Hey Friends,

Well, I am back in Yosemite now, enjoying the great weather again, and hanging out with friends and climbing in temps that are actually above freezing! A few days ago, I returned from my biggest adventure to date- climbing and skiing in the frozen fiords of northeastern Baffin Island. This adventure was so amazing, that I just had to share it with the rest of you, through this photo trip report. I apologize if there is too many pics on this report, and it takes a while to load on your computer, but it was a challenge to pick just 48 pics from the 900 or so that I had taken on the trip.

I caught a flight from my mom’s place in Sacramento, and after a few connections, I was arriving in Clyde River, my jump off point for the fiords. Here is a pic of Clyde River from the air. It is a village of only 950 people, almost all Inuit, so it is not such a large city as you can see.



The airport was just one small building, and the airplane had to land on a frozen runway that looked a bit sketchy if you would have asked me at the time!


My Inuit outfitter, Levi Palituq, met me at the airport and took me, and all my gear into town and dropped us off near the center, where it was cool for me to camp out. Once in town, I had a day and a half to get my stuff ready for the trip out into the fiords. I made a trip to the store for a bit more food, and was a bit surprised when I came to the ‘parking lot’ in front of the store-


All the Inuit use snowmobiles to get around for most of the year, and they were all lined up out front of the store while their owners stocked up on food and supplies. The next day Levi picked me up, we loaded all the gear onto the ‘komatik’ type sled they use, and we were on our way. The temps when I arrived were about thirty below zero, and in the wind it was almost a joke how cold it really was. Here is a pic of me bundled up, on the back of the machine as we make our way across the sea ice towards Sam Ford Fiord in cold conditions-


After about five hours of travel, we arrived into the Sam Ford area. We toured both sides of the fiord, as well as the Walker Arm, as I assessed the area and formulated a plan on where I would like to be dropped off at, and which peaks I would like to try. I decided to put my base camp between the Turret and Polar Sun Spire, at the foot of an immense glacier where it tumbles into the sea ice (but not too close!).


My rough plan for the trip was to ski around and explore the area for all of April, checking out all the walls and ski descents, and then try for some more technical routes and adventures during May once the temps rise a bit. I made many ski forays to the walls and couloirs in my area, and found some nice options for climbing.

Polar Sun Spire north face (1,500 meters)-


Beluga Spire North face (1,400 meters)-

Great Cross Pillar south face (800 meters)-


Sometimes when the snow was windblown and hard, I would put the skis onto my sled and pull them rather than skin along with them on my feet. The sled would pull quite easily, even when loaded down with tons of climbing gear. One day while out skiing on the sea ice, I came across these fox tracks-


Found this seal hole as well-


And you do know what lives in these, right? Ring Seals!


Base camp was quite a nice place to always come back to and rest at. Every time I stuck my head out from the tent, it was almost unbelievable. The views were amazing-


And occasionally I would have visitors! Some times the Inuit hunters and fisherman would pass by my camp and hang out for a coffee, snack, or quick conversation. This day happened to bring along an older couple, which happily supplied me with a 15lb arctic char, similar to a salmon. I was amazed, and psyched at getting fresh meat out there! Many times the Inuit would pass by and give me fish.


After a week or two of being there, a few friends showed up. Before I left Clyde River, I had met these three Scandinavian girls who were skiing almost from one end of the island to the other! (Their website is- www.baffinbabes.com) I told them to drop by my camp if they were going past my way, and they did-


There were now four of them (the fourth joined up with the team the day after I met the other three), and they came and stayed with me for a few days. So we celebrated their arrival with a big salmon dinner, pizzas, brownies, and cookies!


After a rest day, the five of us decided that we would all climb together to the summit of the areas highest summit- Broad Peak (1,800+ meters). This summit, which is surrounded on three sides by giant walls, has a ski-mountaineering route up its south side. Here is a pic of Inga making her way up the first moraine, packing some heat!


