Grand new big wall climbed on Northern Sun Spire in Greenland by Capucine Cotteaux, Caro North, Nadia Royo Cremer

At the start of August a three-woman team comprised of Caro North, Capucine Cotteaux and Nadia Royo Cremer established a huge new big wall climb up the hitherto unclimbed East face of Northern Sun Spire above Scoresby Sund in Greenland. Their 780m Via Sedna breaches difficulties up to 7b+ and was climbed in an impressive 3-day push.

The trio formed part of an eight-woman expedition that had set off from France in a 15m sailing boat on 20 June. Rough conditions greeted them as they sailed across the North Atlantic Ocean, and the team was forced to wait in Ireland, the Feroe Islands and Iceland while strong storms passed through. After braving freezing cold, rain, fog for six weeks they finally reached the east coast of Greenland where, having waited for the pack ice to melt, they entered into Scoresby Sund, famous for being the biggest fjord in the world. They navigated carefully past icebergs and thousands of ice floes before being dropped off on land with photographer Ramona Waldner.

Bad conditions prevailed yet the four managed to find a way through the labyrinth of crevasses and, over several days, carry all the gear to the tower. At this point time was already beginning to run out and after all their efforts of getting to the base of the mountain. it was unclear whether they would be given the chance to even attempt the unclimbed East Face. Especially since another snowstorm was forecast in the near future.

Nevertheless, North, Cotteaux and Royo Cremer launched up into the sea of steep, unclimbed orange granite. Initially the trio made fast progress and climbed the first 7 pitches, fixed ropes ran and descended to their portaledge base camp at the bottom of the wall for the night. The next morning they jugged up to the highpoint and spent negotiating 4 tricky, at times loose and wet pitches before finally reaching a ledge at 9 pm. With just 2 inflatable portaledges and 2 sleeping bags between the three of them they decided to spend the night here.

After a short night the trio woke up to a sea of clouds underneath them. It was cold and humid, just getting out of their sleeping bags felt hard, but knowing that bad weather would arrive soon and their turn-around deadline was midday, they set off as fast as possible. As North explained on her instagram handle "And then the unbelievable happened: after 5 more pitches and some scrambling we reached the top of our wall! It is hard to describe our happiness of this moment: After having sailed for 6 weeks from France to Greenland and having struggled with very bad weather the whole time, we still managed to open a new route on the unclimbed East face of the Northern Sun Spire in a 3-day push!"

The trio completed their climb on the summit ridge and, due to the impending snowstorm, chose not to scramble to the true summit. After a brief celebration and the ritual photos they spent the rest of the day abseiling down the line, carrying half their gear through the rain all the way to basecamp which they finally reached after 24 hours on the trot. A short while later a huge snowstorm hit, rendering the peak unclimbable. Another full day was required to remove the remaining gear off the mountain, and 2 days later the climbers were picked up by the rest of the team. They then spent the next month sailing back to their starting point at La Rochelle in France.

Via Sedna is 780m high, consists of 16 pitches and breaches difficulties up to about 7b+/A0. Almost the entire route was climbed free, either on lead or while seconding, while the bad weather prevented them from launching a proper redpoint attempt. The style of ascent is commendable and worth emphasising: after reaching the peak by sailing boat, the route was forged ground-up over three days on trad gear only. No bolts were placed, and the only gear left in-situ was a handful of slings, nuts and pegs needed for the rappels.

The vast majority of expeditions nowadays are still very much male-dominated and as such Via Sedna is an excellent demonstration - once again one must add - of how much all-female teams are capable of, given the opportunity. North summed it all up as follows "this was quite an adventure and for me, despite having taken part in many expeditions, certainly the most demanding and committing. We want to encourage everybody to follow their dreams and hope to inspire other women to go unknown ways, because everything is possible! Merci les filles!"

EXPEDITION MEMBERS
Caro North, Capucine Cotteaux, Nadia Royo Cremer, Marta Guemes, Maria Sol Massera, Caroline Dehais, Ramona Waldner, Alix Jaekel