Ogre II and I (r.), they reached the col

Three attempts, then it was over. As reported, Alexander Huber, the Swiss Dani Arnold and the two East Tyroleans Mario Walder and Christian Zenz abandoned their expedition on the 7285-meter-high Ogre I in Pakistan and returned home. They had wanted to reach the summit of the mountain, which so far has been scaled only three times, over the still not mastered East Pillar. I spoke to Alexander, aged 48, the younger of the two Huber brothers, about the failed expedition.

Alexander, you wrote on Facebook that you knew what the mountain wanted to tell you. What was the message?

We set off to the mountain three times and were able to control the situation with maximum risk management three times. But we noticed every time that we were running extremely late. There was only a very short time window to move safely on the mountain. In this case you have to be en route with full steam to get out of the danger zone on time. We did it three times, and it turned out well. But one day it won’t work so well, and then you are in the middle of this extremely dangerous terrain and can not get out.

In addition, we had such a bad snow. We fought through slush, at 6,100 meters, and in the middle of the night! Those were brutal conditions. This is clearly due to climate change. So better stay away if you want to survive.

Alexander Huber

Was it an unanimous decision to abandon the attempt?

Absolutely unanimous. It was clear to all of us that under such circumstances we do not even have the slightest chance of coming close to the summit at all. And if I know I’m not going to reach the summit, because the snow is so lousy, it’s better to leave it be. We have also seen the snowfields above and realized that an avalanche had swept down there. Of course, it doesn’t ensure a good atmosphere if you see that the snow conditions above are still problematic and very dangerous.

Climate change leaves traces

You mentioned climate change. Once again, it was extremely warm in the Karakoram this summer. Do you think it’s an alternative to arrive at a later date?

I experienced it two years ago on Latok, last year in Greenland and now again: Climate change is so clearly noticeable that it almost hurts. As in the Alps, mountaineering will also have to change in the Karakoram. Probably in the future climbers will first acclimatize on an easy seven-thousander and then travel to such a difficult mountain as Ogre towards the end of August, for only two or three weeks. This is the only scenario I can think of so far, so that you can tackle such a dangerous mountain with the strength you need. For sure, I’m going to do it this way next time.

So, you will try for the third time to scale Ogre I?

Maybe. In 1993, I first envisaged this mountain as a goal, along with some friends from the Bavarian town of Traunstein. However, in the end we decided to go to Latok II, where I went with Thomas in 1997. [With Toni Gutsch and the American Conrad Anker, they succeeded the first ascent via the West Face of Latok II]. In 1999, we tried to climb Ogre I [With Gutsch and Jan Mersch, they tried in vain to climb via the South Pillar to the summit]. This was the beginning of my thinking about mountaineering and climbing on the very high mountains. That’s why Ogre is somehow anchored in me. If it fits, I’ll go back there. But if I do so, then certainly with completely changed tactics.

East Pillar of Ogre I

This summer, there was hardly anything to be gained on Ogre I. “The weather was almost always rather bad,” German top climber Alexander Huber writes on Facebook about his expedition to the 7285-meter-high mountain in Pakistan. The conditions were marginal. “A little old snow from the winter and a lot of fresh snow from early summer in the structure of the snowpack. In addition always high temperatures. Summing up, piles of slush.” The 48-year-old, the younger of the Huber brothers, had wanted to reach the summit along with the East Tyroleans Mario Walder and Christian Zenz and the Swiss Dani Arnold via the still unclimbed East Pillar. Even before departure, Alexander had described Ogre I to me as “one of the most exclusive peaks of our planet, one of the most difficult spots to reach”. This was confirmed: Climbing was only possible after night schedule.

Terminus at the foot of the pillar

Dangerous ascent to the col

“During our three ascents to the col between Ogre I and Ogre II, we had to expend much energy to control the objective risks, “ reports Alexander. “Seracs, collapsing snow cornices, rockfall and wet snow avalanches, the first at 6 a.m., left us little room. Every activity had to take place between midnight and 5 a.m., then we had to wait in the tent for 19 hours until next night’s action.“ The plan to be en route only at night “unfortunately worked only half way”, writes Dani Arnold on his website, “because it took a few hours before the snow got hard in the night and until the sunrise we had little time to climb.” Finally, the decision was made: The entry to the East Pillar was the terminal stop of the night train – “far from the possibility to get close to the summit,” says Alexander Huber. “We are ready to give very much for a mountain: energy, motivation, willingness to suffer, commitment, risk tolerance. But if it is hopeless, we realize quickly that it is time to say no.”