Skiing across a flat section of the glacier-


About 2/3 of the way up, having a tea break on the col-


Just below the summit, looking back at the ‘Baffin Babes’-


The climb went quite well, was pretty easy, and had an awesome ski descent to get back to camp- 1,800 meters of descent to be precise! But my toes paid the price. My ski boots were not really up for -30 temps, and I got moderate frostbite on my two big toes. It was not so bad at first, but the injury would get worse as time went on, and gave me big problems when I started climbing a bit later.

After another rest day, we headed for the Stewart Valley. They would be continuing on their ski route from here, and I decided to go towards the Stewart for a few days as well. We packed up, and made our way towards the valley, passing under Walker Citadel along the way-


We found a nice spot to make camp after skiing about 11 miles that afternoon. I found a good place to put up my lightweight bivy tent next to a boulder to help block the wind-


The following day saw the Babes continue on their way, while I followed a mother polar bear and her cub through the Walker Arm of the fiord. I was concerned they might eat all my food at my base camp as they passed by it, so I trailed them to make sure they passed without incident, which they did. But if they would have started some crap, I had my .303 to make sure everything turned out OK!

A shot to show what a slight breeze will do to your face while out on the fiord! -


Two of my favorite visitors that I had, were these two-


The husband, #55, would drive the machine, while his wife traveled in the small cabin on the sled! She had a bed inside, and even a heater with a small chimney/vent! How cool.

Eventually May came around, the temps rose just a bit, and I decided to start climbing.

When I showed up, I was almost impossible to figure out what I wanted to climb. There were over 20 virgin walls to choose from just in my area alone! During my first few weeks there, I would ski around and scope out all of the biggest unclimbed formations. One of the most beautiful virgin walls caught my attention, and was quite close to camp too. The Beak is this beautiful overhanging wall that had excellent rock on its east face, and there was even a nice set of seams running down from the summit! I loaded up the sled, and took the ropes and rack to the base to make a big wall first ascent of this aid route. But the next day I was having some difficulties with my decision to climb the Beak. Yes, it is a beautiful wall, I told myself, but it was only 650 meters long.

Now one must remember that 650 meters of steep rock would be a gem of a climb almost anywhere else (Half Dome is 650 meters at its tallest), but here in Baffin it doesn’t even catch your eye as you pan around in this fiord of giants! I knew I could do it if I tried, and this was the exact reason I couldn’t go through with it.

From the beginning of the trip, I had told myself that this was not just another climbing trip. I wanted to go further than I ever had before- both in terms of distance and solitude, as well as climbing something so big and difficult that the odds would be stacked so high against me, that success would be nearly impossible, ensuring adventure and uncertainty.

I looked for other walls/routes once I listened to my heart scream in protest to the ‘little’ big wall of the Beak. I also knew that with my big wall background that there wasn’t really much that could shut me down in terms of walls, as long as I brought my poratledge, bolts, and static rope with me. So even though I brought all these items to Baffin, I realized that these tools would not only make any ascent easier, but would also detract from my mission for this trip- To go bigger, faster, and lighter than ever before. No longer was the summit the goal. I wanted to climb a route so big, so ridiculous, with as little gear as possible and as quick as I could, so that I could really test my mind as well as my body. To ‘push the boat out as far as possible’, and not look back. I found two routes for this- the north face of Beluga Spire and the north face of Broad Peak.

Beluga Spire was not only one of the most beautiful formations there; it is most likely one of the last unclimbed 1,300+ walls in the fiord. It’s impressive north face rises directly from the sea for 1,400 meters! It has been base jumped, but never climbed or even attempted! There was also a pretty obvious line too. A system of three stacked pillars rose from the sea ice, and led right to the top. The route was obvious, with cracks from base to summit. I decided to take with me one haul bag and a second dynamic rope to haul it with, but no bolts, poratledge, or static rope. So I racked up for the ascent, and sledded it all to the base early one morning.

