Greenland 2023: ambitious Mirror Wall attempt abandoned by Cookson, Ditto, Favresse, Villanueva

It took us over 40 days to get to Greenland this year and and on my very first hike up towards our climbing objective I tripped on a sharp boulder, fell into a glacier pool and found myself with a big cut on my tibia. The cut was deep and wide enough to put me out of action and while I waited for the wound to heal, Sean, Ben and Franco ferried loads over the 30km approach.

As a result I only discovered the magnitude of the line picked by them while hopping with my heavy load on the wall ten days later. My wound wasn’t completely healed but I couldn’t let the guys go up the wall without me plus I was lucky to meet a team of 3 french sailors happy to help me carry my gear. I only needed a quick glance to realise we were up for the most ambitious line we have ever attempted. It’s a steep crack-less shield of granite with just flakes and occasional edges to progress. Only the last third of the wall seemed to have continuous crack systems. Anyhow, I have always said "in order to find a good challenge, you have to try what looks impossible." So here, for sure it did look like we were up for a great challenge.

It took us a couple days to get up to 300m with all our gear, water and food via an easier pillar on the right side of the wall and set up a camp at the start of the difficult section. I tried to boost myself with optimism but it was hard to ignore the weight of the imposing difficulties above.

On my very first lead on this expedition, ten meters above a ledge and poor protection I decided I needed a bolt. Exhausted from hammering, 1h30min later I could finally hang on it and decided to let Sean continue the pitch. Eight hours later, four more bolts were placed and we were 30m closer to the summit. Looking up from our highpoint I could only imagine the amount of effort required to place all the bolts necessary for me to get up this face feeling safe enough. That night, when we reached our camp after four intense days of effort on my legs, I noticed my wound was infected and had to start an antibiotic treatment and stick to playing music in order for the infection to heal.

For the next eight days and with fifteen 8mm bolts and five removable bolts, Sean led everything spending a minimum of eight hours each day for about 40m of progress per day. The climbing was an extremely intense mix of aid climbing with really run out free climbing.

About 30m away from what seemed to be easier terrain, Sean took a few big falls in a disintegrating dihedral, leaving him no option to stop and place protections. Sean had made an incredible effort getting us 700m from the ground drilling just 18 holes for protection, but here we were left with the dilemma to either drill a bolt ladder to keep progressing - something we have always seen as unacceptable by the rules of our own personal climbing game - or to bail.

So I suppose you can easily guess what we decided to do! It was hard for Sean to bail because he put so much energy into this ascent, but we all felt it was the right choice to stick to the rules we choose to play with. In some ways, it is what give climbing its value; the fact that you won’t be able to climb all walls out there. Some will keep you dreaming by remaining impossible.

With a bit of extra time before we ran out of food, Franco and Sean finally enjoyed free climbing some sections of the wall. In a spectacular effort, after days of having practiced the moves on fixed ropes, Franco managed to redpoint a short but one of the most featureless looking sections from one ledge to another. By that time, the infection was finally gone and my wound started to look good. It took us another 4 days to get down and ferry our gear back to the sea, and a futher four more days to reach Iceland.

Although we come home this time with no summit in our pockets, I can ensure you it wasn’t in any way a less powerful adventure!

Thank you to Michael Brooks (the captain of Cornelia), Sean Beecher( the best 2nd on a ship) and Bob Shepton (for the inspiration) for bringing us to Greenland and back!

Nico Favresse

Thanks to: Patagonia, Scarpa, Petzl, Arkose, Julbo, Lyofood, Samaya, Reel Rock, Totem Cams, Pepite Fruits Secs, Montane, La Sportiva, Biocoop and Exped Sailing for their crucial support making this adventure possible!