Original subtitles

[tense music playing]

[wind howling]

[Kristin] I had this idea...

to climb the 14 highest mountains

in the world.

-[pensive music overlapping] -[deep rumbling]

[Kristin] I wanted to do it in record time...

[groans]

...and I knew it would be many hard days.

[coughs, spits]

[breathes heavily]

There were so many times on the mountain

where I felt close to dying.

But it was never in my mind to give up.

I really wanted to share the record with the Sherpa,

because no one would have made any summits without the Sherpas.

I get this message all the time that it's inspiring.

People come and say to me,

"Oh, it's so inspiring what you're doing,"

and I'm just saying, "Oh, you should have known."

It's been hell...

and a nightmare, the whole thing.

[indistinct chatter]

[reporter 1] A Norwegian climber and her team...

[reporter 2] ...in a controversial record attempt...

[reporter 3] An accident has now overshadowed

the whole project...

[reporter 4] ...and left a porter to die.

[reporter 5] The incident was questioned...

[reporter 6] ...walk past rather than trying to save him.

-[somber music playing] -[sighs]

I had no idea how much this journey would change me.

[cellphone chimes]

[man over voice message] Nothing is more important

-than a human life. -[cellphone chimes]

[man] That's why nobody will remember your achievement,

-but your inhumanity. -[sighs deeply]

It changed my life forever.

[tense music playing]

[birds chirping]

[traffic rumbling]

[in Norwegian]

[sighs]

[in English] When I sold my apartment

to go and climb these mountains, people thought I was crazy.

But when I really believe in something,

I will go all in.

[in Norwegian]

[tense music playing]

[in English] There are 14 mountains

above 8,000 meters.

They are spread across Nepal, Pakistan, and Tibet.

The record for climbing them all was seven years.

Until 2019,

when a guy from Nepal changed everything.

[camera shutter clicking]

If you do it from your heart, from your soul, it is possible.

[Kristin] He climbed all 14 peaks

in only six months and six days.

I thought I could do it faster.

-[upbeat music playing] -[Kristin breathes heavily]

You know, when I started the project,

it was about making it more equal.

I wanted to show that women are just as strong

and we can also take records like that.

We need to do more than to just say

that we are just as strong as the men.

Better to, like, prove it.

[breathes heavily]

In 2022, we climbed 12 mountains.

We are happy to be here. [chuckles]

Heavy day, but we are up.

And I can see it on my bra, there is nothing left.

[interviewed] Climbing twelve 8,000-meter peaks

in five months,

of course, it's a huge risk...

but we stayed alive.

We are finally here!

[group cheering]

[Kristin, interviewed] I believed I was going

to take the record.

I was sure we were going to make it.

[Sherpa groans]

[Kristin]

[interviewed] We still had five and a half weeks

to take the record.

[crowd cheering, applauding]

[crowd singing in Nepali]

[Kristin, in English] I only had two mountains left...

both in Tibet.

KYIRONG OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

[Kristin] But China didn't give me

the climbing permit and the visa to enter...

and that was the end of my dream.

[somber music playing]

[Kristin] Thirty-six-year-old, single, and...

[chuckles]

...no children, and...

sold everything I have... [chuckles] ...to do this.

[inhales sharply]

Right now, that sounds like a very...

very good idea.

When I started in '22, I sold my apartment,

and spent all my money to do it, because I really believed in it.

-[delicate music playing] -[seagulls squawking]

[cow mooing]

[Kristin] I came home to the family farm,

and I was like, "Oh, shit, I have no place to live."

[engine whirring]

[Kristin] And I'm staying here with my sister and her kids.

[Kristin's sister, in Norwegian]

[kid babbling]

[Kristin's friend]

-[Kristin's friend] -Hmm.

[Kristin's friend]

-[Kristin's friend] -Yeah.

-[Kristin's friend chuckles] -[chuckles]

[in English] Now when I got home,

I had already decided to try to take the record again.

Now, I'm in the physical shape and a mental shape

to take the record,

and it's not like I will be that for the rest of my life.

It's now or never.

[music builds]

[indistinct chatter]

[Kristin] When I decided to do the project

all over again,

the hardest part was to find money.

In the first attempt,

I spent around a half million U.S. dollars.

I needed sponsors,

and what the sponsors are looking for

is usually something extraordinary.

-[crowd applauding] -[announcer, in Norwegian]

[crowd cheering, applauding]

[Kristin]

-[crowd cheering, applauding] -[chuckles]

[in English] Fourteen 8,000-meter peaks

in four months.

You know, so many times during this year,

I've been wondering,

"Oh, my God, why did I even think about it?"

[in Norwegian]

-[Petter grunts] -[Kristin]

[Petter]

[chuckles]

-[Petter] -Yes.

[Petter]

[Kristin]

[Petter hesitates]

[plane engine roaring]

[traffic rumbling]

[indistinct chatter]

[Kristin, in English] When I started in 2023,

I didn't have enough money to complete all the 14 peaks.

So, I knew I had to raise money during the climbs.

[engine revving]

[driver]

[Kristin]

[indistinct chatter]

-Hello! -[Kristin] Hello!

-[laughs] -[laughs]

-[Kristin] How are you? -Nice to see you already.

-Welcome, welcome, welcome. -[Kristin] Hey! Thank you!

-Nice to see you, Dawa. -[Dawa] How are you?

[Kristin] Okay?

-So, everything good? -Yeah. Good.

-[Kristin] Yeah? -Yeah.

-[Kristin] Are you ready for-- -You look so young, huh?

-Thank you. [laughs] -[laughs]

Do we think there is any chance to start in Tibet,

like, leave next week?

-[group] No. -No?

-Okay, okay. -Yeah.

We will know in advance, at least, like...

[Kristin] Seven days.

...seven to ten days in advance...

-[Kristin] Yeah. -...when they will let us enter.

