Tasermiut Fjord Trip Report

Transcription

1 Tasermiut Fjord Trip Report Stefan Morris and Andrew Cherry September 2017

2 Contact for further information Andrew Cherry Stefan Morris The Team Andrew Cherry, 24, Nottingham 6 years climbing experience upto E4. Sport climbing to 8a. Bouldering to V8+. Scottish winter to Grade V. 12 hour ascent of Leaning Tower, Yosemite Valley. Triple Direct, El Cap. The Storpillaren, Lofoten. Stefan Morris, 24, Pembrokeshire 11 years of Trad climbing in the UK upto E4. Sport climbing to 7c+. Bouldering to V8+. Scottish winter to Grade V. 12 hour ascent of Leaning Tower, Yosemite Valley. Triple Direct, El Cap. The Storpillaren, Lofoten. Objective To climb a big wall route in Greenland as free as possible and potentially add a new route to the area. After our trips to Yosemite in 2014 and Norway in 2015, we were looking for a natural progression to further our big wall experience. Applying some of the skills we had acquired to somewhere a little more remote and where the level of self-reliance is much higher. The relatively well known Tasermiut fell into this category well. Acknowledgments We would like to thank the following for their generous support Grants The British Mountaineering Council The Andrew Croft Memorial Fund The Jeremy Wilson Charitable Trust Equipment/food Berghaus DMM Insitu Climbing, Dunkeld Battle Oats Andrew Kirkpatrick

3 Logistics, Costs and General Notes Transport The route into the Fjord is relatively well travelled. Flying to Narsasuaq via Copenhagen we discovered that Narsasuaq consists of the air strip and not a lot else. From here we took a helicopter to Qqoqatoq and a boat from here to Nanortalik. Here we picked up our gear from Niels in the tourist office, and borrowed a blue barrel, which we filled with food. From here Niels found us a boat. Niels left us at the dock with the words I think you boys will survive Equipment Shipping From the outset it was obvious we would need far more than airline baggage would allow. The main weight coming from the rack and ropes, as well as dehydrated food and energy bars. The majority of this (45kg) was packed into a large haul bag and shipped a month in advance, via conventional postage (costing around 100) c/o Niels in the tourist office. For the return shipping, we acquired two medium sized blue barrels from Niels and, to avoid the excess baggage we had incurred on the way out, stuffed these full of everything we wouldn t mind waiting a month or so for. These were sent via Arctic Line freight. However they had to be booked in advance from Nuuk, as it is impossible to make a booking directly at the Nanortalik Arctic Line office. Communication We carried a DeLorme inreach for text message communication and weather, it fulfilled both these requirements perfectly. General Trip Diary 16 th 18 th July - Travel UK to Base Camp 19 th 22 nd July Recces to Nalu, Half dome and Ulamertorsuaq. Attempt on Ketil Pyramid, bailed due to loose rock. 23 rd 26 th July Bad weather, thwarting attempt on War and Poetry. 27 th 29 th July Attempt to repeat The bad man from bodie on Half dome. Persistent seepage stopping progress. Returned to base camp. 30 th July 3 rd August Ascent of War and Poetry, Ulamertorsuaq 4 th August 12 th August Persistent bad weather. Moved up to a bivvy cave below Ketil Pyramid to wait for weather to clear. 13 th August Ascent of the Swiss Route on Ketil Pyramid. 14 th 16 th August Return to Base Camp, bouldering, walking and pack up. 17 th August Boat pick up 18 th 21 st August Nanortalik, walking, shipping gear and being tourists. 22 nd 25 th Travel, Nanortalik UK.

4 Accounts Extract from Ulamertorsuaq diary written by Stefan Morris 30 th July Washing down our dry oats, jam and raisin breakfast with coffee and water, we slowly start to form a plan. We re spending the morning resting and prepping food and gear to attempt Ula. If the Americans come back today we'll get their #6 Camelot and go up to bivvy this afternoon. If not we'll postpone a day. We're both pretty psyched, but not taking any chances so we're taking three full days of food and water so we can go slowly if we need. It s intimidating but also very exciting, it s a beautiful bit of rock and War and Poetry goes straight up the middle. It would be great to stand on the top but we ll wait and see how it goes. Walked up to the base of Ula under the sweltering afternoon sun and pitched our bivvy on an amazing, sharp rock ridge. The face is dry and very inviting. Early night, up for 5am tomorrow to start in the cooler temps. Spaghetti, onions and cheese for supper. Lying in the bivvy tent listening to rock falling when the sun melts the ice that holds it in-place. 31 st July Day one on the wall. Poetry. After a slow start finding the right entry point for the route and finding hauling on slabs to be extremely hard on us and the bag, we started to make some progress. Our sleeping bags wouldn t fit in the haul bag so we fashioned a bale from plastic and duct tape which Cherry has dubbed Christian Bale (because he s going be shredded by the end of the wall). The climbing was - as the route suggested - poetry. Beautiful technical slab climbing on high friction granite with bolts protecting the blanker sections. The sun comes onto the face at about 12:30, after which you just have to deal with the heat and accept you'll probably be thirsty for the next few days. It was a long day but we team freed 15 pitches and reached the heart ledge at 22:00 in the setting sun. We made supper and huddled together on the tiny ledge. I lay there thinking how excellent the climbing had been, and how spot on the route name had described it. If they were right about the poetry how accurate is the war?

