Confusion at the camp was apparent with climbers claiming after the disaster that a team leader did not set fixed rope lines as others believed he agreed to do so.
[9] Following an avalanche, a serac fell, cutting all the fixed lines on his and his fellow members of the Dutch-led Norit K2 Expedition's[6] path.
[13] Expedition leader Wilco van Rooijen, a 40-year-old Dutch climber who was airlifted to a military hospital in Pakistan after surviving the accident, said that poor preparations had contributed to the disaster.
"Everything was going well to camp four, and on summit attempt, everything went wrong," said van Rooijen from his hospital bed in the Northern Pakistani town of Skardu.
In 2009, a memorial fund was set up in his honour to provide first-aid training and safe climbing technique for high-altitude porters.
[15] Jason Black, from Letterkenny, County Donegal, reached the summit of K2 in July 2018, after attempting the climb on the tenth anniversary of McDonnell's death as a memorial to him.
A documentary released in 2013 by Nick Ryan, entitled The Summit, highlighted McDonnell's death and the overarching disaster that he was involved in.
[11] A book with the same title, The Summit: How Triumph Turned to Tragedy on K2's Deadliest Days was written and released by Sherpa guide Pemba Gyalje and fellow mountaineer Pat Falvey.