Yeah, if we cannot start in Tibet,

we need to start with Manaslu, I think.

I had to work

with an experienced expedition company,

and I chose a local one

who is specialized on 14 Peaks summits.

[pensive music playing]

[Thane] People usually take four weeks

to climb one single 8,000-meter peak.

These mountains are extremely dangerous.

Avalanche can wipe out many climbers at once.

When you are at a 1,000-meter peak

without supplementary oxygen, you can't survive for very long.

[man] Once you're above 8,000 meters,

you're considered to be inside the death zone.

-[Kristin breathes heavily] -[Thane]

And it's usually too high to be rescued.

[indistinct chatter over radio]

[Thane] So, climbing all 14 peaks in four months...

Man, that was the crazy idea.

If it's not Kristin, we will think twice.

God knows, but she was made to climb, huh?

She was totally, absolutely ready to climb.

[dramatic music playing]

[Kristin] The 14 Peaks are normally climbed

in three seasons. Nims did it in six months,

climbing six mountains in Nepal in the spring,

then five in Pakistan in the summer,

and the remaining three in Tibet and Nepal in the fall.

I thought I could do it in less than four months

if I climb all the nine peaks in Nepal and Tibet

in the spring,

something no one has done before.

[Thane]

[wind chimes chiming]

We are finally in Samagaun.

The last village before we climb up

to Manaslu Base Camp.

-[birds chirping] -[indistinct chatter]

[Thane] When she told me,

"I will climb Manaslu in the spring,"

I reminded her, the risk or the difficulty level

gonna be hundred times worse in the spring.

It's totally insane to pay lots of money

to risk their life, to risk their Sherpa's life,

and maybe never be found in the mountain.

Our boss, Dawa, said, "Hire the best Sherpas."

"We cannot do a one single mistake here."

[Kristin]

[group]

[Gelje]

-Lama, do you speak any English? -[Lama] No. [chuckles]

-Some. -[Kristin] Some?

[Gelje] He speaks some little... just like, not all, but...

[Kristin] Okay, we speak slowly,

and if you don't know English word,

you can speak Nepal word.

-Maybe we understand. Yeah? -Yeah.

[Kristin] Okay, everyone happy?

-[crewmate] Happy. -Everyone ready to climb?

-[crewmate] Yeah. -Yeah?

[laughs]

-Oh, Manaslu! -Oh, Manaslu!

[pensive music playing]

[Kristin] When you see these mountains,

it looks so massive,

and it looks so impossible to climb.

What do you think, Lama, Camp One?

-Yeah, Camp One. -Yeah?

[laughs] Lama know the way.

[breathes heavily]

I think if you do something,

but you haven't really committed,

when it's challenging...

you doubt.

But if you are committed,

then you will put all effort into what you are doing.

[uplifting music playing]

[Kristin] I think many people are often, like, scared

of being uncomfortable.

If we never leave the comfortable zone,

the circle of what's comfortable

will become smaller and smaller and smaller.

In the end, we can end up sitting home

in the couch being uncomfortable with that.

I like when it's hard and it's challenging,

and I really have to push to get there.

[wind howling]

[Kristin] Hmm.

[coughing]

[breathes deeply]

[indistinct chatter]

[Kristin] I'm, like, worried about this mountain.

And the heavy snowfall that we have had

makes a lot of avalanche risk.

-[tense music playing] -[Kristin breathes heavily]

I've seen avalanches.

You can feel it when something is coming...

and you never know how much is coming,

and how bad is it.

We know...

the feeling of a bomb.

[indistinct chatter]

[Kristin] A few days after I left the expedition

on Manaslu in 2022,

all these avalanches came, and many people died.

-[indistinct chatter over radio] -[crowd clamoring]

[somber music playing]

[Kristin] I know and understand

how dangerous these mountains are.

I know that my father and my family really...

will have it...

easier if I'm home.

-[wind howling] -[brooding music playing]

[Kristin] I am from a small town called Vadsø...

far north in the Arctic.

And it's very cold and very windy...

-...and it's no mountains there. -[seagulls squawking]

-[Kristin] I grew up on a farm. -[cows mooing]

[Kristin] When my parents got divorced,

my sister and I spent half of our time

on the farm with our dad and his new wife...

and the other half in town

with my mom, my stepfather, and my brother.

[in Norwegian]

[Petter]

[chuckles]

[exhales rapidly]

[laughs]

[Kristin, in English] Many believe

I am a rich Western girl.

And there's nothing wrong to be a Western rich girl...

but it wasn't my story.

It was never, like, a question. We had to help out with things.

[cows mooing]

[Kristin] When you are 11 years old,

and you are sent out on the farm to work,

it's boring and challenging when you're young,

but I'm very happy that our parents let us handle

-challenging situations... -[cow mooing]

...because it gives some confidence in life

that I know whatever is coming...

[chuckles softly] ...it's okay,

and I will manage to deal with that.

When I was 13, I was working in a hairdresser,

and then the gas station...

-and I was saving, all the time. -[gentle music playing]

[Petter, in Norwegian]

[chuckles]

[Kristin, in English] I just wanted

to be, like, independent,

and, like, manage to do my life myself.

When I was 16,

I got into this school for cross-country skiing.

I was top three in Norway as a junior...

but I think I could have been a much better skier

if I knew what I know today,

how important it is to believe in what you're doing.

I didn't believe enough in myself

that I was going to do it.

When I quit skiing.

I think I felt a little bit like...

like, "Where do I belong?"

[birds chirping]

[Kristin] My first high mountain was in 2015.

At that time, I was a manager

in a furniture company in Norway,

and it was actually a corporate gift,

a trip to climb Kilimanjaro for a few lucky employees.

[uplifting music playing]

[Kristin] Kilimanjaro is normally

a very easy mountain...

but I had a terrible summit push and started to throw up.

