Part 1: The World’s Most Dangerous Mountain
In the darkness, they rose. More than 150 men and women advanced warily through the ice, grasping lines that had been anchored into the mountainside just hours before. Some had waited months for this ascent. They had a small window: winds had finally calmed on the morning of July 26, giving teams their first chance to summit K2 – the “King of Mountains” – in the Pakistani-administered area of Kashmir .
They were told a storm would hit the mountain on the 28th. If they didn’t summit K2 now, they would have to wait until next year.
In the vanguard was the rope-fixing team – a handpicked squad of the strongest Sherpas and guides. Working through the thick snow, they opened a route by securing ropes along the rocky Abruzzi Spur, the most common path to the peak .
K2: “If You Want Bragging Rights, Climb Everest. If You Want Respect, Climb K2”
K2 is no Mount Everest. Or rather, Mount Everest is no K2.
Climbing coach Alan Arnette, a mountaineer since 1997 and the oldest American to summit K2, said: “The trite saying is, if you want bragging rights, you climb Everest. If you want respect, you climb K2.” .
Dubbed the “Savage Mountain,” K2 is significantly more difficult and technical to summit than Earth’s tallest mountain . Everest has a 3% death rate, while K2’s was 25% before 2021. It now hovers at about 18% after becoming a far more popular option for climbers .
Arnette told Insider: “K2 is only 800 feet lower than Everest, but it is incredibly steep. It starts steep, it’s steep in the middle, and it’s steep at the end.” Everest, on the other hand, features many relatively flat areas.
The weather is notoriously unpredictable. Western winds charging into the Karakoram range hit K2 head-on, forming swirling gales and increasing the risk of an avalanche .
Considering these factors, mountaineers wait for winds under 30 mph, seizing upon those tiny pockets of opportunity to push for the summit.
Arnette said: “This year was highly unusual, with only one day during the season, July 27, when the winds were low enough.” .
Most teams believed July 27 was the last day of the season to summit. With almost every climber thinking they had only one shot, summit hopefuls flooded the way up.
Oswaldo Freire, an Ecuadorian mountain guide with the Nepali group Seven Summit Treks, told Insider he counted at least 41 tents at Camp 3, the final resting point before the summit. That many tents easily meant 120 to 160 people were gathered for the push .
The risks on the Savage Mountain were compounding drastically. Snow had fallen days before, leaving barely enough time for it to pack and provide solid footing .
Those who wanted to reach the summit would have to climb from Camp 3, then up a deadly wall of ice and rock known as the Bottleneck, then alongside a steep traverse, before hiking two more hours up 60-degree terrain .
And with every additional person on the trail, climbing at night, the danger of avalanches or rockfalls had risen significantly.
Sensing the danger, Freire was on the verge of packing his equipment and descending. He ultimately decided to take the summit push, wanting to help his friend, Lucy Westlake – the youngest American woman to conquer Everest – break the same record for K2.
On the afternoon of July 26, scores of climbers departed Camp 3 for the peak. Mohammad and the rope-fixing team were among the first groups to move, before 3:30 p.m. .
Part 2: Accident at 2:00 A.M.
Ahead, the rope-fixing team was making time. But the few climbers in front of Harila had stopped. To examine the cause of the holdup, her team started passing other mountaineers to reach the front of the line .
One of the first three people in line on K2 was among the initial few people to see the porter close to death. Through the dark, they could make out a figure stuck below the trail.
The climber said: “At some point we heard somebody saying, ‘Ah, ah!’ as though something was wrong. We went ahead and I saw this person hanging upside down, with his belly uncovered.” .
Mohammad had fallen on a precariously steep section of K2 known as a traverse, where slopes are slanted to about 70 degrees and spill far below. Roughly two hours from the summit, it spans between 50 to 100 meters across, and climbers must walk, balancing on the side of the extreme incline to reach their goal .
The porter hung there, unable to help himself, about 5 meters beneath the trail . A companion of Mohammad’s stood farther down the mountain path, seemingly unsure of how to mount a rescue. He, too, was a porter for the rope-fixing team .
An ice screw holding the fixed ropes had come loose near Mohammad, indicating that it may have been yanked out as he fell. His jumar, a handheld device for gripping fixed ropes, still dangled from the lines anchored above .
Why Mohammad was incapacitated after falling just a few meters is still unclear. At 8,000 meters and above, altitude sickness can take hold, or pulmonary or cerebral edema, when fluid fills the lungs or brain. Preexisting medical conditions can also become fatal in the mountains .
With Mohammad upside down, his clothes had begun to slip and gather around his upper torso, exposing his lower abdomen . His legs were twisted in the ropes, Harila added .
His clothing also seemed odd to both climbers. Mohammad wasn’t wearing a down suit – a vital piece of equipment for 8,000-meter mountains that covers the climber’s body to keep them warm. You didn’t climb K2 without one .
Harila also said Mohammad had neither a down suit nor supplemental oxygen with him, which is another essential piece of equipment for high-altitude climbs . He didn’t even have gloves .
