2 well-known Utah climbers missing near Pakistan glacier

If a helicopter can spot the men-who would have run out of food and fuel by now if they’re alive and stranded-a rescue team is standing by. They were last seen on August 22 about halfway up the peak before a snow storm moved in.

“After days and days of waiting, the upcoming dawn in Pakistan brings us our greatest opportunity for rescuing Scott and Kyle”, said Thesenga about a search that will began Friday night in USA time zones. “We are hoping for good weather to continue our search and helicopter rescue”.

Quartz has reached out to the organizers of the fundraising campaign and the American Alpine Club (AAC) for more information about the search efforts. 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 GoFundMe page was aiming to raise $100,000 for the emergency rescue of Dempster and Adamson. “The climbers are still missing, and the weather has prevented our rescue efforts”. As of August 31, efforts to locate Dempster and Adamson on Ogre II were limited to sending search parties on foot.

He is the global sports marketing for Utah-based Black Diamond Equipment, which is sponsoring 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. His mountaineering accomplishments are well-documented online-including an historic ascent of Ogre II’s sister peak, Ogre I, in 2012. Dempster is a two-time victor of the coveted climbing award, Piolets d’Or. Thesenga said the pair made the same attempt previous year, when Dempster broke his leg after a 100ft fall and the two then fell 400ft while trying to get down the mountain. During the rappel, one of the anchors that Dempster had secured to hold their ropes broke, dropping both men 90 meters down to the ground.

There is no way to know what happened on the mountain this week.