'One of the greatest mountaineering survival stories never told.' -
The Sunday Times
Some mountains are high; some mountains are hard. Few are both.
On the afternoon of 13 July 1977, having become the first climbers to
reach the summit of the Ogre, Doug Scott and Chris Bonington
began their long descent. In the minutes that followed, any feeling of
success from their achievement would be overwhelmed by the start of a
desperate fight for survival. And things would only get worse.
Rising to over 7,000 metres in the centre of the Karakoram, the
Ogre - Baintha Brakk - is notorious in mountaineering circles as
one of the most difficult mountains to climb. First summited by Scott
and Bonington in 1977 - on expedition with Paul 'Tut' Braithwaite,
Nick Estcourt, Clive Rowland and Mo Anthoine - it waited
almost twenty-four years for a second ascent, and a further eleven years
for a third.
The Ogre, by legendary mountaineer Doug Scott, is a two-part
biography of this enigmatic peak: in the first part, Scott has
painstakingly researched the geography and history of the mountain; part
two is the long overdue and very personal account of his and Bonington's
first ascent and their dramatic week-long descent on which Scott
suffered two broken legs and Bonington smashed ribs. Using newly
discovered diaries, letters and audio tapes, it tells of the heroic and
selfless roles played by Clive Rowland and Mo Anthoine. When the
desperate climbers finally made it back to base camp, they were to find
it abandoned - and themselves still a long way from safety.
The Ogre is undoubtedly one of the greatest adventure stories of
all time.