But I really enjoyed how hard it was.

Also, everything around the climbing,

the expedition life,

and doing it together with friends.

I just loved, like, the simple life

that is in the mountains.

And back in the furniture company,

I was knocking my head in the wall...

so, I decided to quit.

[pants]

Then I was like, "Hey, I want to try Everest."

[music continues playing]

[Hanne, in Norwegian]

[tense music playing]

-[Kristin breathes heavily] -[radio chimes]

[Kristin, in English] Is it avalanche risk the whole way,

or just one section?

[crewmate over radio]

[breathes heavily, grunts]

So, what do you think we should do?

-[Gelje] Better go back now. -[Kristin] Back to?

[Gelje] Back to Base Camp. We try our best.

But, like, this condition, we can't do it like this.

I'm not coming back in the autumn

to do this mountain in the autumn,

so, I need to finish.

[Gelje]

Yeah, but let's go to Camp One,

try to get in contact with the company.

[pensive music playing]

[Kristin] We have to be back from Tibet,

first of May,

and then I have Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga,

Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, and Manaslu...

[Dawa] Hm.

...from first of May until...

[exhales sharply] ...first days in June.

[Dawa]

[Kristin] Yeah. Last year I did six in 29 days.

You did six because the weather was good.

Weather was on your favor.

-[Kristin] Yeah. -Route was on your favor.

-[Kristin] Yeah. -Time was on your favor.

[Kristin] So, I need that this year too.

Everything might be on your favor,

but what about the weather?

-[chuckles] -[Kristin] Yeah.

Let's hope.

[wind howling]

[Kristin] The whole project is about being finished

in less than four months...

so, I can't miss

any more summit windows like this.

[breathes heavily]

And I can't afford to fail again.

-[traffic rumbling] -[indistinct chatter]

-[brooding music playing] -Um, this morning, uh,

Thane, Dawa, and me, we went over the costings.

In Tibet, yaks are very, very expensive.

We will need three jeeps to go from Kathmandu to the border.

[engine rumbling]

This is the internet cost.

[Thane] But good Sherpa are very expensive.

It's 15,000 hidden in the price.

[organizer] These are the salaries

for the cooks.

If you go by helicopter, you have to pay helicopter.

[Kristin] The cost for a single summit,

the cheapest would be Manaslu.

If you go with no Sherpa support and no oxygen,

you probably pay 10,000 U.S. dollars.

If you go with normal support, on Everest,

I'd say 70,000.

This is going to be expensive.

To be able to get more money,

I needed to be out in social media.

[solemn music playing]

We have to be constantly filming,

and posting and generating attention

to get new sponsors, but also to keep them happy.

When I started the project,

I felt that the industry inside the community,

the way to get sponsors,

I felt it was very far from equal.

I saw when I was searching for sponsors,

because you can see, like, the athlete page,

they were mainly supporting men.

And I never felt like I was like a feminist or something,

but I felt like, "This is not fair."

"Like, it shouldn't be like this."

And I was thinking, "I want to change...

something here."

[crowd applauding]

[Kristin] I think it's not just to climb,

we need to be out there to change,

to make it more equal.

We need to be visible for younger generations

after us, that women also can do this.

It's very, very warm in the down suits.

-[crewmate] Yes. -[laughs]

-And a lot of camera. -Yeah.

[laughs]

Okay, if I try to stand like this...

[Sam over phone] There's, like, a bigger strategy

going on behind the scenes.

We did a full-on, like, half-an-hour presentation

in front of 150 people...

-Yeah. -...and got no bites.

Hmm.

The Tibetan budget has, like, exploded, and...

[Sam] Look at it like money is not a problem,

and let's just get this thing going.

Are you confident we'll get the permit?

Yeah, yeah, they are very confident

that we get it now.

-[upbeat folk music playing] -[crowd cheering]

Thank you!

[Kristin] Thane is also getting married,

so he's super busy.

But both Thane and the boss in Seven Summits

are very supportive.

They try a lot to make everything happen now.

[upbeat folk music continues]

-[crowd cheering, applauding] -[Kristin] I love weddings.

I was going to be a wedding planner

when I was young.

[guests applauding]

[chuckles]

For my wedding, I'm going to, like, have

this very traditional big wedding

with a white dress, three days. Hmm. That's the plan.

[interviewer] Do you have anyone in mind?

[laughs]

It's-- No, I cannot say that.

[chuckles] Secrets.

-[car horns honking] -[gentle music playing]

[Kristin, in Norwegian]

[in English] I wasn't looking for a boyfriend.

But right before I left for Nepal,

I actually met this guy that I really liked.

[chuckles]

But it's so hard to keep these relationships

while you're out climbing all the time.

[in Norwegian]

[traffic rumbling]

[indistinct chatter]

[in English] Kristin, we have a big problem.

[clicks tongue]

Now, we get the permit, but problem...

with, like, you know, the Sherpa...

-[Kristin] Hmm. -...and...

It is confirmed that they will not get the visa.

[pensive music playing]

[Kristin] A few days before we had to leave,

we got the Chinese visa application approved,

but most of the Sherpas from our team

got rejected, except a few.

Oh, hello! Nice to see you! [chuckles]

I'm happy you're here. Yeah. [chuckles]

Luckily, Lama, our cameraman, and I got the visa...

but we had to hire more Sherpas

when we crossed the border into Tibet.

[indistinct chatter]

[crewmate in Nepali] Thank you.

[Kristin, in English] Thank you.

Oh, we are finally inside Tibet. [laughs]

It's like I can't believe it that we are here.

[pensive music playing]

[Kristin] To stay on track for the record,

we had to summit both Shishapangma and Cho Oyu

within two weeks.

[group chanting in Nepali]

[Kristin, in English] We hired some local Sherpas,

but when we started to climb,

Lama and I were quickly ahead of them all.