Gear for Beluga Spire

I started up the initial mixed pitches, which started out pretty easy, about M4 5.7. Here is a shot looking up the first roped pitch. If you look closely, you can see the lead rope on the pitch-


The climbing was going pretty well, mostly mixed climbing protected by pins hammered on lead. But upon arriving at the foot of the first pillar, I was disappointed to find loose flakes plastered in the crack/O.W. system I wanted to climb. The entire route appeared to be super clean and awesome, except this first 200 meters of the first pillar. But not giving up, I saw a second smaller pillar to the left that I could ascend, and then gain the top of the original pillar from the left. The down side was that I needed to climb a few more pitches of difficult mixed ground to gain the pillar to the left, protection looked slim to none in the vertical gully system.

I climbed two vertical pitches of mixed terrain, climbing under chockstones and tunneling through dangerously loose powder mushrooms to arrive near the top of the mixed climbing. Here is another pic of the mixed climbing, this pitch being more like M6 or so-


I had not expected so much mixed climbing up to this point, and it was affecting me in a negative way. My frostbitten toes (from Broad Peak) had now been mixed climbing for three days now on Beluga Spire, and were not doing well at all. They had swelled up quite drastically, and the blisters were growing and popping all the time. At the top of the mixed stuff, I tried to put on my free shoes and get onto the rock fin. I could kind of squeeze my feet into the free shoes, but the toes were full of pain, and would go numb within minutes of climbing. At this point frustration was setting in. I had traveled so far to get here, climbed over 650 meters of the route, spent three days on the route already, but couldn’t bust free moves in my rock shoes now! Defeat was obviously upon me. But not without one more try at the rock pitch above me! A 20-foot factor 2 back onto the belay because my toes couldn’t feel the holds, sent me on my way back down to the sea ice. Damn!

I ended up trying the route again a week later. This time I left behind the second rope, haul bag, and the third set of cams and pins, but made it only 500 meters up on my second day of climbing, to be turned back by problems with my toes again. After that, I took two weeks to ski and explore, and let my toes have the time to recover that they needed.

That next week, five skiers from the south of France showed up, and stayed with me for a week of skiing and hanging out. Here is a pic of them arriving back to camp after being out skiing for the day-


These guys were pretty cool, and it was really nice to hang out with other humans after being alone for so long. But they were only here for a week, and soon after, I was alone again….

But I was now ready to have some fun again, as my toes were almost healed. So I went out and checked the Turret and Broad peak for possible new routes. Here is a pic of the east face of the Turret-


But before I could start the climbing mission again, I met four base jumpers that were camped on the other side of the fiord from me. These guys were from France and Quebec, and had all the toys with them- Base-jumping rigs, snowmobile, skis, and to my surprise- a kite ski set up! Matthew, one of the guys from Quebec, would let me take out his kite ski wing on my skis whenever I wanted to use it! These guys were awesome! I took the rig out many times, and was racing around the fiords at 40 mph! One day I covered over 25 miles in an hour and a half! But you had to keep your eyes open and your jumping skills on the ready, as the leads in the sea ice would give you a nice hazard as you raced over them! Here are a few pics of the kite ski-


Launching the kite below Polar Sun Spire

Flying the wing below the Turret

Kiting upwind in front of the Cross Pillar

Looking back at base camp, which is just at the lower left corner of Polar Sun Spire


One of the ever increasing leads in the sea ice


So these guys I met were pretty nuts. And for me to say this- it really means something! Here are some pics of them hucking off Polar Sun that I took while picking them up with the snowmobile-




After all of these adventures, time was getting short. I had only one more week on the island, and temps and conditions were better than ever, so obviously it was time to climb again. My toes were OK, as I could now put them into free shoes and use them without too much pain!

I went up to the north face of Broad Peak, to scope out a 1,400 meter arête/face that dropped down perfectly from the summit. It was such an obvious line- why had it not been climbed yet? But that answer was obvious- I was the only climber in the northern part of the island this year, and I would be surprised if more than two teams a year come here. With so many walls, and so few climbers, there will be an abundance of new routes to be done for many years to come!

