The mountains immediately west of Torssuqatoq Sound were not explored until 1975, when a large and productive British expedition from St. Andrews University, led by Phil Gribbin, invaded the area. Its achievements should not be underestimated: Members climbed around 42 new peaks and made a total of 47 new routes up to TD and UIAA V. Activity focused on the area of bigger peaks immediately north of the Torssuqatoq Spires (the latter referred to as the Land of the Towers), making first ascents of summits such as Agdierussakasit (1,763m) and Maujit Qaqarsuassiaq (1,560m; the eastern, seaward side of this peak holds the huge sea cliff sometimes called the Thumbnail). Their furthest foray south was to a summit in the Magic Arrow group, west of Maujit Lake and immediately north of Breakfast Spire.

The spires themselves were not visited until 1996, when Simon Inger’s four-man British team placed a base camp at the head of the Narssap Sarqa Fjord immediately west, and climbed a number of peaks, including Navianarpoq (1,550m, AD) and Magic Arrow (1,200m, TD- V+).

The huge potential for hard rock climbing encouraged a second British team to visit in 1997. Andy and Pete Benson, Kenton Cool, and Al Powell made 18 ascents, some of which were major climbs, with technical difficulties of British E3 6a and E4 5c. They noted several fine objectives to the east, notably the southwest ridge of Whaleback (ca 1,200m) but could not access them from their valley. These would have to wait until 2000 and the visit of an eight-member British expedition, which was based in the same valley visited by the Americans in 2013. Several shorter routes were climbed on the south flank of Breakfast Spire’s east ridge, before Jon Bracey and Ian Renshaw attempted the impressive 800m east face. A few pitches short of the top, Renshaw fell and broke an ankle. The pair managed to traverse to the east ridge and rappel the shorter north face, and then Renshaw crawled back over a col and eventually was evacuated by helicopter.

In 2010 Bob Shepton anchored in Torssuqatoq Sound, dropping Ben Ditto, Nico and Olivier Favresse, and Sean Villanueva at the mouth of the same valley leading up to Breakfast Spire. Lost in the mist, the four found themselves in the Narsarmijit Valley immediately west, below the unclimbed peak between Navianarpoq and Breakfast Spire. They climbed the south face of this peak by two independent parallel lines, naming the summit Shepton Spire after the skipper, then traversed the long ridge east (D/TD) to Breakfast Spire (AAJ 2011).

The summit area of Breakfast Spire has several mini-spires. The one reached by the Americans this year (the south block) and its close neighbor (the north block, most likely the top reached in 2010) are the highest.

Lindsay Griffin, MountainINFO