He was different from the other Sherpas.

[breathes heavily]

One of the first things I noticed with him

that he was very shy. He didn't want to speak much.

Of course, that was because he didn't speak well English,

but I think also, it's just like who he is as a person.

At first, the communication wasn't so easy.

Lama, your village

-is Makalu, or...? -[Lama] Huh?

[Kristin] Yeah, but where are you born?

-You live in Makalu? -Yeah.

Makalu, this one-day summit. Second summit, one.

-[chuckling] Yeah, yeah. -Tomorrow summit...

[chuckles]

But we had this connection right from the start...

and I felt that I can trust him.

[intense music playing]

-[pensive music playing] -[Kristin breathes heavily]

I think this... [coughs] ...climb is

one of the hardest I have done actually...

[breathes deeply]

...because we are carrying so much,

and we are at 7,160,

without oxygen and super heavy pack.

We can put tent here...

-[coughs] -...or we can go up, huh?

-You decide. You boss. -[Lama] Yeah.

-No boss. -You boss. [chuckles]

-[Kristin] Okay. -[suspenseful music playing]

-[breathes heavily] -[wind howling]

[Kristin] We had the same way of climbing,

and, like, being on the mountains.

Just forward,

and just, like, really pragmatic.

Like, make it simple, and just...

[exhales sharply] ...go.

[breathes heavily, coughs]

As you go higher with less oxygen,

you will feel this... [gasps] ...this need for air,

and it's not there.

It's very claustrophobic.

[breathes heavily]

Seventy-five meters.

[crewmate over radio]

[Kristin] Lama is fixing in front.

He's a machine.

We were getting close to the summit,

and I knew that...

as soon as we reached the top,

the clock started to tick again for a new record attempt.

The rules are very simple.

You have to climb from Base Camp to the summit and down,

and prove it with your GPS track and with pictures and videos.

[breathes heavily]

[Kristin breathes heavily]

-[Lama] Kristin! -[Kristin chuckles]

-[Lama] Yeah. -[Kristin breathes heavily]

[gentle uplifting music playing]

[Kristin] We are finally on the summit

of Shishapangma in Tibet,

and I would like to say thank you

to everyone that has been helping,

to all my sponsors that have made this possible.

So, yeah, the clock is ticking. Let's get down.

Lama has been waiting for me. Now, he's ready to go down.

-Yeah. [chuckles] -Come on, come.

[Kristin] Yes, now we're going.

Now we're going.

[dramatic music playing]

-Tomorrow summit? -Yeah?

-Yeah. -Okay.

And this wind, it's okay?

-Okay. -Yeah?

Sure enough, the weather got worse...

and our cameraman was forced to turn around.

[wind howling]

[inquisitive music playing]

[Petter, in Norwegian]

[interviewer]

[interviewer]

[Petter chuckles quietly]

[interviewer]

[Kristin, in English] Me and my father was close

when I was very young.

We were similar,

especially to, like, how active we were,

and training a lot together.

[breathes heavily]

[in Norwegian]

[wind howling]

[Kristin, in English] Cho-Oyu summit! Yay!

In the end, it took us 23 hours from Camp One

to the summit of Cho-Oyu and back to Base Camp,

all in one go.

[crewmate] Whoo!

-[Kristin chuckles] Oh! -[crewmate] Congratulations!

[crewmate] Strong girl! You did it!

[Kristin breathes heavily]

I cannot cry because I'm snow blind,

-and when I cry-- Yeah. -[crewmate] Are you crying?

And when I cry, I don't see anything. [groans]

-[breathes heavily] -[indistinct chatter]

[Kristin] No. Yeah, it was hard.

[Kristin] Yeah, yeah.

[Kristin chuckles]

My dad is always saying, like,

you just have to, like, go two days,

do very hard, like, good training.

-So... [laughs] -You are the man. [laughs]

[cheerful music playing]

[Kristin] You know, when I started the project,

I wanted to share the record with the Sherpas.

It was about making it more equal.

I really wanted to share the record with the Sherpas

in the first attempt, but that didn't work out

when we didn't get the permission

to climb in Tibet.

And I was like... [grunts] ...feeling so bad about it.

-[camera shutters clicking] -[photographers] Hello, Kristin!

Hey!

-Kristin! -[Kristin] Thank you! Whoo!

-[indistinct chatter] -[Kristin chuckles]

After we came from Tibet,

I said, "I think we should ask Lama

to complete the project with me."

I really want to share it with him.

-Continue with you. -[Kristin] Yeah.

-Yeah. [laughs] -He's the best. [laughs]

Yeah. He's been popular.

Yeah, very important, without him, no summit.

Not for me, not for the other one.

If we look at the history,

it's been about Western climbers.

No one of us would have made any summits without the Sherpas.

If something happens,

it's always the Sherpa that have to take the risk.

[Thane] In the past, most of the Westerners

took all glory, took all the credit,

but there were Sherpas.

Yeah, but we should think about, "Is it better to share?"

You pay for Sherpa. It's your project, so...

[Thane] Nobody had shared a 14 peaks record before

because it's so difficult to do.

The two climbers need to stay fit and healthy

with no injuries at all,

and it's safer and easier to change Sherpa on each peak.

But Kristin's mindset is different

to the other climbers.

It became really important that

he was the one sharing the record with me,

and to manage to share it with him.

[traffic rumbling]

-[birds chirping] -[Lama, in Nepali]

[huffs]

[Lama]

[gentle music playing]

[Lama]

[Lakpa]

[Lama]

-[indistinct chatter] -[Lama]

[uneasy music playing]

[wind howling]

[Kristin breathes heavily]

[in English] There is a very, very motivated Sherpa

in front of me here now.

[Lama, in Nepali]

[Kristin, in English]

-[Lama] Okay, Didi! Go get this! -[Kristin] Whoo!

