Ogre South Face first ascent by Hayden Kennedy and Kyle Dempster

Fresh from the first ascent of the East Face of K7, Hayden Kennedy and Kyle Dempster have doubled their already impressive Karakorum takings this summer with the immense first ascent of the south face of Baintha Brakk, more commonly known as Ogre 1.

This 7,285m peak was famously first climbed via the Southwest Spur to the West Ridge in 1977 by Doug Scott and Chris Bonington and during the first abseil off the summit Scott broke both his legs. Bonington broke two ribs during the descent and their incredible seven day fight for survival has gone down in the history of mountaineering as one of the most epic undertakings of all times.

Despite numerous attempts the Ogre lay dormant for nearly a quarter of a century, until Urs Stöcker, Iwan Wolf, and Thomas Huber made the historic second ascent in 2001 via the South Pillar route.

The success of Kennedy and Dempster is certainly monumental and despite the fact that there are precious little details to go on - the two are currently travelling and the only source is an email written by Dempster and published on the facebook page of one of his sponsors, Edelweiss Ropes - it goes without saying that this third ascent of the mountain, via a new route, seals what is indeed a stellar year for the two young Americans!