On July 19, 2025, Julie Beauchemin, Trigg Sharp, and I hiked through a field of purple saxifrage in full blossom, after being dropped by Peter Kilabuk and his boat four kilometers south of the Ulu emergency shelter. After five days stuck in Iqaluit due to weather and mechanical problems, we could not have expected that we would soon experience 15 days of high pressure in a row. With realistic dreams, not enough training, one week of preparation, 220 pounds of gear, and a double rack, we had straightforward goals: the south face of Mt. Asgard and the south buttress of Mt. Loki. If we could just climb one route during our trip, it would be awesome.

To our surprise, our little team soon managed to repeat both of these classic climbs. We then moved camp to the Summit Lake Shelter and repeated First Air (Ledwidge-Statham, 1998) on the south ridge Mt. Sheehan (1,911m).

Next up was a new route on the east/southeast face of an unnamed tower 1.85 kilometers northwest of Mt. Northumbria, at approximately 66.5812, -65.4023. We named our route Follow the Sun (520m, 5.10).

Keeping the momentum going, we added two new routes—Aalaapi (375m, 5.10) and Où Sont Passé Les Tuyaux? (360m, 5.10+)—on the east/southeast face of Thor Shelter Crag, a few hundred meters to the right of Pang Ten (Berdinka-Lunz, 2024; see AAJ 2025).

Still basking in the afterglow of our accomplishments, we joined Dominique Bureau and Alex Morin, two climbers we’d met at Summit Lake, for one final challenge: the first ascent of 5 Bullets Russian Roulette (400m, 5.11) on the northwest face of Mt. Duval (850m, 66.155, -65.638), a wall you can see from Pangnirtung. There are no other known routes on the face. The climb was a near-death experience, one that we would all agree should never be repeated. But the vibe was so good and the camaraderie so strong that the climbing was still incredibly fun, regardless of the chaos.

What began as a humble trip with the goal of completing one climb had turned into one of the most exhilarating—and at times terrifying—adventures of our lives.

—Bruno-Pierre Couture, Canada