Little Karim

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

Mohammad Karim
Born	1950/51 Hushe Valley, Ghanche District, Pakistan
Died	4 April 2022 (aged 71)[1]
Other names	Little Karim
Occupation(s)	Adventurer, mountaineer, high-altitude porter

Biography

Karim was born in Hushe Valley of District Ghanche, Gilgit-Baltistan. He reached Skardu city in 1976 to try to become a high-altitude porter for climbing expeditions. Though he was in his teens, he also looked like a 10-year-old boy due to his appearance. Karim was rejected by a team who felt his smaller stature would prevent him from carrying a 25 kg weight to the base camp at K2.^[4]

Karim was about to leave when a Spanish expedition ran out of porters and took him along. On their expedition, Karim managed to summit a 7000-meter peak. 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.^[5]

Documentaries

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