Harila and her team decided to help Mohammad, since they were some of the strongest climbers and Sherpas present . The attempt would take hours, and the already-exhausted rescuers had to move cautiously, especially since an ice anchor had become unsecured. The treacherous slopes continued hundreds of meters below, and if anyone were to somehow come loose, death would almost be guaranteed .
Early into the rescue, a young Sherpa tried to add another ice screw but slipped in the fresh snow . They managed to add more ice screws, secure more rope to Mohammad, turn him over, and pull him up centimeter by centimeter .
Harila said that when they pulled Mohammad out of the slope, the porter was at least partially conscious and cried out as if to say he wasn’t okay. They gave him oxygen and tried to reassure him .
Meanwhile, the line of climbers was forming behind them. Because of the rescue of Mohammad, no one could go up.
Minutes later, an avalanche struck. It was around 3:00 a.m. when Westlake and Freire arrived at The Shoulder, the plateau considered Camp 4. The route was packed with climbers .
Along the group of climbers, worry began to appear. The rescue of Mohammad had blocked the climbers, and Mohammad had fallen just outside the Bottleneck – a 100-meter steep rocky gully considered the most dangerous part of the route to the summit .
Most climbers were now trapped inside the Bottleneck or at its exit. This spot is directly below an ice serac, making it particularly unsafe when ice chunks break off .
Fragments from the serac could fall into the gully, sweeping away the fixed ropes and essentially killing anyone trapped inside .
Perhaps the climbers could spread out and descend to wait. However, they didn’t or couldn’t. The scale of the crowd at the Bottleneck, the inexperience of many climbers, the darkness of the night, and the confusion about Mohammad’s accident made it difficult to organize a dispersal of the climbing crowd .
Freire said: “Sometimes people get what’s called summit fever. You think that because there are many people, you are safe, because everyone is doing the same things. But that’s not the case.” .
At The Shoulder and looking into the night, Westlake and Freire had no idea what was happening on the route, let alone how Mohammad had fallen. Freire guessed the group above might not have brought extra rope .
He decided to bypass the climbers on the Bottleneck and bring equipment up. But as Freire was measuring the distance to the summit, Westlake saw snow falling loudly. Freire looked up and saw a white wall of snow coming toward him . The avalanche did not hit the Bottleneck area, avoiding a major disaster. The avalanche also only carried loose snow .
By the time the avalanche settled, both Westlake and Freire were buried in snow up to their knees. They canceled their attempt to summit K2. Other smaller avalanches occurred that night, causing at least three Western companies to cancel climbing activities due to risk, bringing their clients down .
Among those who returned early were Austrian climbers Wilhelm Steindl and Philip Flämig from Furtenbach Adventures. These were the people who later made shocking allegations to the world .
Above, Harila’s team received radio calls from the rope-fixers. Harila said: “The rope-fixing team was near where the avalanche occurred. We contacted them by radio and learned they were having problems.” .
There were now two potential disasters to worry about. It was 3:30 a.m., about 90 minutes since Mohammad was found on the trail, but the harsh conditions meant he was still not out of danger .
Harila’s team split up. She and Tenjen moved forward to check on the rope-fixers, while Tarso stayed behind to help Mohammad .
Together with Mohammad’s companion and another Sherpa, Tarso finally got Mohammad onto the trail. But the porter could no longer speak or move on his own .
Meanwhile, Harila said she and Tenjen met the rope-fixers along the route and realized they were okay .
The controversy stems from the moments that followed. As people moved Mohammad onto the trail, the congestion worsened. A Sherpa looked ahead and saw an empty path, so he led them forward. The atmosphere was tense. Other climbers, after waiting for hours under the ice serac, all wanted to escape the danger .
The group began to move forward, while Tarso stayed with Mohammad and his companion, trying to warm the porter. But about half an hour later, the oxygen tank Tarso had given Mohammad was almost empty . Another tank was with the Sherpa who had followed Tarso, and this person belonged to the rope-fixing team heading to the summit .
So Tarso left to find this Sherpa to get oxygen, while Mohammad’s companion stayed with the dying porter .
Part 3: The Shocking Video
Flämig and Steindl, the two Austrian climbers who returned to The Shoulder area, filmed the scene with a drone of the route they passed on their way down. When reviewing the footage at camp the next day, they were horrified .
One by one, climbers stepped over the dying man and continued on. They didn’t stop. The drone showed dozens of climbers passing Mohammad, seemingly ignoring the porter as he lay dying on the trail .
For Flämig and Steindl, the ethical code of mountaineering was being violated right before their eyes. Steindl said an effort should have been made to bring Mohammad down as soon as possible. He said: “But if the rescue mission had started at this point, the people behind the congestion would have had to turn back and descend. No one could have reached the summit. I don’t know if it would have been possible to bring him down alive. But a rescue should certainly have been attempted. If someone is dying, stopping the expedition to bring them down is normal. But people didn’t stop.” .
