It’s no secret to anyone out there reading this website that I have an affinity for bouldering and I tend to post more about that area of the sport more than any other. This doesn’t mean I don’t find other aspects of the sport interesting. Quite the contrary actually. One of my favorite things to read about are more adventurous types of climbing like the trip to Greenland undertaken by the group of Nicolas Favresee, Sean Villanueva, Olivier Favresee and Ben Ditto this past summer.
The group set off back in June with the goal of exploring unclimbed big walls off the west coast of Greenland, approaching the climbs by sailboat instead of on foot. They wound up spending 3 months climbing some 4,500m of amazing mostly new walls, and they capped off the trip by sailing clear across the Atlantic back to Europe. Not a bad way to spend the summer.
Throughout the trip the group provided updates on their website which I encourage you to go back and read. Otherwise, here are a few other stories about their trip:
- Photo report on UKClimbing
- Interview with Nico Favresee by Planetmountain which includes some excellent insight on Favresse’s approach to new route ethics:
For me there isn’t one way of doing things. Every route is different and there is a lot of room for grey area. That’s why it’s important to think well before acting. But the best option is always to keep things as clean as possible. So ideally no bolts, no pitons, no slings left behind, no chalk nor rubber on the rock. But that’s just an ideal that would be pretty hard for most climbers (myself included, of course) to follow. What is important is to keep this in mind as an ideal and to never think that the way I do my climbing is the best and only way. There is always room for evolution. And the evolution as I see it should lead us to learning how to enjoy climbing with minimum impact. Climbing should always feel like a pilgrimage.
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