Sermersoq Island, South Greenland. Britons Mike Banks, Roger Birnstingl, Irishmen Bill Hannon and I climbed on Sermersoq Island near Kap Farvel (Cape Farewell) for three weeks in July and August. An unusual feature of the party is that we are all over sixty. The peaks on the island are small (the highest is Savtakkerne, 1276 meters), but they offer interesting rock climbing of all grades of difficulty. They rise from small glaciers and snowfields. The snowfields last late into the summer and are preferable to the boulder fields they conceal. There has not been as much previous climbing on the island as might be expected given that the attractive granite spires are easily visible from the small town of Nanortalik. We climbed twelve peaks, of which seven were first ascents. The first ascents were “Jessica Peak,” 985m, by RB, BH on July 24 (4 kms southeast of Savtakkerne); “Bath Peak” and “Geneva Peak,” both 900m, by MB, RB on July 27 (1.8 and 2.2 kms northeast of Savtakkerne); “Roger’s Peak,” 1150m, by RB on July 28 (1.2 kms southeast of Savtakkerne); “Saga Peak,” 1060m, by MB, RB, BH, JL on August 5 (3.3 kms east of Bath Peak); “Kent Peak,” 1000m, by MB, RB on August 5 (.6 kms north of Saga Peak); “Mount Eugenie,” 790m, by MB, RB, BH, JL on August 9 (5 kms east of Savtakkerne). We failed on Savtakkerne, which seems to have no route which does not demand rock climbing of a very high standard.

Joss Lynam, Irish Alpine Association