Marek Raganowicz Climbs New Baffin Routes Solo

Marek Raganowicz spent a number of weeks this spring climbing new routes on Baffin Island in bold solo style. Despite the cold temperatures, he climbed two new big aid routes.

One was MantraMandal, a grade-six 450-metre A3+ up the east face of Ship’s Prow on Scott Island. It took him 17 days to climb the serious line and did not use any bolts, rivets or fixed lines from bottom.

He took one week off to rest, protected from the local polar bears with only his rifle. He then climbed a second route up a taller part of the steep Ship’s Prow.

In the end, he established a grade-six 600-metre A4 called Secret of Silence. He placed no fixed gear, but due to weather had to fix some pitches.

In 2013, he and partner Marcin Tomaszewski climbed a 46-pitch new route up Great Trango Tower in the Karakorum in Pakistan called Bushido. The high-altitude grade-seven route came in at 5.11a A4.

In Norway a few years later, the two climbed a new grade-six A4 M7 up the Troll Wall in Norway called Katharsis.

Then the next year, Raganowicz made the first winter solo of the Troll Wall up the grade-six 5.10 A3 line called Suser gjennom Harryland. Follow Raganowicz on Facebook here.