Wall to Wall – EICA Ratho to Fox Jaw Cirque, East Greenland.

Wall to Wall – EICA Ratho to Fox Jaw Cirque, East Greenland.

What does it take for a person to go beyond their comfort zone? Not just by a little, but way beyond it! Cath Alldred did just that when she planned and led an expedition to the Fox Jaw Cirque in East Greenland. Up until 2012 she was an indoor climber who had very little experience of trad climbing, had never climbed a multi-pitch route and had never even taken part in an expedition before. This is a story of challenge, excitement and a desire to push the boundaries… team work is everything!

The objective was the establishment of new routes in the Fox Jaw Cirque, Trillingerne, East Greenland. The team were flown to the island of Kulusuk from Reykyavik, and continued by boat to the head of Tasilq Fjord. A base camp was established close to the Cirque. The team successfully completed a total of four new routes of up to 400m, three on Baby Molar and one on Left Rabbit Ear, and made attempts on a further three routes. These were aborted when the apparently safe lines ran out. Repeats of longer routes of 600m on Incisor were also attempted, but not completed. The climbing was generally bold high quality slab climbing with long run-outs on gneiss of variable quality. There is still a great deal of climbing potential with hard lines on the most accessible formations, and much more in the more remote locations.

Edinburgh International Climbing Arena(EICA:Ratho, formerly the Ratho Adventure Centre) is an adventure sports facility located in Ratho, near Edinburgh, Scotland. Built in a disused quarry, it is the largest indoor climbingwall in the world.

Financial problems months after it opened in December 2003 put the Arena into receivership. It was purchased by the City of Edinburgh Counciland fully reopened in May 2007 after a further programme of works costing around GB£6 million. The centre is now used by both recreational climbers and for competitions, and is also home to the Scottish National Judo Academy.

By Les Ailes du Desir – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16117020