Little Karim: The Man Who Lifted Bonington to Get the Job

Mohammad Karim — born in Hushe, Ghanche district, around 1950 — spent decades hauling loads to 8,000-metre camps while expedition journals logged him only as 'accompanied by a high-altitude porter.' This is the story they didn't write down.

1. Hushe: Where the mountains were the classroom

Karim grew up in Hushe, a village in Ghanche district at the foot of Laila Peak (6,096 m) and Masherbrum (7,881 m), where his parents kept sheep on the Gondogoro high pastures — and where no school existed for him to attend.

2. 1,800 men. One job. One stunt.

In 1978, some 1,800 Balti men gathered at the polo ground in central Skardu to compete for porter slots on Chris Bonington's K2 expedition; Karim, dismissed as too small, hoisted the six-foot-six Brit onto his shoulders and ran the length of the field to earn his place.

3. 28 days above 6,700 metres — without oxygen

On the 1979 French K2 expedition, three porters shared the name Abdul Karim; expedition leader Bernard Mellet gave them nicknames — Big, Medium, and Little — and the smallest one spent 28 days above 6,700 m, hoisting loads to 8,200 m with no supplementary oxygen.

4. He carried a hang glider to 8,035 metres

In 1985, Karim lugged a 16-kilogram hang glider — wingspan of five metres — to the summit of Gasherbrum II so French pilot Jean-Marc Boivin could set a world altitude jump record; Karim's role was credited to almost no one.

5. At 7,700 m, everyone else walked away

During a 1986 Broad Peak descent, a Spanish climber collapsed at 7,700 m and begged to be left behind; Karim alone turned back, fashioned a makeshift sled from climbing clothing and a harness, and hauled the man 700 metres down to Camp 3.

6. Fame in Europe, a small store back in Hushe

A Spanish NGO built Karim a guesthouse in Hushe in 2008, but he donated the building to his community — the welfare centre it became has since funded scholarships for over 300 local students, while Karim ran a modest shop next door.