WINTER K2

Consent and Permissions – Winter K2 Project – A brief history

Project Origins and Permissions

Permissions and consents were secured in this order: first with Lina and John Snorri, followed by Rao Ahmed, Ali Sadpara’s manager at the time, who communicated with Sajid and his brother Mazahir, and sought permission from Ali Sadpara via Sajid. All confirmed interest and stated their approval of the filming project.

These consents — including extensive email documentation between Elia Saikaly and Lina Moey (John Snorri’s wife), Sajid’s approvals on behalf of his father Ali Sadpara, confirmation of internal family discussions, and information relayed by Lina — were documented in contemporaneous satellite text messages retrieved from John Snorri’s Garmin device at 8400m, recovered from his body. Additional consents were also documented via Facebook Messenger between Rao Ahmed and project partners at the time.

A documented barter agreement was then made with ISPR, the official media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, for a flight to K2 Base Camp with Brigadier Anwar Ahmed from ISPR. K2 is located in Gilgit-Baltistan, a militarized zone due to the Kashmir dispute, where the only air access is via military aircraft. An extensive report based on these messages and dozens of emails documents the full process. Footage was delivered to ISPR on a hard drive by one of the pilots approximately five days after arrival on January 18, 2021, completing the agreement.

Project Challenges and Arrival in Pakistan

The project was shut down twice — once due to inability to raise finance and then due to Elia Saikaly personally contracting Covid-19 before reaching Pakistan — with John and Lina pressing to continue. Elia Saikaly took on $87K in loans and was unpaid for the work.

Filming began in Pakistan on January 18th, two days after the Nepalese summited K2.

January 16, 2021 Weather Window

The Snorri/Sadpara team failed to capitalize on the weather window due to unpreparedness. This was stated clearly by Lina Moey to Elia Saikaly in a text message sent on January 12th, 2021. John Snorri received the historic weather forecast from Yan Giezendanner on January 12th, 2021. John explicitly stated to his weather forecaster that he had misunderstood the evolving weather forecasts as conditions changed at Camp 3. Mingma G Sherpa’s Nepalese weather forecaster showed significantly less wind at Camp 3.

The Nepalese team chose to proceed while the Snorri/Sadpara team remained at lower Camp 2. They had no capability or plan to ascend. All team members later confirmed this on camera multiple times in on-camera testimonies, which are part of Elia Saikaly’s Winter K2 archive.

The above is clearly documented in satellite text messages on John Snorri’s Garmin device, as well as extensive media coverage and footage from their own cameras. Despite the team’s non-summit on January 16th, Elia Saikaly continued to film as initially agreed upon with Lina, John, and the Sadpara family and management. The team happily participated. Footage in the archive includes departure for a failed summit attempt on January 23-24, dancing outside of Base Camp, Ali Sadpara shaving outside of camp while wearing a T-shirt, the Pakistani team singing outside of camp in perfect conditions, intimate interviews of Ali speaking about his love for his country, its institutions and family, and intimate moments with John Snorri talking about his children and his love for his family.

June–July 2021 Search Operation

As per both families’ requests (documented — Elia Saikaly worked with Lina for months) and a documented plea for assistance from Sajid in June 2021 — after his own fundraising efforts failed and a UK production company withdrew all funding at the last minute due to risk concerns — Elia Saikaly consulted with Sajid and responded to his plea. Elia took on nearly $100K in additional loans, some at 50% interest rates, and led a search operation with PK Sherpa. Elia was the only team member other than Sajid who was not paid for this period of work. Elia facilitated Sajid’s trip up K2 so he could search for his father. Sajid was aware that the eventual monetization of the filming was the only way to cover the costs of the search operation. Sajid approached Elia, and Elia answered his plea.

When the bodies of the missing climbers were located late July by the Nepalese rope-fixing team, despite an extremely lean operation due to limited support, PK Sherpa and Elia Saikaly, along with the Madison Mountaineering (Himalayan Guides) Sherpa team and with support from the Pakistan Armed Forces (as stated by the military Liaison officer at Base Camp and documented on video), who were prepared to deploy resources to airlift the bodies out once lowered to a lower elevation, put a plan in place to safely retrieve the bodies of Ali Sadpara and John Snorri. Sajid chose not to take the assistance. This is extensively documented on video from Camp 4 at approximately 8000m on K2 on July 27-28, 2021.

2022 Diplomatic and Family Support

Elia returned in 2022 as per Lina Moey’s wishes and assisted the family in their diplomatic trip to bring John Snorri’s body home.

Elia flew to K2 Base Camp by helicopter with Lina and John Snorri’s daughter, Halle. The family asked him to join the flight and film the event. Retired Colonel Hassan Bin Aftab, previously hired as the project fixer, facilitated access to K2 Base Camp for the Snorri family through the Pakistani Armed Forces. Although John’s body retrieval was unsuccessful that year, Lina and Halle were able to get as close as possible to the mountain where John, a loving father and partner, had passed.