On July 13, 1977,

Chris Bonington and Doug Scott stood atop Baintha Brakk—The Ogre (7,285 m)—for the first time ever.
No high-altitude porters. No fixed camps. No siege tactics. Just pure alpine style, six men deep in the Karakoram, chasing a bold dream on the most technical unclimbed summit on Earth.

First ascent of The Ogre.
The team split into two. Bonington, Estcourt, Rowland, and Anthoine aimed left; Scott and Braithwaite tried a direct prow. But rockfall struck. Tut was injured. Estcourt fell ill. Doug shifted to Bonington’s line.
Nine days on the mountain. Thin air. Storms. Endless granite. On July 13, Bonington and Scott summited as the sun sank behind K2 and Nanga Parbat.
Then it all went wrong.
Just below the top, Doug slipped on ice and shattered both legs. Bonington dragged him to a ledge, pressed Doug’s bare feet to his own body to stave off frostbite, and waited through a night that didn’t forgive.
The descent began—with Doug crawling, Bonington lowering him down anchor by anchor. Storms hit. Visibility dropped. Rations gone.
Mo Anthoine and Clive Rowland climbed back up to meet them. They sheltered in a snow cave for two more days. Bonington had broken ribs. A swollen wrist. Doug was freezing and in agony.
They helped Doug crawl down for days. Found Base Camp deserted. No supplies.
Mo ran ahead. Nick Estcourt returned with 12 men. Together, they dragged Doug down moraine, across glacier, and over broken trails.
Bonington stumbled behind, coughing blood, starving.
Doug was carried across the Karakoram. Eventually flown to Rawalpindi—both tibias broken below the knee.
Bonington, flown into Islamabad, was dropped on the British Embassy’s golf course—a skeleton in rags, broken and silent.
The Ogre had let them up.
But it made them earn the right to come down.
They didn’t just summit it.
They survived it.
And in the history of mountaineering, survival is style.
Read:
Beyond the Summit: A Story of Survival, Friendship, and the Descent from The Ogre
Photo ©: Chris Bonington Archives.