Berghaus-sponsored German climber Thomas Huber has succeeded on
the previously unclimbed west summit of Ogre II, also known as Ogre
III - to avoid confusion...
The 7250-metre peak has been described by first sumiteer Chris
Bonington - on the Berghaus
Ogre microsite - as 'arguably, the most difficult mountain in the
world,' and was the scene of a major epic when, after summiting, Doug
Scott broke both his legs and, with the assistance of the rest of the
four-man team virtually crawled down the mountain.
Originally Huber, on his second visit to the peak, which had been
climbed only once, intended to attempt the mountain via the South
Pillar, but friction with an American expedition on the same route
caused him and his team to abandon their original plans on safety
grounds.
Instead the team - Huber, Urs Stöcker and Iwan Wolf - decided
to attempt, alpin-style, the 6800-metre peak known as either the west
summit of Ogre II or 'Ogre III'.
It was no easy option though. Huber comments: 'Everything on this
mountain has been harder than we expected: the glacier with its
seracs, the long and steep (up to 60 degrees) couloir, and now the
steep granite pillar...'
The team summited early last week and returned to base camp. For
full details and some small but stunning pictures, check out the
Berghaus
Ogre microsite.