A lot of the time, it was just me and Lama.

The cameraman couldn't always keep up with us.

[uplifting music playing]

[Kristin]

Gelu, yay!

-Come, come! Whoo-hoo-hoo! -Whoo!

-Hey! -And, Lama, also come up here.

-But on the way down... -Bye!

-Whoo! -Whoo!

-Yay! -[camera beeps]

[foreboding music playing]

...we had an accident.

[coughs]

-[groans] -[Kristin] Oh, my God.

[exhales sharply]

[cameraman, in Nepali]

[Lama]

[chuckles]

[Kristin, in English] The three of us were connected

to the same safety rope,

so, when Gelu fell, we were going down with him.

For sure, I'm pretty sure that

if I didn't manage to stop Gelu when he fell,

we all would have died

because Lama couldn't stop all of us.

[Lama, in Nepali]

-[in English] -[in Nepali]

-[in English] Yeah. -Yeah.

[dial tone ringing]

[Kristin clears throat]

[Lama, in Nepali]

[cellphone beeps]

[cameraman]

[Kristin, in English] What?

[Sherpa] No, there's some serious thing...

that has happened.

So, Lama's brother... big brother in Everest?

Yeah.

-[Sherpa] He expired yesterday. -[Kristin] Oh, no.

He was with the fixing team.

You see, we just knew just now.

[somber music playing]

[Kristin] And it was on South Summit?

[in Nepali]

[Kristin, in English] Big brother, yeah.

-[Lama] Yeah. -[Kristin] Lama.

[Lama]

[Kristin] I know how much it hurts

to lose someone close to you.

When I was young,

we experienced so much sorrow and loss

in our family.

First, I lost my stepmother, and then my stepfather.

He was only 42.

There was nothing that gave us any sign

that he was going to die.

He just went to bed and died during the night.

The same year, my grandmother died,

and I was very close to her.

So, I felt that everyone was dying around me.

I know from those experiences that

everyone has their own way of dealing with loss.

Lama was going home to his family...

but the next morning he came and he said that he wanted

to complete and continue the project together with me.

[Lama, in Nepali]

[chanting in Nepali]

[Lama]

-[wind howling] -[Kristin, in English]

-[uplifting music playing] -[Kristin breathes heavily]

-Lama is here. Whoo! -Yeah, Lhotse summit!

Now, we are just climbing safely down...

and we're very tired.

[music concludes]

[breathes heavily, grunts]

[in Norwegian]

-[clears throat] -[Anita over cellphone]

-[Kristin] -[Anita]

[Kristin]

-[sniffles] -[Anita]

-[Anita] -[Kristin]

[coughs]

-[Anita] -[Kristin]

[Anita]

[Kristin]

[Anita]

-[sniffles] -[pensive music playing]

[Kristin, in English] We still have

three mountains to climb in the spring.

And I'm not really sure how...

we're going to make it.

[grunts, breathes heavily]

How many hours do you think from here to summit?

-Sixteen? -[Sherpa] Yes.

[Kristin] At Dhaulagiri, I felt how all the climbing

was slowly destroying my body.

Yay!

Whoo!

And I knew that the next peak was Annapurna.

One of the most dangerous mountains

in the world.

[dramatic music playing]

One out of five who summits dies.

And it's mostly because of the many avalanches there.

[breathes heavily]

Very, very big one.

-[Lama] -[Kristin] Yeah.

We ask on radio if they are okay.

-[in Nepali] -[radio beeps]

[crewmate over radio]

[Kristin, in English] All okay? They are okay?

[breathes heavily]

[birds chirping]

[Petter, in Norwegian]

[Kristin, in English] I'm not on a mission to...

to die.

I think my family has been a very important thing

for me to stay alive.

I don't want them to...

experience more losses.

I always do what I can to minimize the risk.

-Hello! Hello, Kristin! -[Kristin] Hello!

-How are you? -[Kristin] So happy to see you.

As we reached Camp Two,

we learned that the avalanche had swept away

all the fixed ropes.

We had to rearrange the plan.

[in Nepali]

[Kristin, in English] Of course, that cost money

that I didn't have,

but that was the way to minimize the risk...

and to keep the team as safe as possible.

[breathes heavily]

Whoo!

Oh, so... so happy to be...

[speaks Norwegian]

[exhales deeply]

[groans]

[sighs]

[Kristin breathes heavily] Oh.

[in English] Happy to be finished

with Annapurna, of course,

but... [exhales sharply]

...after a summit, I right away start to think

about next summit, or money or logistics

or how we can do things.

I was working so much between the mountains.

Following up sponsors, following up emails,

social media posts, getting more sponsors,

and trying to negotiate with Seven Summit.

So, when we are finished with this now,

we don't have any more money.

-Yeah. -[Kristin] So, we need to get

-more money. -Money.

And if we don't get any more sponsor here,

I need to go and borrow money from the bank.

[upbeat music playing]

[Sam over cellphone] We've been working directly

with various companies to get them

to part ways with big, big money.

[Kristin] Mm.

[Sam] And they just haven't bitten yet.

The biggest factor is the risk.

That we'd rather come with a safe bet.

We've broken the record now.

You can be the face of our brand.

[exhales]

[Sam] They don't wanna take that risk now.

[Kristin] All the nice things that I remember

about climbing mountains are just gone,

when it's all about logistics, and money,

and doing it very, very fast.

[coughs]

[crewmate] You wanna see a doctor?

No. I think I'm just tired. But we have to go.

We go to Base Camp.

[coughs]

And we rest for 30 minutes, and then we pack and then we go.

[breathes heavily, coughs]

I have never been so tired in my life.

[gentle music playing]

[sniffles]

When you're that tired, you don't feel anything.

It's no thoughts, no other feelings.

Everything in your body is just there to survive.

