In August, Daniel Dunn, Rett English, and I visited Arctic Lake Wall and climbed a new route up the center, aiming for the left side of the wall’s largest roofs. We took a line to the left of Arctic Beast (700’, III 5.11c, Prince-Musiyenko, 2016) on what we believe was entirely new terrain.

We followed continuous cracks and corners from the bottom of the wall up to the roofs, bolting belays along the way. When we reached the stacked roofs, we searched around for a weakness, eventually finding one via a steep layback crack to bypass the first roof, then a traverse under the second roof. Above, we found more vertical to overhanging terrain. The rock quality on Cooler Than a Polar Bear’s Toenails (700’, 5 pitches, III 5.11-) was excellent, the climbing engaging and sustained, and the exposure exciting.

            —Matt Carpenter