Why K2's Bottleneck is the Mountains Leading KILLER | 2023 TRAGEDY

2023 was a historic year for K2. Kristin Harila and Tenjin (Lama) Sherpa were on track to create history, but for a high altitude porter named Muhammad Hassan from Pakistan...well his life would change as well. This is his story...

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[milesstyles]

Some people climb mountains so they can see the world, others climb mountains so the world can see them..

[jacobantony]

People should look up the 2008 K2 disaster where 11 people died. One climber fell from the bottleneck going up the mountain. 4 climbers from Camp 4 tried to rescue a fallen climber, which turned into a recovery, even lower on the bottleneck. During the rescue, 1 climber fell to his death, almost dragging the 3 down, too. Following this, they abandoned the rescue attempt. 1 of the climbers had a camera and was recording on the mountain, and before they started to descend, he had put the camera into his pocket and had forgotten to turn it off. Its heart breaking hearing him sob as the climber fell to his death. The others died as a result of one of the ropes being cut by a serac ice fall. The other 9 died either traversing the bottleneck without ropes or serac falls because they were stuck above the bottleneck.

[eljanrimsa]

I think the real questions are why the company let an inexperienced climber do this job, why they didn't give him better equipment, and why he had no other way to pay his mother's health bills.

[majasrbia]

I saw an interview with Reinhold Messner about this tragedy. Very powerful interview, exactly opposite of what I saw in some comments. Basicly he said mountaineering became "weekend " sport where almost everyone with enough money can climb everywhere -others are laying ropes, others bring baggage, big teams for support, everything for one person to achive goal and climbing became chasing records by the ppl who shouldnt even be at the mountains . . He said before when tragedy happened- mission was abandoned and they always tried to help to do smt, to help somehow. There was not stepping over the ppl - they did everything to help . But as climbing became mass - tourism sport everything changed . Before you were climbing with your camarades and now with teams of strangers, so we got to the point were human life doesnt have weight . Its not important anymore. Empathy went out of ppl . .
He said - they could at least try to do smt . Try to bring him a little bit down, give him oxygen, try to get someone bring oxygen . To try smt.

[Khate]

The story about stepping over the high altitude porter is way more complicated than him just being callously stepped over. Read up on it. The one really at fault I think is the company who put him up there with no gloves and no experience. Those porters make only a few dollars per day, reportedly. And some clients refuse to tip the porters. The whole industry seems to be a bit of a mess.

[jcolinmizia]

The 2008 k2 disaster started with trying to rescue a fellow climber who fell in this stretch of the climb. Another climber would die as a result of this rescue attempt. People say that it’s heartless to not even attempt a rescue, but a rescue on a mountain like this is often deadlier than the climb itself.

[Nisie]

That's not what that lady who climbed to the top said on a lengthy Insta post. She said she and others tried to help him for over 1hr before she continued and her photographer Gabriel actually stayed behind and tried to help for about 3 hrs. He did more than anyone else and he wasn't even on this guy's team. Where were his teammates?!?! You need to get your facts straight.

[NicklePickle]

It's so tragic that Lama died just a couple of months after this! He was helping one of two women, who were in a competition with each other, race up the mountain. Both women & both of their sherpas died in separate avalanches a short time apart. RIP Lama you truly were the GOAT 😢

[astrofpv]

If you need sherpas and porters to help you up the mountain you haven't climbed it, no one should have to carry you up the mountain

[kevinstewart]

From what I've read, rescue from the death zone is difficult, if not impossible. From the Bottleneck (just look at it) ...impossible. And the climbers realized that. It's a different world up there. Point fingers at the company that hired Muhammad, and not at the Sherpas, Kristin and the other climbers.

[OnceABustAlwaysABust]

Those guys fixing ropes are the real climbers. Everyone else is just a tourist on a hiking trail albeit a very difficult one.

[GinjaBadger]

The problem isn't with him not being saved and people stepping over him because at over 8k there really is no rescue. The issue is that he shouldn't have been their in the first place.

[dougkabel]

I think it would be important to update your documentary with new details about Kristen Harila, Lama, and Gabriel (videographer). People are jumping to conclusions before knowing all the perspectives and efforts. It was Kristen, Lama, and Gabriel who actually spent 1 1/2 hours getting Muhammad upright and back on the mountain (Gabriel for an additional hour, along with at least two others). This included setting up additional anchors, creating a pulley system, and sharing oxygen. Halung Dorchi Sherpa also stopped to assist in getting Muhammed up on the boot path. Mentioning Kristen's team along with Muhammad, while saying "nobody came to help", "there simply was no effort made here" is simply not true. It was in fact Kristen's team who initiated all the help when the accident happened. Kristen's account has been backed up and witnessed by other climbers who were actually there. I really like your videos. Let's make sure we update it with correct conclusions regarding Krstin's team, but also calling out that the other hundred who followed truly did pass on by. Even then, they may not have known how serious Mohammad's condition was.

