A Chinese climber saved from Mount Everest has been caught in a social-media firestorm after being accused of refusing to pay a promised $10,000 fee to the Sherpas who rescued her

• A Chinese woman saved from Everest was accused of refusing to pay the Sherpas who rescued her.
• Social-media users cited her fellow climbers who said she paid only $4,000 of the $10,000 fee.

The rescue of a Chinese woman from Mount Everest kicked off a social-media firestorm last week after she was accused of refusing to pay the Sherpa who helped to save her.

While her climbing organization and the firm employing the Sherpas said that they'd settled all claims, the allegations against the climber have roiled into a social-media frenzy that's seen her attacked in thousands of comments and doxxed.

The dispute hinges on a single event — a promise made without the climber's knowledge that ultimately saved her life.

As parties on all sides stepped forward to say their piece, the only person who hasn't made a public statement is the woman at the center of it all: the 50-year-old climber Liu Qunying.

As it happened

Liu was found unconscious on May 18 near the mountain's summit by a fellow Chinese climber and his Sherpa, according to Liu's mountaineering team, Kaitu Alpine.

She'd reached the summit that day with her own hired Sherpa, but the two were separated during their descent because of "unclear communication," per Kaitu Alpine. The company said that while Liu was alone, her equipment became stuck on a rope at around 27,000 feet.

At that altitude, Liu was likely in the "death zone," a particularly dangerous stretch where temperatures are frigid and oxygen is scarce.

Liu was stuck for an hour until another Chinese climber, Fan Jiangtao, and his Sherpa, Lakpa Gelu Sherpa, discovered her. Fan was climbing Everest under the Hunan Mountaineering Team, which is separate from Kaitu Alpine.

Seeing Liu's condition, Fan and Lakpa decided to abandon their ascent and rescue her, per a statement from the Hunan Mountaineering Team.

Liu's face was covered in ice, her oxygen had run out, and her hands were so frostbitten that one of them had turned black, Fan later told Chinese media.

But hours into the rescue, Fan and Lakpa were exhausted. With Liu unconscious, the pair managed to carry her only around 650 feet. Fan said he was losing hope and close to tears when night fell.

That was when the pair met one of Fan's teammates, Xie Ruxiang, and his Sherpa, Pem Chiri Sherpa, who were on their way up to the summit.

Fan and Xie told Chinese media that Pem's help was sorely needed because he was the strongest of the group by far.

And so it was at this moment that Xie made the promise that would later form the impetus for the intense backlash against Liu. He told Pem that the unconscious Liu would pay a standard $10,000 fee if the Sherpa assisted in the rescue, per Chinese media.

The company that employs Lakpa and Pem, 8K Expeditions, confirmed details of the rescue with Insider but did not answer specific questions about the rescue fees.

With the four agreeing to work together, Lakpa and Pem gave Liu oxygen and carried her to Camp 4 while Xie and Fan kept her legs elevated.

Meanwhile, Liu's Sherpa, Lakpa Pemba Sherpa, realized his client hadn't returned after he arrived at Camp 4, per Kaitu Alpine.

He began journeying back up the mountain to find her, but was later told Liu had already been rescued, and met up with her the next morning at around 7:30 a.m. local time, the company said.

The backlash begins, and the Chinese internet explodes in fury

Xie and Fan's choice to save Liu turned them into overnight sensations on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

With 96 Chinese people given permits to climb Everest this year — the most out of any nation — summits rarely make a blip on the country's social media.

This time, however, the pair were lauded for scrapping their ascent plans to rescue a fellow Chinese citizen and for persevering through the 11 hours it took to carry her to Camp 4.

"Although they have not ascended the Mount Everest of the Earth, they have ascended Mount Everest of humanity!" one person wrote.

But the tale soured when posts on Weibo accused Liu of refusing to pay the $10,000 promised to Pem and Lakpa.

Chinese bloggers and outlets reported that Fan said Liu was only willing to pay $4,000 of the fee, and that he and Xie had to reimburse the Sherpas in the interim. He also said she tipped the Sherpas $1,500, while Fan and Xie each gave the guides $1,800. Liu did not confirm these figures.

"I gave up hundreds of thousands of yuan, gave up such a long time of preparation, and in the end I had to fork up the money. I am very angry," Fan told the local outlet UpStream News.

Screenshots emerged of Fan and Xie criticizing Liu in a chat group, further fueling the backlash. In separate statements on their Weibo accounts, Fan and Xie said an unnamed individual leaked the screenshots from a private group.

Calling for calm, the pair asked bloggers and local media to leave Liu alone.

"We saved her, and hope that she can live a good life, and we hope that the doxxing, attacks, insults, and other behaviors will stop on the internet, and that the cyberbullying ceases," Fan wrote.

But their statements didn't prevent Liu from getting swept up in a tidal wave of backlash, misinformation, and online hate. The hashtag "Everest rescued woman doesn't want to pay full rescue expenses" has since been viewed more than 370 million times on Weibo, per data seen by Insider.

Weibo users then began circulating photos of the climber, information about her mountaineering experience, and alleged details about her day job. Threads about the climber were rife with false claims, such as a report that she attempted to climb Mount Everest solo — even though Nepal has banned such endeavors.

"I'm in favor of sending her back," one person wrote. "If there's a fee to send her back, I'll contribute a little."

Amid the blowback, the expedition companies said they had settled their claims

Kaitu Alpine defended Liu in a Saturday statement, saying that she'd been the subject of "untrue rumors and people who took things out of context."

"In this incident, the accidental separation of Ms. Liu and the Sherpa was a mistake in our work, and we must take responsibility for this," Kaitu Alpine wrote.

The company added that it had settled all rescue expenses with 8K Expeditions and its Sherpas.

In a statement to Insider, 8K Expeditions said it had no outstanding claims with Liu.

"With regards to this life-saving mission, Eight Expeditions & Kaitu Expedition Nepal have no financial benefits and claims," the company said. 8K expeditions did not say whether a $10,000 rescue fee was part of those expenses.

Fan and Xie did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Liu could not be reached for comment.

Liu's case is the second high-profile rescue from Everest in May. On the same day, a Malaysian climber, Ravichandran Tharumalingam, was discovered near the mountain's summit by a Sherpa and carried to Camp 4.

But Ravichandran also faced intense backlash on social media after he was accused of refusing to publicly thank the man who saved his life.

At least 12 people have died on Everest so far this year, marking one of the deadliest climbing seasons ever.