[breathes heavily, sniffles]

[wind howling]

[Lama]

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

[Lama coughs]

[wind howling]

[gentle music playing]

[Kristin breathes heavily]

Okay, we are on the summit of Manaslu.

[dramatic music playing]

[Kristin, interviewed] Doing the nine mountains

in 45 days,

we had one summit every five days,

so it was just crazy.

[Kristin] Lama.

Lama, we made it.

Yeah.

Ah. [sighs]

[breathes deeply]

[coughs]

Yeah.

[coughs]

Yeah.

[both cough]

[Kristin] When we finished Manaslu,

we were so happy and relieved.

But the truth is, without the support from Mingma,

I think the whole project would have stopped there.

[indistinct chatter]

[Mingma, in Nepali]

-[indistinct chatter] -[Mingma]

-[traffic rumbling] -[indistinct chatter]

-[cellphone ringing] -[in English] My father. Lama.

-[Petter over phone] Hello. -Namaste.

-[chuckles] -[Petter] Hello. [chuckles]

[in Norwegian]

-Yeah. Yeah. -Yeah. Yeah.

[Petter]

[chuckles]

[in English] I'm always saying that

Lama is looking like my father. He's also very, very strong.

-[both chuckle] -[Petter chuckles]

Okay, there we go. Yeah.

[Kristin, interviewed] I was so happy

that Seven Summit decided to help us out.

So, even though my body wasn't 100%,

I had a very good feeling

going into the last five mountains

in Pakistan.

-[upbeat percussive music] -[indistinct chatter]

Okay, I just need four minutes in this store.

This is me after. [chuckles]

I like this one too. Huh?

[engine rumbling]

[Kristin]

This is very typical here.

-[crowd cheering] -[car horn blaring]

I need to go and pee.

So, I need to take Lama with me, and Makpa also. Come.

-[crowd cheering] -[chuckles]

-[Makpa] It works. -Yes, teamwork.

[chuckles]

[interviewed] We have a really nice group of people

together in Pakistan.

-[Kristin] Gabriel is ready. -Boom, almost ready.

-[Kristin] He's so strong. -No. [strains]

[Kristin, interviewed] We had Makpa with us.

He is Lama's best friend.

Nima, 17, and trying to be the youngest

to summit all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks.

And Mingtemba is like Lama's nephew.

I used to enjoy these mountains so much,

and I used to enjoy the climbing, and...

all these nice people,

and I just hope this next mountain

that we can have a little bit more

of that feeling.

[music concludes]

[breathes heavily]

[coughs]

[coughs]

-[Lama] -[Kristin]

[Lama]

I think it's better to go to Camp One and rest.

Yeah.

-[breathes deeply] -[Lama] Okay. Let's go Camp One.

-Makpa staying or going? -[Lama]

[coughs]

-In Camp One? Waiting for us? -[Lama] Yeah. Waiting.

Okay, good. Let's go to Camp One.

[shudders]

[grunts]

[Lama, in Nepali]

[Kristin groans]

-[breathes heavily] -[Lama coughs]

[wind howling]

[reflective music playing]

[in English] Two use, Didi. This use?

[Kristin] No. One is okay. Yeah, use arm.

-[Lama] This, safety. -[Kristin] Yeah, I'm okay.

[interviewed] In the end, when it gets really hard...

the only thing you can think of is the next step.

And it's one step at a time.

And that's it.

-[soft uplifting music playing] -[Kristin breathes heavily]

[Lama exclaims]

[Kristin, interviewed] It felt so good

to push through the sickness,

and finally reach the top.

Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo!

-[chuckles] -[Lama]

[Kristin] And especially since

it was Lama's best friends that was there.

[crowd cheering, applauding]

[Kristin] Bye!

And also it started to feel like the record was within reach.

[crowd cheering, applauding]

Ming, now you have to drink enough water, sleep, rest,

and we're going to have some very hard days,

-but we will manage that. -[group laughs]

Yeah. We are a very strong team.

-Makpa, very strong team. -Very strong team, yeah.

[group cheering]

-[cheerful music playing] -[cows mooing]

[in Norwegian]

[chuckles]

[in English] Now we can make it here.

[Hanne, in Norwegian]

[in English] In Nepali, we speak.

[laughs]

[in Nepali]

-[laughs] -[Lama speaks Nepali]

[Kristin, in English]

[interviewed] For me, it gave me so much more...

to feel like this is our project.

[Lama] Hello, congratulations, G-II Summit.

[in Nepali, interviewed]

[Kristin, in English] And I'm also doing it

because I want him to have the record.

Whoo!

Okay, we have reached the summit of Broad Peak.

That's number 13.

And now, we are going to climb safely down.

[music fades out]

[tense tone]

-[Lama] -[Kristin]

[chuckles] What are we going to do then?

Go back to family?

Yeah.

Yeah.

-[exhales] -[tense music playing]

[Dawa] This is a very short window,

and people have been waiting for half a month here.

-Yeah. -So, everybody wants

-to push this window. -Yeah.

So, I think there are more than... 150 people.

-So, it's quite a traffic jam. -Yeah.

[Dawa] And...

[tense tone]

[Kristin] It's a very dangerous mountain.

And the Bottleneck is the most dangerous place

on all of these mountains.

[breathes heavily]

You have to climb on this narrow ledge

under a huge block of ice...

which can break off at any moment.

[ominous music playing]

[Kristin] It's called the Bottleneck

because it's not possible to pass there.

It's a lot of people that die there.

[Dawa] I hope everybody ready. So, Lama, Makpa, Mingtemba.

-[Kristin] Yeah. -[Dawa] Kristin, exciting...

-Yeah. -...to finish the 14th peak?

Yeah, let's try.

-[suspenseful music playing] -[indistinct chatter]

-[wind howling] -[pensive music overlapping]

[over radio]

[radio cuts off]

[Kristin, interviewed] At around 08:00 p.m.,

we started out from Camp Three.

