New Routes in Greenland

A Swiss-German expedition to the southern tip of Greenland in late summer yielded nine new routes, almost all of them free, on beautiful granite walls. Tom Holzhauser, Toni Lamprecht, Caro Morel, Wanja Reichel, Iwan and Michi Tresch, and Michi Wyser spent six weeks exploring the fjords around Tornarssuk and Quvernit islands, near Cape Farvel, which they reached by a four-hour boat trip from the village of Nanortalik. Walls up to 4,000 feet high lined the fjords, some of them rising directly from the water and accessible only by boat. Enjoying unusually fine weather — only three days of rain in five weeks — the team reached seven virgin summits via lines up to 5.12c and 20 pitches long, with the majority of the routes checking in at 5.10 or 5.11 and 10 to 17 pitches.