Canada, Canadian Arctic, Climbs in Auyuttuq National Park, Baffin Island

Publication Year: 1990.

Climbs in Auyuttuq National Park, Baffin Island. On August 7, Willard Moulton, Bill Morris, Jim Osborne, Dr. Douglas Halliday, Dr. Michael Parker and I were boated to the Overlord Camp at the head of Pangnirtung Fiord. We carried our too-heavy loads up the Weasel Valley in misty weather, turning east up the Tiroka Glacier to set up Base Camp below Mount Sif on August 11. Eight inches of fresh snow on the glacier made sled hauling and ski approaches possible. We enjoyed five days of unusually clear, warm weather. On the 12th, Morris, Parker and I made the second ascent of the Sandcastle Ridge. Meanwhile, Moulton, Osborne and Halliday made a ski ascent of a subsidiary peak (reference 404550) three miles due east of Mount Sif. On August 13, Parker and I skied over a col and descended north to the base of a double-peaked mountain (reference 403550). A first ascent of the south summit was made via the east-face snowfields and a short summit rock scramble. That same day, Moulton, Morris and Osborne climbed a subsidiary buttress of Mount Sif behind Base Camp. On the 14th, Moulton, Morris and I climbed a solitary triangular peak immediately south of the Park boundary (reference 491500). The northwest-face route included initial rock scrambling to a steepening snow face and a short pitch up the summit block. The final climb, on August 15, was the first ascent of the north peak of a prow-shaped mountain due east of Mount Sig (reference 403500). Parker, Halliday and Moulton ascended on skis via a col and south slopes, finishing with a rock scramble. On the 16th, in worsening weather, we carried all the way to Overlord.

James Vermeulen