Under mountains that dagger the sky, a misfit caravan of Pakistani porters trudge towards K2 carrying live chickens and lawn furniture for adventurers seeking an audience with the world's second-highest peak. Tour operators typically quote between $2,000 and $7,000 for the trip starting in Askole -- a village in Pakistan's northeastern Gilgit-Baltistan region where jeeps end their muddling journeys and spill trekkers sporting neck pillows and parasols, as well as more hardbred mountain-climbers. Porters -- doing the dogsbody work carting luggage, dining tents and pantries of provisions -- make something like 30,000 to 40,000 rupees ($105 to $140) each trip in the four-month summer season, less than the price of high-end hiking trousers one firm recommends clients wear. Growing numbers of people arriving at K2 has also meant more rubbish. Sajid Ali Sadpara, whose father Ali Sadpara died during a K2 climb in 2021, is now trying to clean the mountain in his honour.
*This video was shot before the death of porter Mohammed Hassan on the climb to K2 on July 27.
*This video was shot before the death of porter Mohammed Hassan on the climb to K2 on July 27.
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00:00 At this campsite, at an altitude of almost 4,000 meters, a group of Pakistani men are
00:13 staging a celebratory song and dance session. They range from young adults to pensionable
00:18 age and share the same profession. The men are porters who help mostly foreign hikers
00:24 trek to the base of K2, the world's second highest peak. Sometimes accompanied by mules,
00:34 they carry luggage, tents and provisions on their backs, a load which can weigh up to
00:39 35 kilos.
00:40 "Weight is less than 5 to 6 kilos in one group. We have to come here, so we have to
00:51 carry a lot of things. We don't get anything else except tea and bread. We have to survive
00:58 and go back home."
01:01 Commercial companies quote between $2,000 and $7,000 for the hike to the K2 base camp.
01:08 Porters however, earn as little as $100 for the 14-day round trip, less than the price
01:14 of a pair of high-end trousers recommended for the trek.
01:18 While hikers take a sauntering pace, pausing for picnics, porters power ahead at sunrise,
01:25 often completing the 2,000-meter ascent on loafers, and carrying only a thin sheet of
01:31 plastic to provide shelter during the night.
01:33 "The biggest problem for porters is that it is getting colder here. There is no proper
01:40 shelter for porters, so it is very difficult for porters to get warm."
01:49 Some of them have even died on the trek. At a stopover camp, a plaque pays tribute to
01:54 three porters killed by rockfall while serving the cause of tourism in 2011.
02:01 Yasin Malik is a third-generation porter, but hopes his son does not ever have to do
02:06 the same job.
02:07 "My grandfather, my uncle, and my father have all died. It is my responsibility to
02:14 take care of my family. I will continue to be a porter. I hope my son will be able to
02:21 take the kids to the K2 base camp. I want to make him a great officer. I hope he will
02:28 give me a good life."
02:42 The commercialisation of mountain tourism has meant growing numbers of people are being
02:46 pulled towards K2. Fresh roots are being blasted across valleys and hacked through the ice,
02:53 promising to make the porters' lives easier and safer.
02:57 Their love for the mountains is deep, but as new roads are built and the wilderness
03:01 shrinks, the men are uneasy about how it will affect their job prospects.
03:06 "My connection with the mountains is like a small child's mother. A child needs a mother.
03:13 I have a connection with the mountains."
03:20 After the arduous trek, some specialised porters do not end their trip at base camp, but continue
03:33 to the summit with elite mountaineers.
03:36 First conquered in 1954 by Italians, winter winds on K2 can reach speeds of 200km/h, with
03:45 temperatures plunging to minus 60 degrees Celsius.
03:49 Although winter ascents are less common, some still brave the climb even under these gruelling
03:54 conditions.
03:55 Known as the 'savage mountain', dozens of people have died on K2. But despite this, the
04:02 climb has grown in popularity.
04:06 The once unspoiled route to the summit is now littered with snarled rope, discarded
04:11 oxygen canisters and mangled tents.
04:15 In 2022, K2 witnessed a record number of summits, some 150.
04:22 "As a climber I don't want to blame any other climbers because sometimes physically, mentally,
04:31 lots of things happen in the mountains. I don't want to blame, but who are capable and
04:36 who are stronger, those people need to be clean, but need to be responsible."
04:44 Standing at a height of 8,611 metres, K2 is one of the most unforgiving environments in
04:50 the world. A more wild, untamable and technically demanding ascent than Nepal's Everest, which
04:57 stands 238 metres higher.
05:01 This is Sajid Ali Sadpara, son of legendary Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara.
05:08 In 2021, Ali Sadpara died on K2 during a perilous winter climb.
05:15 His remains were enveloped by the mountain near Camp 4, the last stop off before the
05:21 summit.
05:22 Now Sajid is cleaning the mountain as a shrine to his fallen father.
05:26 "This is our mountain, we are the custodians of this mountain. We think it is one of the
05:33 precious gifts by Allah Almighty to our Pakistan. And after devotion with India also we got
05:39 this mountain in our part, that's also lucky. And after that my father graveyard, it's
05:45 a very interesting place. So K2 is more than a mountain for me."
05:49 Sajid and his team have recovered hundreds of kilos of rubbish from the mountain. But
05:54 there is still more to do.
05:56 In 2022, another K2 clean-up campaign already gathered 1,600 kilos of refuse.
06:03 "Our Islamic rule, we have to clean our home, it's our responsibility to clean.
06:09 If I'm cleaning one of the greatest mountains of the world, it's more satisfaction. And
06:16 I feel that I'm doing a very good job."
06:20 "The final resting place of my father. So I'm voluntarily focusing and some emotionally
06:26 I'm doing from my heart."
06:27 For more information visit www.fema.org
06:33 Fema.org is a joint venture of Fema.org and World Food Programme.
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