Ogden and Martin hard and free in Greenland

Americans Jared Ogden and Nathan Martin complete a new free line on Nalumasortoq’s 2,000-foot face, Greenland.

October 2004

On August 2, 2004 Jared Ogden and Nathan Martin completed the first ascent of their “Prowed and Free”, V 5.12+, on Mt. Nalumasortoq, Greenland. The two Americans climbed the route in-a-day without the use of fixed ropes or jumars, and they believe this is the first time the fast and light alpine approach has been used to climb a route on Nalumasortoq and nearby Ulamertorssuaq.

Climbing activity on these granite towers in southern Greenland has increased significantly over the past several years. If only the weather were more stable…

The duo started their 34-day Greenland expedition on July 2nd by climbing the 2,500-foot route “Non c’e Due Senza Tre”, V 5.11+, on the right pillar of Naulmasortoq to within two hundred feet of the summit in a day before retreating in the dark. The following day it started to rain and continued for the next 12 days.

After three days of clear weather they started up the central pillar by following the first eight pitches to the 2003 highpoint that Nathan had reached on a previous expedition. From here they followed excellent hand to finger cracks that would lead to the summit, however three difficult pitches required cleaning, forcing them to hang on gear and forfeiting the free ascent. They reached the summit at sunset and abseiled down their route, confident that another attempt would lead to a successful free ascent. Then it rained for 16 days straight…

Eventually the skies cleared and on August 2nd they completed their route all-free-in-a-day. The dead-vertical route is stacked with hard crack climbing including five pitches of 5.12 in a row starting at pitch 8 with two of them ranking in at 5.12+. To complete the route all-free in a day was their ultimate goal and success came after a long period of anxious waiting. “It was amazing that everything came together at the last minute to pull off one of the greatest climbing achievements in the area. We’re really happy we could push it so hard and usher in the ultimate style of ascent on our route. Hopefully future ascents will follow suit” said Ogden of their climb.

High and motivated from such a successful ascent and with one day left before the boat arrived to pick them up, they set out to climb the classic route “Moby Dick” VI 5.13-, on the 3,000-foot tall Ulamertorssuaq. The duo shattered the previous speed ascent of 28 hours by racing up the route in 11 hours and 56 minutes, pulling on the occasional piece of gear but free climbing most of the route. “It really left an impression on the remaining climbers in basecamp on how things can be done” Martin commented about their speed ascent. Several parties had done the climb earlier but had fixed hundreds of feet of rope and spent at least two days on the climb.