Published below is an appeal for funding to help Scott Adamson and Kyle Dempster, two of America’s most gifted alpinists, now missing during their attempt to ascend the unclimbed North Face of Ogre 2 in Pakistan.
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Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson, widely known within the climbing community for their expertise in the sport, began climbing the northern face of “Ogre II”, near the Choktoi Glacier on August 21 in a five-day trip.
Global Rescue Operations spokeswoman Ann Shannon says a military helicopter conducted flights over the likely locations of the climbers Saturday morning. “The search goes on”.
“A team of local high-altitude rescuers has been searching for them for the past three days but bad weather is preventing them from ascending”, he said. They are on a nearby glacier, not the same mountain peak Adamson and Dempster climbed.
Pakistan has always been a draw for foreign climbers lured by some of the most spectacular mountains on earth, including the savage K2, the world’s second highest peak, the official said.
Snowy and cloudy conditions are hindering rescue efforts that began Sunday, he said.
It was Scott Adamson, not Kyle Dempster, who broke his leg after a 100-foot fall. The Utah-based outdoor company sponsors Dempster.
The climbers, Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson, were attempting to summit the 6,960-metre (22,835-feet) Ogre-II peak in the Karakoram mountain range but did not return when they were expected to, said Karrar Haidri, a spokesman for the Alpine Club. He last won in 2013 for a climb he did with others in the same area in Pakistan.
Thesenga says the two made the same attempt previous year and almost died after Dempster broke a leg and the two later fell 400 feet down the mountain.
“It’s a remote area in Pakistan, not like you see with teams of people in the Himalayas”, said Thesenga.
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“They wanted to finish what they started; they knew they made mistakes last year and would not make them this year”, friend and fellow climber Jonathon Thesenga said.
