Adopted from: ‘The Ogre’ by Doug Scott
In the summer of 1977, deep in Pakistan’s Karakoram, a small British team set their sights on a monstrous, unclimbed peak: Baintha Brakk, known as ‘The Ogre’ (7,285 m). It was remote, savage, and steeped in legend.
They weren’t there for fame. They came for the purity of the climb—alpine style, no porters, no siege tactics, just bold, clean movement on vertical granite.
On July 13, after nine brutal days on the mountain, Chris Bonington and Doug Scott stood on the summit. It was the first ascent. But victory turned to disaster almost instantly. Just below the top, Doug slipped- shattering both legs. They were alone, near 24,000 feet, with no shelter and no way down.
What followed became one of the most harrowing survival stories in mountaineering history.
Bonington dragged Scott to a ledge. They survived the freezing night, Scott barefoot, Bonington cradling his feet to prevent frostbite. Then came the descent: a tortured crawl down avalanched slopes and icy couloirs, Scott inching forward on his knees while Bonington hacked steps and built anchors—one desperate rappel at a time.
Help came in the form of Mo Anthoine and Clive Rowland, who climbed up to meet them. They huddled in a snow cave for two days as a full Karakoram storm buried their camp. Food was almost gone. Bonington had broken ribs, a ruined wrist, and was coughing blood.
They strapped Doug into a makeshift stretcher and hauled him down. The mountain offered no mercy—collapsing seracs, vertical ice, crevasse-riddled glaciers. When they finally reached base camp, it was abandoned. The porters had left. Supplies were gone.
Still, they pressed on. Mo raced ahead to find help. Nick Estcourt returned with 12 porters. For days, they dragged Scott through boulder fields, over glacial debris, and across treacherous trails. Bonington stumbled behind, his body failing.
In Askole, the promised helicopter never came. Bonington was stranded for nearly a week. Scott was finally flown to Skardu, then Rawalpindi—his tibias shattered, his body battered but alive.
Bonington was later airlifted to Islamabad, dropped onto the manicured lawns of the British Embassy—‘a ghost from the mountains’.
They didn’t just summit ‘The Ogre’.
They survived it. To tell one of the greatest mountaineering tales ever.
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