Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson, the two elite alpinists are missing in Pakistan. Photo: GoFundMe
American alpine climbers Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson are missing near northern Pakistan’s Choktoi Glacier. The pair set off on August 21, planning on a five-day camp-to-camp ascent of the North Face of the Ogre 2. But they have not been seen since August 22 when a cook spotted their headlamps halfway up the face. On Sunday, search efforts by friends, family and another climbing team began, according to a post on Black Diamond’s Facebook feed.
On the 23rd, the day after they began, a storm moved into the area and snowfall and clouds have persisted since. Both climbers are seasoned alpinists based in Utah with tremendous climbing experience, but their disappearance is “no surprise given the complexity and scale of the terrain and the vagaries of the weather,” the post says.
The pair attempted this super-difficult peak last year, only surviving because of a harrowing self-rescue.
Supporters have launched a funding campaign to keep search efforts going. In just 14 hours since its posting, more than 2,000 donors have contributed $95,000 of a $100,000 goal.
Earlier today on the funding campaign, Juanita Ah Quin wrote that the area remains socked in by cloud cover, preventing helicopter search, and that a rescue team that tried to climb the descent route was turned back due to poor weather. “Visibility is next to none,” Quin wrote. “Yesterday, we were able to send a team off of high altitude porters from the back side of the Ogre, a possible alternate descent Kyle and Scott may have taken from the summit because of the storm.”
Twice, Dempster has won alpinism’s highest honor, the Piolet d’Or. On Facebook, Adamson’s uncle, John Porcaro, wrote that the two climbers “have world-class skill on snow, ice, and rock. They’ve been through some tough spots, and they always keep climbing. I have to believe they are hunkered down, waiting for a safe break in the weather.”
