ODYSSEA BOREALIS

In July 2024, the Swiss climber Silvan Schüpbach sets out to explore the east coast of Greenland with three other elite-level mountaineers. The goal? To open a new route on the virgin big wall of Droneren. Adverse weather and some close encounters with predators immediately push the adventure beyond the boundaries of a mountaineering expedition, creating a storyline worthy of the Homeric poems.

The point of an adventure into unknown territory lies in the how, not the what. Over the years, I’ve learned to live with the high risk of failure inherent in the pursuit of new challenges, feeding my ambitions with the seduction of the unknown. The expedition to the Mythics Cirque, which ended with the first ascent of “Forum” on the Siren Tower, had seared into my mind the conviction that “the value of the achieved goal lies in the journey undertaken to reach it,” to paraphrase Cavafy. This new journey reinforced my conviction, imparting a literal meaning to the passage in the poem “Ithaca.”

The final destination of this new journey is the unclimbed Droneren, an imposing rock tower nearly 2,000 meters high that juts out into the eastern fjords of the largest island in the world. It’s a hostile area in terms of the conditions and the approach; suffice it to say that the nearest village is a good 380 kilometers away. To reach the tower, we plan to paddle more than 300 kilometers by kayak, for a total of 600 kilometers round trip. The failure of the expedition undertaken by American explorer Mike Libecki in 2015 adds a further layer of challenge. Crossing the border of the known world, pushing into areas where others had failed — that was exactly what we were looking for!

Since 2019, I’d been planning an attempt with my partner Matteo della Bordella, but first the pandemic and later other vertical projects had shifted my attention from this dream.

Now that the necessary conditions are finally in place, Matteo and I decide to immediately bring in Symon Welfringer, with whom we had formed a very close group in opening the route on Siren. In addition, we also include in the team the guide and our great friend Alex Gammeter, whose experience will enable us to avoid dangerous situations. For more than a month, we’ll be able to rely only on the cohesiveness of the group. There’s no “Odysseus”; we’re all on the same level. We know that the lack of a leader could lengthen the process of making decisions (even minor ones, like those on where to stop to pee) and create some disagreement, but that’s the only way to be sure we’re making the best possible decision.

Beyond the “who,” climbing to the top of Droneren is mostly a matter of “how.” In addition to complete self-reliance, we all share the “by fair means” philosophy of exploration, a climbing style that’s clean from all points of view.

The large amount of ice that has accumulated in the Atlantic (experts say there hasn’t been an ice pack like this in at least 20 years) forces us to postpone our departure in the kayaks by a week. I have to smile now when I think back to when, comparing this new adventure to Himalayan expeditions, I told everyone that we wouldn’t have to wait long to get things moving. But despite this “false start,” we’re as giddy as children. The journey toward our entire mountaineering season’s goal has finally begun!