Lama was in front of me, and Gabriel, and Nima behind.

We were having a very good pace.

[breathes heavily]

-[Nima] Huh? Okay. -[Kristin]

[breathes heavily]

And suddenly it stops up.

[tense tone]

And then, uh...

Um...

then we saw...

that someone was hanging upside down.

[indistinct chatter]

[Sherpa speaks Nepali]

[in English] And we see that it's something wrong

with the ropes around his legs or something,

and that his jacket and all his clothes

is like up here, so he's...

naked on his stomach and on his back.

After a while we see someone trying to put up an ice screw...

and he also fell.

[group murmuring]

[Kristin] And I think people were worried about

-everything collapsing. -[Sherpa grunts]

[Kristin] So, of course no one wants to stay there.

I told Lama we need to do something.

[in Nepali]

[Kristin, in English] After a while,

we managed to secure him with a new rope.

And it's not like it's just to turn back.

Because of all these people coming up,

it's not possible to get everyone

to turn around at the same time.

[Gabriel] He was completely frozen.

No oxygen, no gloves, no down suit.

-[somber music playing] -I tried to...

to warm, to move his, his, his f-- his...

uh, fingers.

I tried to give some hot water for him.

Tried to give some...

some comfort.

-[tense music playing] -[deep rumbling]

[Kristin] We think it was around 03:20.

A big avalanche comes on the side of this rack,

-right after the Bottleneck. -[deep rumbling]

[static over radio]

[in Nepali]

[Kristin, in English] We have two of our Sherpas there,

Makpa and Mingtemba. We need to see if they are okay.

So, we decide to split up.

Me and Lama continue,

and Gabriel was still down with the injured climber.

[Gabriel] Everybody up there, including me,

you are afraid up there.

I had just one oxygen bottle.

I gave some oxygen for him,

and then I stood there for a long time.

Then the oxygen finished.

But I realized he has no chance.

We were talking about 8,300 meters.

I have been working on other rescues

in the Himalayas...

and I know how hard it is to bring him down.

[breathes deeply] And someone...

behind me just told me, "Okay, you need to move."

"Please move, move,

because you can't stay here anymore."

[wind howling]

[Kristin] We continue, and it's getting more snow,

and a steeper part,

and another avalanche comes off very close to the trail.

[deep rumbling]

-[wind rushing] -[somber music playing]

[Dawa, in Nepali]

[Sherpa over radio]

-[inspiring string music] -[Kristin breathes heavily]

[chuckles]

[Lama, in English]

[Kristin breathes heavily, groans]

[crying]

[Kristin]

[chuckles]

[in Nepali]

[Kristin, in English] The whole team is here.

Ming, Nima, and Makpa is also here.

[gentle music playing]

[indistinct chatter over radio]

[Kristin] We were happy to reach the summit.

But we were worried about what happened behind.

[somber music playing]

[Kristin] I asked Gabriel, "Is he alive?"

And he said, "Yes, but very bad condition."

[Kristin breathes heavily]

We came back to the Bottleneck,

and saw that he was up on the trail.

But not alive anymore.

We were very sad to see that he was gone.

So, it wasn't very...

normal Base Camp.

As we come down, of course,

we are happy to be finished and things like that. But...

yeah.

[in Nepali]

[in English] No one wanted to try, we s--

Like 30 minutes, no one wanted to do anything.

And then we said, "We have to just do something."

He didn't have any oxygen.

[Sherpa] Did he slip, or was he hit by avalanche?

[Kristin] No, no, he fell. The snow was very soft.

So, when all these people came here,

I was like, "No more people here."

Because if this snow under here collapses,

then I'm not sure the ice will hold.

[deep reflective music playing]

One of the biggest records in the world has been broken.

[reporter 1] In an extraordinary feat

of mountaineering prowess, Kristin Harila,

and her dedicated climbing partner,

Lama Tenjen Sherpa, have successfully climbed K2.

[reporter 2] Woman smashes man's record

by climbing the 14 highest mountains.

[in Norwegian]

[interviewer, over TV]

[chuckles]

[passenger]

-[Petter] -[Kristin chuckles]

-Whoa! Whoa! -[group applauding]

-[Kristin squeals, chuckles] -[chuckles]

[crowd applauding]

[Kristin, in English] Climbing is a teamwork,

and that was why I wanted to share the record.

[group cheering]

[TV host, in Nepali]

[crowd applauding]

-[journalist 1] Lama! -[journalist 2] Lama!

[crowd applauding, cheering]

[indistinct chatter]

[crowd applauding, cheering]

[Thane, in English] This is a historic teamwork

between a Western climber and a Sherpa.

It's like when Hillary and Tenzing

climbed Mount Everest in 1953.

[indistinct chatter]

[Thane] Hillary and Tenzing. Harila and Tenjen.

[crowd applauding, cheering]

[Lama, in Nepali]

[horns honking rhythmically]

[in English] A Norwegian climber and her team have been accused

of walking past the injured Muhammad Hassan,

in their eagerness to set a new world record

on the mountain, K2.

[in Italian]

[reporter 1, in English] Video appearing to show

dozens of climbers walking past the injured porter.

[reporter 2] Mountaineer, Kristin Harila,

was among the climbers.

[reporter 3] The incident was questioned

by an Austrian climber who turned back.

He was alive.

They went up to the summit, they came down, he was dead.

Nobody cared.

[reporter 3] Video has emerged of climbers from Harila's team

apparently clambering over the 27-year-old.

[commentator]

[reporter 4] Two climbers say that he was left to die

by mountaineers who were more interested

in setting records than saving lives.

I think the biggest mistake that we did

was that we didn't go out

with the story of what really happened first.

You'll of course be aware of the amount of coverage

about the death of Muhammad Hassan,

and those images that appear to show your team

stepping over him.

