The French mountaineers did not find the equipment supposedly left in place by the repeaters - Lacedelli and Ghedina - to abseil.

Bonatti, who made the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958, was ostracised from the climbing community and in 1965 gave up mountaineering.

Bonatti displays proof of his innocence, including a photograph of Lacedelli and Compagnoni wearing oxygen masks on the summit.

As agreed beforehand, Bonatti and Mehdi had carried the oxygen bottles for the summit team who were waiting for them in Camp IX.

But the top camp was placed in a higher location than Bonatti had expected, and when they couldn’t find the tent, they were forced to bivouac at 8100 meters.

[5] Ten years after the ascent, mountaineering journalist Nino Giglio published newspaper articles based on interviews with Compagnoni and the expedition’s Pakistani liaison officer Colonel Ata-Ullah.

These accusations prompted Bonatti to file and win a libel suit against Giglio and the newspaper (the damages were donated to an orphanage).

One aspect of the libel case was embarrassing to Bonatti: his lawyer tracked down Amir Mehdi in Hunza, bringing him to Gilgit District Court for deposition.