NALUMASORTOQ

The three pillars of Nalumasortoq. A is Little Nalum, home to the Chitty-Menitov-Su Route (IV 5.10R A2, 400m, 2002). Routes shown are as follows. 1 Life Is Beautiful (VI- 5.9 A2+, 600m, Suzuki-Yamaoka, 2000) 2 Sekitori (VI 5.10 A4, 670m, Kanehara-Suitsu, 1997) 3 Mussel Power (VI 5.11 A3+, 800m, Gore-Penning-Karo, 1996) 4 Left Pillar (Anderson-Dring-Dring-Tattersall, 1995) 5 Ekstra Lagret (V 5.11a A2, 750m, Chitty-Menitove-Su, 2002) 6 Umwelten (V 5.12- A1, 750m, Thomas-Turner, 1996) 7 Cheese Finger at 3 O'Clock (V 5.10+ A3/4, 550m, Berthet-Brambati-Dalphin-Flugi-Vitali, 1996) 8 Planeta Spisek (VI 5.11c/d A3+, 800m, Fluder-Golab-Piecuch-Tomaszewski, 2000) 9 Non C’è Due Senza Tre (VI 5.11b A3, 850m, Arpin-Manica-Ruffino-Vando, 2000) 10 South Face (Guillot-Domenech-Perrottet-Gorgeon-Chapoutot, 1975) 11 Southeast Arête (not shown) (Aberman et al, 1974). Not shown is Vertical Dream (Castella-Dalphin-Lehner-Truffer-Zambetti, 1998), located between routes 7 and 8 [Photo] Steve Su

On July 15, after a week of planes, trains, boats, and helicopters, Chris Chitty, Steve Su, and I began a twenty-nine-day trip in the Tasermuit Fjord on the southern tip of Greenland. We first focused our attention on Nalumasortoq, establishing a new route just right of the Left Pillar Route that shared that route's last four pitches. We fixed the first 800 feet on July 22 and returned on July 26 to finish the route in about twenty-two hours from base camp. The route featured stacks of steep, clean hand and finger cracks that would probably go free at 5.11+. One tricky face climbing section was aided with a hook move and would likely go at 5.12a. We named the route Ekstra Lagret (5.11a A2, 2,460') after the particularly stinky cheese we bought in Nanortalik. (It looked like Swiss, but smelled like ass.) We left no fixed gear on the route, and conveniently descended the Left Pillar Route.

After climbing a virgin 1,400-foot spire just left of Nalumasortoq that we referred to as Little Nalum (5.10R A2), we moved on to our third objective, the French/Italian route Non C'e Due Senza Tre (6c A3, 19 pitches, Arpin-Manica-Ruffino-Vaudo, 2000) on the right pillar of Nalumasortoq. We freed almost the entire route with the exception of a couple of rests on gear high on the route. The A3 pitch went free at 5.11a R and we gave the route an overall rating of 5.11c. The route was awesome: incredible cracks, great rock, spectacular position. One ropelength from the summit, we couldn't figure out where the route went, so we rested on a large ledge until dawn. The next day, Steve traversed right for 220 feet to an overhanging corner, fired the pitch with a move or two of aid past a wet section, and then ran it out fifty feet up a steep five-inch crack with a trusty tipped-out number four Camalot below. We did not see any fixed gear on the summit ridge or on the summit itself. We have tried to contact the first-ascent team to see how they finished the route.

— Ari Menitove, USA