-Is that what happened? -Well, not really.

This was filmed in the middle of the day

when it was light.

We were there when he fell, in the dark.

It was many hours before this was filmed,

and we tried for hours to save him.

The false story already had gotten

so much roots in the world.

And Gabriel, our camera guy, he went again into Hassan,

and then we were able to...

[interviewed] The story of what really happened

wasn't very controversial.

But the story of a rich Western climber

stepping over a dying porter to take the record,

was really controversial.

And that's what the media wants to have.

We tried to rescue him...

I was doing a lot of interviews all over the world.

[speaks indistinctly]

[interviewed] But in the end, it didn't matter.

-[pensive music playing] -[sighs deeply]

[cellphone chimes]

-[cellphone chimes] -[breathes deeply]

[cellphone dings]

[sighs deeply]

[brooding music playing]

[Sirbaz, in Urdu]

-[birds chirping] -[indistinct chatter]

[cellphone chimes]

[cellphone chimes]

[man over voice message, in English] Nothing

is more important than a human life.

You choose to ignore it.

[Kristin] I got around 20,000 messages and comments,

people just spreading hate.

"I hope everyone you love will die

in a painful car accident, you fucking whore."

"Rot in hell, just like your whole family."

"Your mother must be so proud of a slag like you."

[somber music playing]

[Anita, in Norwegian]

[cellphone chimes]

[cellphone chimes]

-[Kristin] -[cellphone chimes]

[Kristin]

-[indistinct chatter] -[seagulls squawking]

[Kristin]

[traffic rumbling]

-[birds chirping] -[Lama, in Nepali]

[indistinct chatter]

[Thane, in English] He's a record holder now.

He's very hopeful for his future.

[speaks Nepali]

[Thane, in English] Better life...

better education for his children.

[gentle music playing]

[Norbu, in Nepali]

[in English] I can see Lama has one big open door

with many opportunities.

Many climbers want to hire him as his Sherpa.

[Lama, in Nepali]

[uplifting music playing]

[music continues playing]

-[intense boom, rumbling] -[wind howling]

-[rising tense tone] -[rumbling continues]

[in English] Tonight, an Auburn family

is grieving the loss of a loved one

killed by an avalanche in Tibet.

The 45-year-old was attempting to become

the first American woman...

[reporter 1] The climbers, it was reported,

had been racing each other

to become the first American woman

to scale all 14 peaks.

[reporter 2] One of the climbers was led

by 35-year-old Tenjen "Lama" Sherpa.

-[pensive music playing] -[wind howling]

[Kristin] I was in Copenhagen with my girlfriends.

Then suddenly, Thane was calling.

-[somber music playing] -[Kristin] "Hey, Didi."

No. [sobs] No.

No. [shaky breathing] No.

[sobs] No.

[in Norwegian]

[Petter over cellphone]

-[Petter] -Yes.

[Petter]

[repeating]

[repeating]

-[Petter] -Hmm.

[Petter]

Hmm.

[Petter]

[sorrowful string music playing]

[music continues]

[sobs, mumbles indistinctly]

[Kristin] I have been thinking about,

what if we didn't do the record?

If we didn't,

maybe he wouldn't have been picked out to go.

Hello. Namaste.

Namaste.

Namaste.

[Lama's sister, in Nepali]

[Lama's friend]

[Lama's sister]

[Kristin, in English] Of course I know...

that I've been a part of this record-chasing thing.

And it probably affects other people

to go for records.

And that feels wrong.

[Kristin] And of course, the most important thing now

is to make sure his kids are okay.

[monk chanting]

[crickets chirping]

[Kristin, in English] I cannot sleep.

I'm having nightmares.

[breathes shakily]

My dream is often, like, I'm just holding the rope on K2,

and just watching the guy hanging upside down.

[shaky sigh]

And the next moment I'm digging in the avalanche for Lama

to get him out of the avalanche.

-[pensive music playing] -[breathes deeply, sniffles]

Maybe the worst...

nightmare.

But awake, it's been like...

was he afraid?

Like, did he feel something before?

And how long time did it take before he was gone?

And that's been my, like, the biggest nightmare,

like, was he afraid? I hope not. I hope it went...

fast. [sighs]

-[raindrops pattering] -[thunder rumbling]

[music fading out]

[birds chirping]

[gentle music playing]

[Kristin] Whatever we do now, Lama is not coming back.

He is gone.

And nothing can change that.

And yeah, we have to live with that

for the rest of our life.

-[birds chirping] -[traffic rumbling]

[indistinct chatter]

Thank you. Thank you, we will.

Thank you, and I'm very glad to work together.

We have to use what happened

to make sure it's safer in the future,

especially for the Sherpas working in the mountain.

And I hope that we can make...

it more safe.

[music brightens]

[speaks indistinctly]

It's been such a massive part of my life

that everything has been about chasing something.

But I'm not in that world anymore.

-[in Norwegian] -Aw!

[in English] And it's not like I don't have any goals now.

I have goals also, but not in that way,

and not in that... rush,

and that you have this time thing

that needs to be there.

[chuckles, in Norwegian]

[chuckles]

[in English] I still have my sister's children,

and Lama's boys in Nepal, and...

that's really nice.

-[Norbu] It's like... -[Kristin] Yeah. [chuckles]

-Whoo! Whoo! -[Norbu] Yeah.

[both chuckle]

-Are you feeling good? -Yeah.

-Yeah? -[Norbu] And you?

I'm good. Thank you.

-[music concludes] -[wind howling]

[Kristin, interviewed] He's-- Yeah, he's just like his father.

It's been super nice to be with him, and...

I call him Lama all the time. [chuckles]

[light reflective music playing]

[Kristin] Feels like we are closer to Lama

when we are up here.

And I appreciate that.

[wind howling]

[music concluding]