Ragnarok

The beginning is the end is the beginning.

Hard and adventurous modern aid line that follows striking features up one of the most inspiring big walls of Baffin Island.

Two new pitches and 400 feet of independent terrain join an unsuccessful late 90's Japanese attempt at the wall. We brought new tactics to the 1100 feet of shared terrain and redeveloped the middle section of the wall with long pitches. Their high point was this route's eigth belay. We then finished the route with five pitches and about 1000 feet of climbing to a life-affirming summit.

We brought gear from the end of the fjord to Turner Glacier and established base camp in seven days. We then spent a couple days scoping and waiting out some weather. We blasted with a good weather window and climbed to the summit in four days. One more day on the wall was spent on the descent.

Pitch 1: 5.9 A2

Steep snow then machine heads and hooks lead to an overlap and a left facing corner. Anchor on a decent but chossy ledge. This pitch will vary depending on snow conditions/ level. A long pitch.

Pitch 2: A5, 200 feet, "Psych Ward"

Traverse right and up the sickle. Bravely and confidently hook up beautiful rock to the base of the huge left trending corner. This involves several dozen feet of hooks above a ledge, best to not fall. Navigate left up the corner through beak tips and some loose rock to an anchor on a stance.

Pitch 3: A3+, 200 feet

Charge up the huge corner, which starts with great C1 climbing. Ignore the intermediate Japanese anchor then finesse through steep beak tips out a bulge. I hooked around an expanding feature in the steeps. Good anchor for a hanging bivy atop this pitch.

Pitch 4: A2, 180 feet

A nice pitch that enters the expansive golden rock. Over the roof and left in a corner. Penji left to another corner. Watch rope drag.

Pitch 5: A1, 200 feet

Continue forging ahead up the large corner. Pass the optional big ledge/ bivy at 100 feet out to continue up yet another nice corner. Anchor at a cool stance on a prow. 

Pitch 6: 5.11 C1, 150 feet

Beautiful C1 in golden rock leads to a penji left. Tackle the glory hands to offwidth splitter. Difficulty of the wide crack varies from 5.11 to C1 depending on how much gear to 5" you lugged out here. We had single wide cams. Amazing bivy ledge atop this pitch.

Pitch 7: 5.11 C1, 200 feet

Climb the beatiful splitter in the corner. More 5.11 or C1 depending on your big cam arsenal. Then C1 left out a roof to an anchor on a stance.

Pitch 8: A2+, 200 feet

Up then left on flakes to beaks and hooks. Cut back right at a machine head to a Japanese intermediate anchor. Continue up and left. Pass a rappel anchor on a stance to belay at the the top anchor, below the hooking of pitch 9. Belaying from the lower rappel anchor will make the next pitch longer than 60 meters.

Pitch 9: A3+R, 200 feet

Perhaps 20 feet of heads up hooking through beautiful rock off the anchor. Then tackle the C1 STEEP corner. At its top, trend right up a ramp to an anchor around the arete on a stance.

Pitch 10: A4, 190 feet, "Doing The Thing"

Beak and hook up and left on thin seams and nice edges over golden rock. Access and climb a rightward trending arch. Keep an eye out for hooks leading up to a left trending feature and an anchor. Perhaps the most sustained difficult pitch on the route.

Pitch 11: A3+, 200 feet            

One of the route's most beautiful pitches. Follow the glory beak seam up and right off the anchor. Above the bulge, a horizontal seam leads right to features and flakes that trend back left to an anchor on a great stance.

Pitch 12: 5.9R A1, 200 feet

A short bit of A1 to free climbing on flakes up and left. Ramble up hollow and scrappy rock around up and right to a gear anchor on a sloping ledge. 

Pitch 13: 5.8 C1, 180 feet

Continue rambling past the rap anchor to a beautiful summit on the ridge. Make sure to take in the sweet handcrack finale.

Descent

Civilized rappel route. Follow the path of ascent to the fifth belay anchor. Then trend climber's right and join the route again below the large lower corner system. Bring tat and leaver rivet hangers. Many anchors are a bomber bolt paired with a rivet or two.