Two American mountain climbers have gone missing in northern Pakistan while attempting to scale a peak and bad weather was preventing a rescue, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said on Thursday.
Advertisement
Dempster, of Salt Lake City, and Adamson, of Provo, attempted to climb Ogre II past year but had to abandon the climb after Adamson fell and broke his leg.
Two Pakistani military helicopters are planning to search on Saturday morning for a pair well-known Utah climbers missing on an icy mountain.
This 2009 photo shows Kyle Dempster.
Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson, well-known alpinists from Utah, were ascending a mountain peak known as Ogre II on August 21 and were supposed to return to their base three days later, an outdoor company sponsoring Dempster said.
A second helicopter was deployed after the first one had to refuel.
The government had previously not dispatched a rescue helicopter because of weather conditions, local official Muhammad Iqbal said.
Thesenga says the two left base camp on August 21 to begin their ascent.
Dempster, 33, and Adamson, 34, are two of the most accomplished alpinists of their generation, he said. “It’s a remote area in Pakistan, not like you see with teams of people in the Himalayas”, a rep of Black Diamond Equipment, which sponsored the climbers, tells CNN.
Thesenga says four porters have climbed the mountain hoping to spot the climbers with binoculars.
“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.
Advertisement
Six other climbers, including two from the United States, who were in the area are at base camp and ready to ascend if they can help, he said. In a video posted on the Black Diamond website, Dempster talks about the risk of his daring sport.
