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Two revered Utah climbers are several days overdue from a big-wall expedition in northern Pakistan, raising fears that they could be stranded, injured or worse in the Karakorum, among the world's highest and most inaccessible mountain ranges, with little chance of rescue.

Scott Adamson and Kyle Dempster, two of the nation's most accomplished active alpinists, began their ascent Aug. 21 up the north face of Ogre 2, an ice-encrusted spire rising thousands of feet from the Choktoi Glacier. Reaching its summit is considered one of the sport's great prizes and the pair's attempt last year would have ended tragically had the duo not pulled off a stunning self-rescue.

They returned this summer to complete the line they had started the previous year, according to Jonathan Thesenga, global sports marketing manager for Black Diamond Equipment. The Salt Lake City gear maker sponsors Dempster, who at 33 has twice won the Piolet d'Or, alpinism's highest honor for achievement — in 2010 and 2013.

Friends and family of the climbers are scrambling to organize a search and rescue in this remote part of Asia that has few resources. Officials were able to summon a helicopter, but it was unable to fly near the climbing route because it lacked the equipment to fly safely through the low clouds enshrouding the mountain or detect body heat.

"It's hard to say what has happened. They could be fine, they could waiting out the storm. Or there could be an injury. We just don't know," Thesenga said. "That's why we need to get a visual inspection of the mountain."

Both climbers have roots in Utah, Dempster in Salt Lake City and Adamson, 34, in Utah County. Dempster, who owns Higher Ground Coffee, has a long history of ambitious climbs that stretched the possibilities of mountaineering. These feats garnered him endorsements and accolades, but also exposed him to numerous dangers. His cousin and climbing partner since boyhood, Drew Wilson, died after rappelling off the end of a rope on a 2005 climb on Baffin Island.

Adamson is an accomplished ice climber who has mastered routes all over the Wasatch and beyond and in the past year has seen his profile rise in mountaineering. Last year, Adamson's and Dempster's attempt on Ogre 2 ended early when an anchor failed not far from the peak's 22,900-foot summit, sending Adamson tumbling at least 100 feet down the face. The ropes stopped the fall, but Adamson broke his leg. The men managed to get themselves off the face safely on their own — despite a steady depletion of gear as they descended and a second anchor failure that sent them on another perilous tumble. On a posting about the trip, Dempster blamed himself for the accident and said he came home a safer climber.

This year Dempster returned to the Choktoi for his seventh expedition in Pakistan. The men planned to tackle Ogre 2's north face, which had yet to ever be summited, in a five-day trip from their base camp. They set out Aug. 21 and were last seen the next day, when their cook spotted their headlamps about halfway up the face, according to Black Diamond's Facebook page, where Thesenga is posting updates. The next day a storm moved in.

"The weather has been off and on, wind, snow and clouds," Thesenga said. "It's not a storm of the century hitting the mountain, but there is bad weather that could inhibit them from getting down, especially if someone injured."

A Go Fund Me account has been set up to solicit money for their rescue.

The climbers' friends and sponsors have hired a team of porters from a village on the opposite side of the mountain to trek up to it with binoculars. The idea is to scan the Ogre's south face to investigate whether the climbers are descending an uplanned route.

"It is an extremely remote part of the world. It's not heavily populated. That entire area is extremely steep and mountainous. There's ice and glaciers everywhere. It not an easy place to get around," Thesenga said. "Time is of the essence."

Brian Maffly covers public lands for The Salt Lake Tribune. Maffly can be reached at bmaffly@sltrib.com or 801-257-8713.

Twitter: @brianmaffly