World class climber Leo Houlding and his team have reached the summit of one of the most difficult big walls in the world.

Named after Asgard, the realm of the gods in Norse mythology, Mount Asgard is the most famous mountain on Baffin Island, Canada.  Although not the highest peak in the Baffin Mountains, it is particularly distinctive due to its flat-topped twin peaks, which are separated by a saddle.  The two 1 kilometre, vertical faces provide some of the most extreme rock-climbing there is.

Situated on the boundary of the Arctic Circle in the Auyuittuq National Park, the mountain is inaccessible for most of the year, as the fjords on Baffin Island are filled with frozen sea ice. There is just a short period in the summer when the ice melts and the 24 hours of daylight transforms the area into a climbers paradise.  

Sponsored by Berghaus and Nokia, the objective of the "Asgard Project" was to produce a groundbreaking film about the first free ascent of Mount Asgard’s north west face.  Leo and his team, including Spanish climber Carlos Suarez, reached the top of the mountain after 12 days of brutal climbing.  Despite the "summer" window, conditions on the mountain were particularly harsh, with the team enduring sub zero temperatures and severe ice storms, being forced to spend 23 hours a day in the shade while they attempted to reach the top.

Leo explains how tough the climb was:

"Mount Asgard is named after the realm of the Norsk gods. It feels like those gods having been toying with us the whole time. After a savage ice storm that left 4cm of haw frost on all the ropes and brought the first discussions of retreat we were treated to an insane display of the northern lights and enough fine weather to finish the route. On the summit a snowy owl swooped right by to check us out. A positive sign. On the final stage of the rappel the gods sent us off with 10 cm of snow. The wall is now unclimable. Asgard allowed us to the top but by the skin of our teeth."

Speakers from the Edge hope to be working with Leo next year.  In the meantime, you can read more about the Asgard Project here.

The film of the ascent, which is being made by award-winning film maker Alastair Lee, will be available to buy from Posing Productions later this year - you can watch a teaser already.