HONNOLD AND FINDLAY FIRST ASCENT OF REMOTE ARCTIC WALL

In a recent Arctic expedition off the coast of Greenland, expert climbers Alex Honnold and Hazel Findlay completed a challenging first ascent of one of Earth’s tallest Arctic sea cliffs, called Ingmikortilak.  

The expedition itself wasn’t only about climbing, but simultaneously aimed at collecting scientific ground-level climate data from the area. Alongside Heidi Sevestre — a french glaciologist working with the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program — the team of climbers helped the crew reach remote fjords, glaciers and traverse the Renland Ice Cap. 

Afterward, Honnold and Findlay battled some treacherous conditions to summit the 3750-foot rock wall towering above the water. 

    “We literally went off the edge of the map to reach this wall,” Honnold told National Geographic via satellite phone from the team’s base camp, referring to the nautical maps the team had been following, which offered no details about the fjord where Ingmikortilaq is located. “It is definitely one of the biggest first ascents I’ve ever done–and one of the most stressful due to how dangerous the climbing was.”

750 feet taller than El Capitan, and three times the height of the Empire Sate building, I bet it probably was... 

The feat was filmed for the upcoming original series with NatGeo on Disney+ called ON THE EDGE with ALEX HONNOLD. In the meantime, you can read more about it here. 


Courtesy of Disney+ https://nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/alex-honnold-leads-first-ascent-of-massive-arctic-sea-cliff