5 1 st August Day two on the wall. Are you ready for a war!? I woke up at 05:00 and looked around. Dawn was just breaking over the fjord and for a moment I forgot where I was. Then my finger tips tingled and I was reminded of how sharp the granite is and what today would entail. We started off the ledge early to climb as much as possible before the Sun came round. It was my block, the two crux pitches (16/17) would be excellent as stand alone pitches. Very technical, with powerful moves. I French freed my way up them to save time and skin. Cherry managed to free both on second, doing the crux move of the entire route (5.12c) by simply reaching through the move on the absolute maximum of his span. These pitches brought us to the main upper corner system. The next three pitches gave a taste of what was to come- an absolute battle! I chugged my way upward, starting out free but by then end of pitch 20 I was in the aiders. Cherry was giving a very supportive belay as I clipped the anchor and glanced down. It was huge. Cherry took over, thrutching and shouting his way through the chimney pitches At the top of pitch, as the sun was dipping below the horizon, 24 he glanced down and asked if the ledge I was belaying on was big enough for two. I said yes then checked to see if it actually was. Cherry fixed the haul line and abseiled off. The bit of the ledge that was actually flat was only big enough for us to stand side by side. The rest sloped off dramatically towards the edge. We wolfed down a pair of dehydrated meals each and tried our best to get comfortable. 2 nd August Day three on the wall. Exposure and Exhaustion. We barely slept and at 04:30 I woke cherry Just wake me up when you want but don t tell me the time. We silently packed up and continued upwards. We were now in some of the most exposed positions of the route. The bow string crack belay is pinned to the wall on some very blank rock with a thin crack running up the centre. I felt in awe to be climbing there - it was spectacular. Once out of the corners and around the roofs we thought it might let up a little, but we were so wrong. We only had 6 pitches to go but each one was almost 60m and a real fight. By this point we knew we would top out but it still felt like it would never end. Little by little became the mantra and once I d jammed, smeared and thrutched my way up my pitches, cherry took over. He looked glazed. He looked how I felt. He fired up the final 5.10 crack, screaming from the pain his hands were now giving him and giving a horse yell of satisfaction as he hit the top ledge. I jugged the pitch carrying the haul bag between my legs. I wasn t going to risk it getting stuck as this stage. There is one final pitch on war and poetry - a 5.5 chimney that from the ground looks tiny. Up close it s the height of a three storey house. Cherry hammered up this and collapsed on the flat rocky summit. I jugged in his wake just in time to catch the sunsets final glow. Christ, we d made it! I was ecstatically happy. This tower and this route had been on my mind for months, and been looming over our camp ever since we got here. In the distance the Greenland ice sheet glowed orange. We found a bivy under a boulder and melted snow. It was glorious to be able to drink as much as I liked after being so fanatical with the water rationing. 3 rd August Down. 6 hours and 32 abseils and we were back on the ground. Cherry was tanked up on caffeine pills and jelly babies. Other than a heart in mouth moment when a

6 rope had momentarily got stuck in a crack...the descent had be uneventful. We shared a can of coke and a swig of rum at the base of the wall. Then packed up our tent and started back to base camp. An hour later we were sat outside the tent eating crisps and discussing how broken we felt. We ate a massive amount of pasta and then went to bed. War and Poetry, Ulamertorsuaq, Greenland. The route name is spot on. 4 th August Woke up at 6am. Felt like I d been hit by a train three day car crash mate and went back to sleep. Breakfast was leisurely with all the nice things we'd been saving for a good day. Nutella and butter on toast, with Apple Juice made for a great start. We talked about the route, aches and pains and how we were surprised we hadn t bailed. It turned out we had both been secretly thinking we'd have to bail the higher and more wasted we'd got! Photographs High resolution copies can be provided if needed Andrew making coffee at base camp. Ulamertorsuaq is on the top right.

7 What we took

8 The slabby lower pitches Andrew leading on day one

9 Andrew on the beautiful slabs on day one Stefan day one

10 The lower slabs Andrew seconding on day two Pitch 19 Stefan on the 300m corner

11 Andrew on our second bivvy spot Our second bivvy, pitch 24 Andrew on the bow string crack belay Andrew on the exposed upper wall

12 Summit excitement! Andrew greeting the morning sun outside our summit bivy

13 Andrew on the second abseil of the morning Andrew at the top of the 300m corner

14 Back on the Ground The route runs roughly straight up the face above us.

15 Supporters

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