The Asgard Project :: Our objective is to produce a groundbreaking film about the first free ascent of Asgard’s NWface, regarded as one of the most difficult big walls in the world.

The Asgard Project has continued its award winning run by picking up Best Feature at the Llanberies Mountain Film Festival.

LLAMFF dedicates itself to exploring mountain culture and inspiring adventure so was the perfect event to show Asgard Project film.

The LLAMFF award follows on from the film being given the People’s Choice Award at the Kendal Mountain Festival shortly after its release.

You can pick up your copy of the film here.

Find out more about the LLAMFF Film festival.

Terrible weather in the run up to Kendal Mountain Festival didn't dampen the anticipation that had built up around the premiere of the Asgard Project film. The premiere had sold out in record time, with all 700 tickets being sold straight after going on sale, and before the film had even been finished by award-winning film maker Alastair Lee. The original four screenings was increased to deal with the demand by visitors to the major film festival. The popularity of the film was recognised at the festival where it was given the People's Choice Award, receiving five times as many votes as any other film.

Berghaus sponsored athlete Leo Houlding who led the Asgard Project said: "We set out to make blockbuster adventure movie the likes of which nobody has seen before, we totally nailed it!" Director of the Adventure Film Academy commented that the film was 'a climbing Mission Impossible.' To launch the James Bond style movie with flair the members of the Asgard Project team who attended the festival, which included Berghaus athletes Leo Houlding and Carlos Suarez, along with film crew and director Alastair Lee, donned tuxedos and relaxed at the after show party. You can pre-order your copy of the Asgard Project DVD, which is on sale in December, by visiting posing productions.

• SUCCESS!!
  

After 12 days of suffering in sub zero temperatures, in the shade 23 hours a day and weathering severe ice storms we succeed in getting Al, Chris, Jas, Stanley and Leo to the top of the wall. The harsh conditions and incredibly steep blank nature of the rock only allowed us to free half the route but given the situation and time of year (the summer is short up here it is now autumn) we are over the moon that we made it to the top. It has been brutal thank god we all had the right kit otherwise frost-nip and hyperthermia would have had us by now.

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.

It has been such a hard experience for all of us and we are physically and psychologically exhausted. My hands are in pieces just unzipping my sleeping bag is agony. Can't wait to get back to civilization. Haven't showered for a month and we've had our fill of freeze dried rations. Thankfully we still have enough fresh coffee and chocolate for the 30 mile hike out of here.

Our back packs are huge, at least 30 kg each. After 2 days of dragging barrels and haul bags we are now down at Summit lake shelter and finally off the glacier that has been home for the last month. Much nicer down here - enjoying sun and sleeping on sand instead of ice.

Though destroyed and surviving on painkillers and anti-inflamatories we're all in good spirits. Just another 3 days of hard hiking to go. The river crossings that were waist deep raging torrents on the way up are now trickles we can boulder hop across without removing boots. SO ready to get out of here! Can almost taste the fresh food and beer.

Leo Houlding and team successfully summit Mount Asgard

Leo Houlding and his team have successfully reached the top of Mount Asgard after 12 days of climbing, in an ambitious expedition that tested all involved to the limit.

The team endured extremely harsh conditions on the 1400 metre high tower of granite, which is in a remote region of Baffin Island, Arctic Canada.  They climbed during days in which there were 23 hours of shade and endured sub-zero temperatures and severe ice storms that left 4cm of haw frost on all of their ropes.  Leo, fellow Berghaus climber Carlos Suarez and the rest of the team, managed to reach the top just before the route became completely unclimbable.

Every aspect of the gruelling climb was captured in high definition by award winning film maker Alastair Lee.  To make all of this possible, the team was given substantial support by Berghaus and leading mobile communications company Nokia. 

Leo Houlding comments: “Climbing Asgard’s North West face, which is regarded as one of the world’s most difficult big walls, was the greatest challenge I have set myself to date. The climb was extremely tough and we faced a savage ice storm that made us consider retreat, but we finally got enough of a break in the weather to finish the route.”

Alastair Lee adds: “We are over the moon that we made it to the top. It has been brutal - thank God we all had the right kit otherwise frost-nip and hyperthermia would have had us by now.”
He continued: “It has been such a hard experience for all of us and we are physically and psychologically exhausted. My hands are in pieces and just unzipping my sleeping bag is agony - I can't wait to get back to civilization. We haven't showered for a month and we've had our fill of freeze dried rations.

“Though destroyed and surviving on on painkillers and anti-inflamatories we're all in good spirits. The river crossings that were waist deep ragging torrents on the way up are now trickles we can boulder hop across without removing boots.  I can almost taste the fresh food and beer. “

In preparation for the epic climb, Leo completed three crucial training expeditions, to Riglos in Spain, Brento in Italy and the world famous Yosemite National Park in the USA.  On each trip, Leo and climbing partners tackled major big walls and tested and refined the techniques that would make the difference between failure and success on Asgard.  He was also supplied with some prototypes of new Berghaus products to put to the test throughout the year. 

• Day 1. The Haul Report.

We have found a relatively rock fall free line.
Chris, Jason, Al, Stanley and Leo set about hauling 300kg up 350meters of steep choss held together by ice. 15 hours later at 5am the exhausted team crawled into their sleeping bags.

• 
  Day 2

We got bombarded by ice fall from the top of Asgard all night, the chunks where small and we were too tired to care.
We turned a hostile scree slope into a relatively comfortable home.
We have organised the kit ready to climb the wall proper.

• 
  Day 3

Cold and snowy - Bollocks!
Start leading anyway. Stanley leads the first pitch, wet icy and snowy, but not too hard.
Pitch 2. More of the same.
Difficult transferring from alpine boots to climbing shoes. Difficult to climb with so many clothes and numb hands and feet.
Pitch 3. THE OFF-WIDTH.
Bring out the Yosemite god Stanley.
Titanic battle with a verhglass filled off width. not dissimilar to the Monster Crack on Free Rider. A good Lead.
With the icy rain and with darkness falling we retreat to advanced base camp.

• 
  Day 4

Windy and cold night but no ice showers.  Difficult to motivate in 2 degrees for hard free climbing.
Early afternoon the weather starts to clear, we are going to go up!
Moral high in the men, their is plenty left in us for the rest of the fight.
We just need a few days of stable weather.
Leo Climbed another pitch this afternoon, which proved to be very hard.  We then retreated to ABC late in the evening as darkness fell.

• 
  Day 5

We slept through a snow shower and woke to find a cloud inversion on the glacier and snow on the portaledges. The weather is now bright and sunny, and we are going to move the camp higher up the wall.
Water and fuel could be an issue from now on.
Leo and Stanley are going to climb much higher today.

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