The team of Olly Sanders, Dave Rudkin and
Lee Roberts, left U.K on 24 th July and three days and four plane rides later
we arrived in Upernavik . We were met by Nikolas Sorenson our local contact who
helped us enormously over our stay.Our freight was delayed due to mechanical
problems and we finaly got our boat drop off on the 30 th to end of†the fjord
at the South side Qaersorssuaq island,which was around 30km from Upernavik The
campsite was perfect, sheltered from most wind directions with good water and an
abundant supply of driftwood, there was also a lot of plastic which we cleaned up
and burnt. This was in an attempt to leave minimal human impact, all human waste
was disposed of in the sea and tissue paper was burned. In fact, the camp was
left in a much cleaner state than our arrival.
We hired a rifle from our host as a
safety precaution should we come across any bears or rabid foxes. Bullets were
purchased from the local supermarket and we carried out a short rifle training
session once camp was set up. During this we realized the gun to be defective
and quite dangerous to use. Fortunately we didn’t’t need to use the gun, the
only wildlife we came across were arctic foxes which were very hospitable.
Our main objective was the large cliffs
on the left side of the fjord looking out from the beach and we spent the next
day going for a closer look and although the journey was short in distance the
boulder fields made it awkward and slow. We spotted a crack system, but decided
to return for a closer look. The next
day we went climbing on a cliff nearer the camp, that Olly had climbed on a
previous line and put up six pitch route with a stunning third pich,this was
named Heroes of Hotness and was graded E3 6a The team returned to the Main objective
and three pitches of climbing put us on top of the obvious pinnacle and gave us
a closer look at the crack system which looked very good . Lee aided on pitch
and C1 and fixed a line. This pich would go free at E6 we thought. We returned
to camp to get more gear for an attempt and we had decided to haul gear as
well. Nickolaj had no sat phone so we were relying on pressure readings and
observations to predict weather, but although it was a little cloudy the next
day, we decided to go for it.
We got to our high point and Dave then
led the hardest pitch at E5 6b the climbing and rock were of excellent quality
and this continued for the next few pitches including a good E3 pitch that Lee
led. The angle eased slightly and although the climbing was still good, care
had to be taken with the many loose blocks. During the day the cloud had
thickened and the wind increased, we were now seconding with a rucksac and a
Haul bag.
We arrived at a ledge and at this point
it was raining, we had waterproofs but no shelter or any bivy kit and we
decided to try and sit it out, the rain and wind increased and we were now
getting wet, with no idea how long the rain would last and how long it would
take to dry out, we had a difficult choice.
We were over 400m on the route abseil retreat would be difficult and
dangerous , but if we left if too long we could be very cold and decision
making poor,so we decided to go down . The next five hours were terrfying, we
trashed our static very early so now we had to abseil on our 60m which would
take longer and pulling the ropes was gripping. At last using parts of the
remaining 80m static we got to the bottom, having left all the ropes we had in
place on the bottom part of the route. It had been a 24 hour day and we go back
to the camp at 9 in the morning. Dave did a great job sorting out a lot of the
abseils The weather was being very unpredictable on previous trips it had been
a lot more stable with manly good clear days after any rain. We decided to walk
to one of the high points on the island to see if with line of sight with
Upernavik we could get a phone signal.
This worked and we were able to get a
weather report, it was mixed with only a few clear days before more bad weather
We decided to go as lightweight as possible climbing with small sacks and
trying to make best use of a weather window . The team were all fairly subdued,
just wanting to try and finish the route that was staring at us all the time
from the camp. We ascended the ropes as carefully as we could getting belayed
when possible and not damaging the dynamic ropes, we dumped the static as it
was now damaged in many places and made it back to our high point block
leading. Olly led the pitch from the ledge at E3 and loose and Lee took over a
few pitches later to lead to the top with some great climbing on the final
headwall E2 climbing that was good rock and gear The route was finished in a
twelve our push and the team were rewarded with stunning views from the top and
a memorable walk down The route was called Drowning in a Sea of Light E5 6b, C1
20 pitches 800m apart from pitch 4 all pitches were climbed free and onsight
with no bolts or pegs The rest of our stay was marked with very mixed weather
,lots of unseasonable rain, but the team did manage one more 6 pitch route
Called Palmolive E1 5a on the same cliff as the first route.
We arranged to get picked up a few days
early as we were worried about a boat pickup in poor weather and spent the last
few days sorting out freight in Upernavik before returning home
The team would like to thank Welsh Sports
Association , BMC.Alpine Club and Gino Watkins Fund for help with funding and
Mountain Equipment for Clothing.
