Norway's Record-Setting Climber, Who Left Behind Dying Sherpa, Defends Actions
NDTV
Ms Harila said she felt the need to give her side of the story due to "all of the misinformation and hatred that is now being spread", including "death threats".
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". Ms Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjin "Lama" Sherpa became the fastest people to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre (26,000-feet) mountains on July 27 after reaching the top of K2.
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 Ms 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.
