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An avalanche of hate is being directed the way of climbers who are accused of ignoring a dying man while trying to summit the world's second-highest mountain K2, the forbidding 8611 metre peak in Pakistan's Karakoram Range.
Confronting footage captures the controversial moments that climbers step around dying porter Mohammed Hassan on their way to the top of the mountain renowned for being the world's deadliest on July 27.
Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila is at the centre of the controversy. On reaching K2's summit, the 37-year-old set the speed record for climbing the world's highest 14 peaks (the planet's only summits above 8000 metres), achieving the feat in just 92 days.
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But at what cost? Harila and other climbers have been accused of putting personal glory ahead of humanity.
Austrian mountaineer Philip Flämig shot the footage and claims that Hassan was still moving three hours after his serious fall and remained alive.
"This man was still alive while around 50 people climbed past him," Flämig told Austrian newspaper Der Standard.
Harila faced the full fury of the public, with a blizzard of hateful comments on her Instagram account claiming she walked on by and did nothing.
The Norwegian took to both Instagram and her personal website to defend her actions vigorously.
READ MORE: Ten-time Everest climber dies after scaling peak in Nepal
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvws-XDtpE7/?img_index=1
"I feel angry at how many people have been blaming others for this tragic accident. This was no one's fault, you cannot comment when you do not understand the situation, and sending death threats is never okay," she wrote.
In her lengthy post, she went on to explain that several members of her team, herself included, tried to assist the fallen porter for 90 minutes before an avalanche distress call forced her to leave Hassan with her cameraman to go higher up.
Hassan was reportedly an inexperienced operator in high alpine environments, having previously only worked at base camp. However he took on the role with a rope-fixing team at high elevations to earn money to pay for his mother's medical treatment.
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