On my way back down from scoping out the line, I quickly noticed that I was not alone this day on the glacier. A polar bear had found my tracks leading away from my camp and up onto the glacier, and followed them up to find his next meal. As soon as I came upon this sight, I had my rifle with a bullet in the chamber, and at the ready as I made my way back to camp-


The next day I set out for the wall. It was snowing lightly at this point, but I hoped for it to let off before setting out on the route itself. But luck wasn’t with me. Snow was falling harder than ever, and conditions were getting worse. And to top it off, temps had gone up to near freezing, so the snow pack was going crazy! Wet slab avalanches started to rip on all the slopes, regardless of aspect or angle! I stashed the rack at the base of the route because the avalanche danger was so bad. I wanted to climb regardless, but knew how uncontrollable avalanches can be. Huge cracks were shooting out from my skis on slopes with angles in the 30 to 40 degree area, and I definitely took notice.

I came back two days later, to find that my tracks had been totally wiped out by a huge avalanche. The entire slope had gone, and had wiped out most of my tracks to the base!


Now the coast was clear- the slope had slid, and had nothing left to throw at me. I made my way to the route, which was in perfect condition. True, it was 8pm as I started, but with the sun just spinning around the sky and never going down, it really doesn’t matter at what times you climb!

I had chosen a difficult and beautiful route on the north side of the peak. A few pitches of great mixed climbing led to a razor sharp arête, which I took up to the only easy section on the route- a easy snow slope for 200 vertical meters, which led to the headwall.

Here is a pic that I took from the top of the snowfield, just at the base of the headwall. The route takes the crack to the right side of the pillar in the pic-


Looking down the snowfield from the headwall-


A shot of the route from the glacier-


The route was amazing! Mostly all free up to the headwall at 5.8 M5 60 degrees, but then the business started on the headwall itself. Seven pitches of aid up to A3, with one desperately hard mandatory free move at maybe 5.10+ (slab move to rounded mantel) led to the summit ice arête. From the summit, the view was amazing! Here is a shot from the top-


In the end the route turned out to be VI 5.10 A3 60 degrees, 1,450 meters. It took me 39 hours nonstop, camp-to-camp. No bolts used on route, with only two equalized beaks left on route for a diagonal rappel to gain another system. No other gear or garbage was left on the peak, as I descended the south face to get back to my skis. The route of a lifetime! Again!

It seemed to me that I could have stayed in Baffin forever, but eventually it came time to head home. An Inuit hunter named ‘Leslie’ came to pick me up from my little home in the fiords, after 65 days of sea ice living. So we loaded the sled, took one last look at my arctic home, and buzzed away.


By now the cracks, or leads, in the sea ice were over two meters wide, making for very exciting jumps on the snowmobile, or tedious detours to get around them.


Once we got out of the fiords, the spectacular icebergs frozen into the open sea ice greeted us-


In the end, Leslie took me back to his house to let me use his shower (thank god!) and email- had to tell the family I was still alive! Here is a shot of Leslie with one of his recent kills. Like I said before- These Inuit guys are RAD!!!


My trip to the arctic was about 70 days of pure adventure. I had high expectations for the trip, but was blown away by what I actually saw and experienced. Many different people and companies helped me out to make this trip a reality, and I would like to thank them. The American Alpine Club was super generous, awarding me a Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge grant to help me along with this trip. These guys are awesome, and all climbers need to take a moment, and a few dollars, and join this great organization!

Also I would like to thank my sponsors for continuing to believe in me, and for contributing to this trip. Big thanks to Black Diamond, MSR/Thermarest, Asolo, Osprey, Five.Ten, Backpackers Pantry, GU, and the North Face. You guys rock!

This trip was quite expensive for me, about $9k. I paid for this trip, as well as all my other ones, by working as a climbing guide in Patagonia and elsewhere. I work as a legal climbing guide (one of the only ones!) in the Torres del Paine for my main source of income, and if anyone out there might want to take an ascent with me, let me know! I have tons of big trips planned, and this is how I make it happen.

Any one who needs more info for their own trip to the arctic, hit me up at elcapbum@yahoo.com, and I will try to help out. Many people helped me out with info such as Mark Synnott, Brad Barlage, Odd Roar Wiik, and Levi Palituq. Thanks guys!

-Dave Turner


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