Mohammad Karim (1950/51 – 4 April 2022), also known as "Little Karim", was a Pakistani high-altitude porter-turned mountain climber.^[2] He climbed Gasherbrum II without supplementary oxygen.^[3]

Biography

Karim was born in Hushe Valley of District Ghanche, Gilgit-Baltistan. He reached Skardu city in 1976 from his home town, Hushe Valley, to try his luck at becoming a high-altitude porter. He was rejected by a team looking at his stature believing that he would not be able to carry 25 kg weight up to the base camp of K-2. Though he was in his teens, he looked like a 10-year-old boy due to his appearance.^[4]

Losing hope, Karim was about to leave, when a Spanish team ran out of porters and took him along. In the same trip he managed to summit a 7000-meter peak.^[5] The Spanish team members were so impressed by him that they wrote a book about the life of little Karim and also made a film in the year 2000. The film was aired in Spanish cinema.

Little Karim died on 4 April 2022.

Documentaries on Karim

In 1985, Laurent Chevallier, a French documentary filmmaker, made a documentary on Karim. In 1997, the same person made a documentary on him, this time, titled Mr Karim. He was again filmed for the third time by the same person sometime later.^[2]

References