[TheMotlias]

I don't blame the other climbers for not helping on their ascent, as the Sherpa said, "there is no rescue on K2".
But I blame the system that incentivised a man from poverty to risk his life on a mountain he was not qualified to work on and has probably only compansated his family a few hundred dollars for their lost son.

[LordLoocker]

This is one of the MANY reasons why mountaineering (at least on mountains as extreme and harsh as K2) shouldn't be commercialized. So many preventable and incredibly tragic deaths this year alone, just so companies can sell the idea to people that they've achieved something.

[BunsenHoneydew]

How do you step over a man who is dying, who was just trying to provide for his family while you were seeking some some stupid pointless memory???

[rickwrites]

Each one of those ppl that stepped over him had not only been told by the guide who deferred to the most trustworthy expert (the head sherpa) it was futile, they also were EACH ACTIVELY DYING THEMSELVES. Ppl not sufficiently exposed to mountaineering dont grasp this. After 12 hrs above 8k meters, your body is actively dying. Oxygen only barely affects this, making it just possible to stave off the terminal phase of death for maybe a day. If you are above 8, 000 m, YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD you just dont know it. In effect, every one who makes it back down IS A SUCCESSFUL RESCUE
If a head Sherpa takes triage and says a rescue isnt possible, any Western guide would be a fool not to heed his head Sherpa. It very much depends of what the head Sherpa and expedition guide/owner determine when taking triage: the likelihood of effective rescue, the resources the group can bring to bear not just in terms of extra equipment but also human resources.

THE CLIMBERS EVEN OWNERS/GUIDES WILL GENERALLY DEFER TO JUDGEMENT OF THEIR HEAD SHERPA. There IS a system of ethics on the mountains, but it is balanced by pragmatism and unless you are well versed in thst community you have no idea what you are talking about. A non Sherpa porter really should not be doing that work until they have proven via slowly gsined career experience under a mentor porter, that they have not just the skills, but the *freakish* physical talent thst one needs to do that kind of work in the dead zone.
People of actual Sherpa ethnicity have Real, concrete biological advantages at altitude, as well as cultural knowlege. They are NOT comparable to traditional colonial populations simply being exploited. Partially genetic, partially from born and raised in altitude, Sherpa risk less than non Sherpa doing the same thing. There are few non Sherpa who are like that bit they do exist- an individual from anywhere else that just has a freakish ability. Many of such people become mountaineers. People who can climb sans oxygen and have natural gifts ALMOST on level of Sherpa. Anatoly Boukreev was one.
Mahmoud was NOT. He should not have been that high, and he may have had to misrepresent himself in order to get OKd to work by the head Sherpa .
Like many ppl through history and all over the world, he was tempted to take irrational risks for monetary gain due to a family emergency. Whats unfortunate is that his mother didnt have better access to healthcare in his country or community. But ppl die from lack of healthcare in the richest country on earth.

[SuperCatacata]

You really left out the ridiculous difficulty of saving anyone above the death zone. Completely understated it.

Many people have died attempting to do so.

[froonamission]

No one gets to the top of those mountains in the Himalayas without the help from the Sherpa. They are the true heroes and owners of the mountain. They deserve so much more respect for what they do, and considering that all of these climbing tourists have trashed mountains, I can't imagine what they think every time they take another tourists
up the mountains.

[alanRMUK]

Ive done some high altitude mountains. I think Mo died before be he died, if that makes sense, you are so exhusted when doing these things and at your limit if something goes worng its over. Noone would have been able to save Mo once he actually fell. As for the others stepping over him, i can only assume they thought others where doing something and help was communicated. On these events, there is no communication to other teams, like radios etc, its just your team, so when other teams got to him they would have thought it was in hand. ( bit strange noone was with him though)
Bassiclly Mo shouldn't have been allowed to get that far. I think the culpability will come down to " why was he allowed to go that high" meaning the prep and planning/ admin will be called into question and ultimately Christine will catch the wrath.
I can only prey that MOs death was not in vain and maybe this event will help save his mum and help his family through donations. ( he was a brave Hero to his family)
RIP Mo.