Swiss route, Ketil Pryamid

There is very little information to be found on climbing in Greenland. Especially for what is most probably the most climbed route; the Swiss route on the Ketil Pryamid, first thought to have been climbed by a Swiss team in the 80’s.

I understand the lure of an adventure, of not having all the information handed to you on a silver platter, but climbing in this area was not our main objective, so for us it would have been nice to have some basic information. If you find yourself of the same opinion carry on reading to see the topo and some beta.

Access
Start at the campsite and gain height to the ridge, there is a climbers path high on the ridge which we only found on the descent.  The route starts on the left of the big pillar. 

Descent
Abseil the route or walk off the back and down the ridge to the fjord.

Description
11 Pitches UIAA V1+
2 x 50m ropes
1 set of nuts and cams
Anchors are bolted

– Start in the gully up 2 easy pitches. When it starts to steepen make a few bouldery moves to an anchor on your left.
– Follow the thick, layback flake. On top of this is a few delicate moves on the slab to reach the next belay.
– Slabby moves to a finger crack.
– Belay in a big niche, then into a few off-width grovelling moves to gain the crack above.
– Small chimney to a thin arrete and dihedral, with one bolt, few crux moves to mantel over the top of the dihedral.
– Reach a large ledge around the summit block. You can traverse this to the back and scramble up to the summit. Or climb a hand jam crack at about E2/E3