Only three ascents

So the number of successful ascents on Ogre I remains at only three. The first was made 40 years ago, on 13 July 1977, by the British climbers Chris Bonington and Doug Scott. The descent became a drama with a happy end: Scott broke both ankles, Bonington two ribs. Nevertheless, both of them, supported by the other team members, reached the base camp one week after their summit success – one of the great survival stories on the highest mountains in the world.  In 2001, Alexander’s brother Thomas and the two Swiss Urs Stoecker and Iwan Wolf succeeded the second ascent of the mountain, in 2012 the Americans Kyle Dempster and Hayden Kennedy the third one.

Having taken the risk seriously

Nothing to be gained

For Alexander Huber it was his second failed attempt on Ogre I. In 1999, he had tried with his brother Thomas, Toni Gutsch and Jan Mersch in vain to climb via the South Pillar to the summit. The decision to turn around again was anything but easy, Alexander admits: “But I think we understood what the mountain wanted to tell us. And the mountain will be there even longer!” Dani Arnold also bears the failure on Ogre with dignity. “I am disappointed now,” writes the 33-year-old. “I am convinced, however, that it won’t turn out all right some day if you take an objective risk too often. Apart from that, I also think it is stupid if you don’t take serious what is foreseeable.”

Kyle Dempster (l.) and Scott Adamson

Thomas Huber‘s new Karakoram adventure began with a rescue mission. The German top climber’s exact local knowledge on the Ogre (also called Baintha Brakk) was in demand. About a week ago (I report on it only now because I was on holiday in the Alps at that time) the 49-year-old was picked up by a Pakistani rescue helicopter to search along with the crew for the missing Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson. In vain. No sign of the Americans. In the end the search was canceled because there was no more hope of finding them alive.

Crowd funding on the Internet

The Pakistani expedition cook of the two Americans had seem them from Base Camp for the last time on August 22: About halfway up the still unclimbed North Face of the 6960-meter- high Ogre II. Then the weather changed, storm and heavy snowfall began. When there was still no sign of life from Dempster and Adamson even after days, families and friends of both started a crowd funding on the Internet to finance the helicopter rescue. Within days, they collected the required sum of nearly $ 200,000.

Two-time Piolet d’Or winner

Latok group and Ogre (r.)

Kyle and Scott had tackled the North Face already in 2015, then Adamson had broken his leg just below the summit ridge. With luck, both had survived the descent. Dempster and Adamson were well-known members of the international top climbing scene. The 34-year-old Adamson had succeded some first ascents in Nepal and Alaska. The 33-year-old Dempster loved the Karakoram, a “pretty mind blowing place”, as he once said. Kyle had been awarded twice the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar for mountaineers“: in 2010 (along with Bruce Normand and Jed Brown) for the first ascent of the North Face of the 6422-meter-high Xuelian West in China – and then in 2013 (along with Hayden Kennedy and Josh Wharton) for a new route on the southeast side of the Ogre I. In the previous year the trio had succeeded the only third ascent of the 7285-meter-high granite giant in Karakorum. The legendary first ascent of Ogre had been done by the British Doug Scott and Chris Bonington in 1977. Then it took 24 years until Thomas Huber along with the Swiss Iwan Wolf and Urs Stoecker reached the summit for the second time. Almost three weeks earlier they had already succeeded the first ascent of the 6,800-meter-high Ogre III.

Huber’s destination: Latok I

Thomas at Latok I in 2015

So Thomas Huber is familiar with this mountain massif. But even with his support the search for Dempster and Adamson remained unsuccessful. This fall, Thomas and his German climbing partners Toni Gutsch and Sebastian Brutscher are tackling the north side of the 7145-meter-high Latok I which is located not far from the Ogre. Neither the North Face nor the North Ridge have so far been climbed up to the highest point. “I have also the courage to say no at any moment,” the older of the Huber brothers told me before his departure to Pakistan. “If I feel that it doesn’t work physically, I’ll say no.” Thomas had survived a 16-meter fall from a rock face in the Berchtesgaden region on July 5 – “with incredible luck,” as he himself acknowledged. The two US climbers on the Ogre sadly were not favored by such a fortune.