Baffin Big walls 2010 - Arctic Monkeys

the summit

Congratulations again to Mike 'Twid' Turner, Stuart McAleese and Mark Thomas on establishing their new route Arctic Monkeys (VI A4 V+ 1400m) on Sail Peaks, in Stewart Valley, Baffin Island.

base of the new route

The trio reached the base of the mountain at the start of May as you'll have read here at the blog and spent the past three weeks forging a line which Turner had spotted during a previous expedition back in 1999.

Mark climbing through the storm

Climbing capsule style, they spent 18 consecutive nights in portaledges on the wall and encountered difficulties up to A4 on the 1400m line. Furthermore, they were severely put to the test by poor weather and cold conditions (down to -20°C)

Despite running out of food the trio persevered and topped out at 16.00hrs on the 24th May in perfect conditions, before abseiling off rapidly and returning to civilization to escape the thawing fjord.

Stu takes a break in the portaledge

We'll have more information and photos from the guys over the next week but you can check out a full interview with Twid over at Planet Mountain here