In mid-January, I opened up my computer and logged into a Zoom call with Alex Honnold. The purpose of the half-hour conversation was to talk about his new series, Arctic Ascent, which is one part climbing and one part environmental science.
It’s an incredible series, full of staggering cinematography, climbing feats that seem impossible, and a look into what’s happening, climate-wise, in an inhospitable and unexplored part of the world.
“East Greenland is one of the most remote and least studied parts of the Arctic, which makes it very important scientifically,” French glaciologist named Heidi Sevestre, who was on the adventure, told National Geographic a few days after they returned. “We desperately need scientific data from this region. Studying the fjords, the glaciers, the ice sheets will bring so much data to the scientific community that the contribution will be extremely positive.”
The mission wasn’t an easy one, not by any means. The main climb was a bare wall of granite called Ingmikortilaq that juts from the sea to nearly 4,000 feet. Until Honnold and climber Hazel Findlay climbed it, no one had ever dared try it. Even to Honnold, a man who has scaled some of the most difficult routes in the world, it was daunting.
“When I look at something like that, I’m also intimidated by it. We’re sort of awed by it,” Honnold told me. “I mean, I’m an experienced climber, so I see that it’s possible, but I think that for me part of the pleasure is to look at something that seems so daunting like that, and then to actually be able to achieve it. You take something that seems impossible and then, through a long period of hard work and effort, make it possible. It’s not like I look at it and am like, ‘Oh, that looks trivial.’ I look at it, I’m like, ‘wow, that’s really intimidating.’ I like finding things that are right in that sweet spot where it’s challenging enough to be daunting, but still possible, hopefully.”
But Ingmikortilaq wasn’t the only hard part of the journey. They first needed to get to the Renland Ice Cap, where the movement of the Arctic sea ice has a strong influence on the climatic conditions. Researchers using ice cores from the Renland Ice Cap can look back in time about 100,000 years. And since it’s a relatively shallow ice cap that lacks a brittle ice zone like that of say, the Greenland Ice Sheet, it better allows researchers to look to the past to predict the future. But to get there, Honnold and the crew first needed to make a 1,500-foot ascent up something called the Pool Wall, then cross the vast, barren expanse of the Renland Ice Cap. Honnold rated the Pool Wall at 5.12c, which is no easy feat even for the most experienced climber, weather conditions not withstanding.
The video above is just a snippet of the whole series. In it Honnold and Findlay begin the largest first ascent of their careers: the staggering 3,750-foot tall Ingmikortilaq.
Arctic Ascent is available on National Geographic and on Disney+ and Hulu.
