Big new climb on Mirror Wall in Greenland by Julia Cassou, Sean Warren, Pete Whittaker, Sean Villanueva

During a 43-day expedition sailing and climbing on the east coast of Greenland, earlier this summer a small expedition comprised of Julia Cassou, Sean Warren, Pete Whittaker and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll completed a difficult and bold new climb up the center of the 1000m Mirror Wall, first climbed in summer 2012 by a Swiss team comprised of Basil Jacksch, Christian Ledergerber, Silvan Schüpbach and Vera Reist.

The new line on this "massive shield of shining granite" located deep inside the fjord of Scoresby Sund had been attempted in 2023 by Villanueva with Franco Cookson, Ben Ditto and Nicolas Favresse. After a herculean effort last summer the climbers reached a blank section on pitch 13 and, unwilling to drill a bolt ladder, they retreated, disappointed yet happy they had not compromised on their ethics.

Curious about whether that section really was impassable, Villanueva decided to return this year and, profiting from the previous effort, the team quickly blazed its way to the summit. During the descent some sections were climbed free by the party, including the pitch that had thwarted Villanueva a year ago which now goes free at 7c+ R, and the route currently stands at a whopping 8b/R/A2+. The climb has been called Ryu-shin, in memory of their friend Keita Kurakami who passed away in June and who had originally been a member of the expedition. Whittaker provides the details.

HEART OF THE DRAGON ON MIRROR WALL by Pete Whittaker
"Hey I’m going back to Mirror Wall in the summer, there’s an absolute king line, let me know if your psyched to join" were the words of Sean’s message in my inbox. After heavily quizzing Sean about his attempt on the route on the 2023 expedition - his replies often along the lines of "I’m not 100% sure it’ll go, but I’m curious enough to at least go back and give it another look" - I jumped at the chance. The fact that he was keen on a second expedition to have "another look", and that we’d made a good climbing team in Patagonia a few seasons ago, were both good enough reasons for me to "have a look" myself; I’d wanted to see this wall for many years.

2 weeks before leaving to Greenland, friend and expedition team member Keita Kurakami passed away, which put up a big question mark, "can we still go?" and "should we still go?", so close to the departure date. Team member Takemi Suzuki (close friend to Keita) understandably decided to stay in Japan with family and friends. Despite the heavy blow on the team, we re-grouped and 4 of us found ourselves at the base of the wall a month later, (2 weeks of final prep, 5 days of sailing and 7 days of carrying 30kg loads).

The team consisted of myself. Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, experienced El Cap aid climber Sean Warren from the UK and the talented French climber-photographer Julia Cassou. We would try the same line as Sean did on his 2023 expedition, and in the same style - ground up with as few bolts as possible and no bolt/rivet ladders - essentially forcing us to do either hard free or aid climbing between any bolts that did need to be placed for protection on blank sections. A style I was in favour of. We wanted to be challenged.

After 6 days on the wall, and battling more precip days than not, we reached the highpoint. During this period repeating Sean’s leads from last year continuously impressed and challenged me; big runouts with mid lead switches between hard free climbing and thin hooking, which from below, crossed pretty sparse looking sections of rock. Sean was even shaking his head in disbelief at some of his 2023 leads.

Last year's highpoint came and went without much drama, and the point which stumped Sean for 2 days in 2023 was fired off first go by him this time around. However, the next pitches into unknown crackless ground went slower. Sean Warren put in some exceptional aid leads through creaky flakes and seams, to reach what we all hoped it was from below... a crack, and one of the best free pitches of the climb. The crack system we’d now entered (and ran to the summit) was still no pushover, with a full array of techniques from tips to squeeze chimney needed to free climb them successfully.

Having enjoyed plenty of rain and cold cloudy days during our push thus far, after 11 days on the wall we were able to bathe in some summit sun, finally. Sharing the summit with Sean, Sean, Julia and Keita in our minds was, to put it bluntly, blummin brilliant. Throughout the whole adventure I was inspired each day by all 3 of my teammates. They were all absolute machines in every aspect of the expedition, from pushing hard in suboptimal conditions to eating Bigos, I was impressed throughout.

On our push to the summit we climbed the route to a standard of 7b+/R/A2+ (which is the mandatory grade for just getting up), with 16 of the 25 pitches going completely free. On the descent we spent another week on the wall and freed 6 more pitches up to 8b, with many more sections of R rated climbing. 3 pitches were left un-freed.

Of course I’m pleased to make a summit, but more importantly I’m very happy we treaded our way through such an environment with safety and having a good laugh at the same time. In total the expedition was 43 days long with 38 days either climbing, hiking loads or sailing, and 5 where everyone completed rested

Keita had a Shakuhachi flute player’s name called "龍心 (Ryu-shin)" , which translates in English to "Heart of the Dragon". This climb is in his memory.

Finally the efforts of the 2023 team (which consisted of Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Nico Favresse, Ben Ditto and Franco Cookson) for sure had a positive impact on the success of this trip, and the efforts were continuously thanked throughout the first half of our expedition as we re-covered the ground they had done last year.

Huge thanks to Mike Brooks and Vicente Castro, for the safe crossings, and Rolo Garibotti for weather updates. Plus to our sponsors Patagonia, SCARPA, Unparallel, Petzl, Sterling Rope, Wild Country, Totem, Samaya, Lyofood, Cook&run, Supernatural Fuel, Cruxley, Kop De Gas that helped make it all possible.

by Pete Whitakker

Mirror Wall Expedition 2024
Dates: 29th July (departure from Iceland) to 9th September (return to Ísafjörður)
Climb: 11 - 29 August, summit 22nd August
Expedition days: 10 days sailing, 11 days hiking, 3 hiking rest days, 17 days climbing (or hauling) on wall, 2 wall rest days. 43 days total
Grade: 8b/R/A2+ (mandatory 7b+/R/A2+ to climb the route)