At the summit, Tarso met Harila and Tenjen and told them Mohammad was still alive but in bad shape . Harila added that she received word from her support team via satellite phone that everyone was okay. But when she descended and returned to the trail, Mohammad was dead. His companion was nowhere to be seen .
It turned out that the storm everyone thought would sweep through the area on the 28th never materialized. Some remaining climbers successfully summited K2 in the following days, bringing the total number of summiteers this year to at least 102 .
But back at base camp, Mohammad’s death still haunted the minds of the climbers. Some were haunted by having to step over Mohammad as he was in agony. Mohammad had tried to call out for help .
Climbing 8,000-meter peaks carries the risk of death as a real possibility, but Westlake said the problem lies in the fact that people stepped over a man who was still alive and dying, and he died a few hours later .
Some expedition companies held fireworks celebrations for their clients who summited K2, despite the somber atmosphere. Steindl was horrified, telling Business Insider: “A man died, but those celebrating stepped over him to reach the summit. Now they’re celebrating success?” .
Steindl said that on the way down, he and Flämig met a friend of Mohammad’s family. This person told them where the porter’s family lived. They and Tarso went to Tisar village to offer condolences .
Mohammad died, leaving behind three young sons, a widow, and a diabetic mother .
Steindl launched a GoFundMe campaign for Mohammad’s family, which has since raised $150,000 for legal fees, education, and future expenses .
Mohammad Hassan: The Life of a Porter
Mohammad was a shy, quiet man in his twenties when he first met Norwegian climber Jutta Vanessa Tørkel in 2017. She was visiting the Karakoram region with her husband, and Mohammad was one of the porters for their group .
The couple became friends with Mohammad and other porters. They were all people living in extreme poverty, carrying out arduous porterage trips to the camps in conditions lacking safety equipment .
Mohammad was acutely aware of his low social status as a poor Pakistani villager, always bowing his head, smiling, and following others’ instructions .
Tørkel said this was the first year Mohammad was assigned to work on K2. For her, it was unreasonable to have Mohammad do this work because they are not accustomed to life in the mountains like the Sherpas .
Mohammad usually did seasonal construction work in the Shigar Valley and went to K2 every climbing season. Like other porters, he was paid $70 for three weeks to transport equipment to the camps .
That was a large sum for people like Mohammad. If they were lucky, they could earn up to $20 in a day, totaling $840 for a climbing season .
Porters are not members of any expedition team, working like freelancers. The company that hired Mohammad was Lela Peak Expedition. A porter working with Mohammad said high-altitude porters were given $750 this year to buy equipment, but for some reason, Mohammad didn’t have a down suit .
But Mohammad continued. This was the first time he was paid as a high-altitude porter .
Lacking climbing experience and proper equipment, it’s unclear why Mohammad was sent to support the rope-fixing team at over 8,000 meters .
Veteran climbers say rope-fixing is the hardest work on the mountain .
Even knowing they face serious danger, most porters tend to follow orders from their Pakistani bosses. Most are born into low status and are sometimes treated as disposable resources in the local community .
The Aftermath
When news of Mohammad’s death spread along with the video showing climbers stepping over Mohammad to continue their journey, the K2 climbers quickly became targets of global online outrage. Steindl and Flämig gave interviews to Austrian newspapers, emphasizing that Mohammad should have been rescued.
The exact cause of Mohammad’s death has not been determined .
Many say bringing Mohammad down the mountain was extremely difficult, if not impossible. However, if Mohammad had been a foreign climber and a member of an expedition team, he might have had a chance of survival .
Mohammad’s death is an indelible stain and embarrassment for the mountaineering community. Steindl said he worries about the future of climbing. He said: “I think the system there failed. Because no one feels responsible. That’s the big problem. You have to stop and say: ‘No one gets past this point. You have to turn back and we bring him down, we try to help him.'” .
The K2 accident has caused immense shame among many in the climbing industry.
The commercialization of 8,000-meter peaks, where companies pour personnel onto deadly mountains to open routes for amateur clients, has increased the number of inexperienced climbers dependent on support. Although Pakistan’s climbing industry has lagged behind Nepal by decades, K2 is becoming a hotspot like Everest for tourists seeking a tough challenge .
Arnette believes governments should limit the number of climbers allowed on high peaks, especially K2. He said all stakeholders, from porters to clients and guides, must be fully aware of all the specific dangers of high mountains .
He said: “If you go up an 8,000-meter mountain and don’t think you can die, you shouldn’t be there.” .
Primary Sources:
Business Insider – Investigation into Mohammad Hassan’s death on K2
Alan Arnette – Analysis of the 2023 K2 climbing season
Kristin Harila – Interviews about the incident
GoFundMe – Campaign for Mohammad’s family
The Guardian – Coverage of the K2 controversy
Associated Press – Reports on the investigation
Sky News – Interviews with Basharat Hussain and Kristin Harila