Mortenson

Temperature: 79°F. One of the most sinister and foreboding peaks in the Karakoram is Baintha Brakk (7,285 meters) on the northeastern side of Biafo Glacier (west of K2). Its ominous, sheer east wall looks like a medieval fortress with no gateway rising up to a spectacular granite throne in the Karakoram sky.

Baintha Brakk's western name is the Ogre, and for good reason. The last time anyone stood on top of the infamous Ogre was in 1977 when Doug Scott climbed it. For that honor, he paid the price of two broken ankles and his legendary three-day crawl down the mountain.

For those who dare to have a go at the mountain, hungry black bears add to the challenge. The bears have a penchant for seizing expedition food and terrorizing cooks and Pakistani Army liaison officers who guard the base camps below.

"For those that dare to have a go at the mountain, hungry black bears add to the challenge...terrorizing cooks and Pakistani Army liaison officers..."

This year, the Ogre kept up its reputation and rebuffed a valiant attempt by the German brothers, Alexander and Thomas Huber, and their partners, Jan Mersch and Toni Gutsch. Fortunately, the team escaped the mountain without injury or bear claws in their flank.

Undaunted, the Huber brothers, along with Toni Gutsch and Jan Mersch, went on to nearby Latok IV to make a brilliant ascent up its eastern wall (this is according to Askole porters, but I could not verify). In 1997, the Huber brothers, along with Toni Gutsch and Conrad Anker, climbed the vertical, 1,000-meter wall of Latok II (7,018 meters) next to Latok IV. Latok II had not been summited since the first ascent, twenty years prior.

Perhaps most interesting of all, is that the Huber brothers, two of the world's best big wall climbers, were thought to be on the Great Northwest Trango Wall in late May. Rumor had it that they wanted to beat Alex Lowe, Mark Synnott, and Jared Ogden up the mile-high route. The American Trango team was quite relieved when they arrived in Trango Base Camp to find their German counterparts not there. Anyone for ringside seats amongst the Baintha Brakk bears to watch Lowe, Synnott, and Ogden against the Huber brothers on the Ogre?

— Greg Mortenson, MountainZone.com Correspondent