July, Kristin Harila and Nepalese Tenjin Sherpa became the world's fastest climbers to scale all 14 peaks of the world's over 8K meters (26K feet) mountains after climbing K2, the world's second-highest peak.
The Spin
Narrative A
What happened to Hassan so that records could be set is scandalous. The porter, driven by the prospects of pursuing a better life for his family, partook in someone else's dreams and lost his life in the process. While the details are murky due to opposing accounts, images don't lie, leaving all to wonder if Hassan would still be alive had the mountaineers shown empathy instead of continuing their bid for glory.
Narrative B
Despite Hassan not being part of her team, Harila did everything to revive the porter. K2, also known as Savage Mountain, is more technically challenging than Mount Everest and is the deadliest of all the major summits. All mountaineers are supposed to climb treacherous mountains at their own risk. Directing an avalanche of hate toward Harila is uncalled for, as while Hassan's death was tragic, it was no one's fault.
Narrative C
Hassan's tragic death on K2 brings the debate back to the conditions of sherpas and porters in the high-altitude Himalayas and Karakoram region. The fact can't be ignored that not only was there no organized rescue operation, but he was left to scale the treacherous peak without adequate equipment. With no training academy and subpar gear, this tragedy is clearly a failure of the government, which appears to treat its local mountaineers as dispensable, second-class citizens.
