Two American mountaineers on an expedition to Gilgit-Baltistan presumed dead

Two American mountaineers who had come to Pakistan to scale the high mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, are presumed to be dead. This conclusion was reached after several failed attempts were made to contact them.

The two mountaineers, identified as Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson began their ascent of the Ogre-II peak near K-2 in Gilgit-Baltistan on August 21. The two mountaineers had experience of scaling high peaks but this was the first time that they had come to this region. The pair was trying to cross a peak which is estimated to be 7,285 meters high.

Dempster and Adamson had taken the services of a tour company by the name of Active Tours Pakistan and the tour operator, Iqbal, gave the details of the current situation. “They can’t be contacted despite various attempts,” said Iqbal.

“We are praying for their safe return, but that seems least likely now,’ Iqbal told reporters.

Iqbal further elaborated that both the mountaineers just had a week’s worth of food and water and their plan was to come back from the summit after a five-day period. However, many days had passed since then and still there was no trace. The weather had also become quite unpredictable with unexpected snow storms occurring up above the high mountains.

A spokesman for the Gilgit-Baltistan tourism department told reporters that Dempster and Adamson were accompanied by a local guide by the name of Abdul Ghafoor, and even he is currently unapproachable. We will come to know the details, once the guide is back,” said the officials.

A search operation for the US mountaineers is to be launched soon with the help of the army.

G-B is a heaven for mountaineers as it is home to some of the tallest mountains in the world, including K2 — at 8,611 metres.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=53913

Posted by fatimaarshad on Sep 2 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.