UK Brothers to Summit Baffin Island's Mount Asgard, Honoring Grandfather’s Legacy

British adventurers Niall McCann and Finn McCann are on their way to climb Mount Asgard, the 2,015m twin-peaked granite tower in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island. It's a family affair: They want to climb the peak that their grandfather, Patrick Douglas Baird, named but never summited.

The McCanns will arrive shortly in Pangnirtung, the gateway to that Canadian Arctic national park. Here, they will share 1953 photos with local residents to connect with those who may recall Patrick Douglas Baird. They will then haul 40kg loads to the base of the mountain and climb the tower over about three weeks.

Pangnirtung and the beginning of Auyuittuq National Park, background. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko

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In an Instagram post, Niall McCann recounted Patrick Douglas Baird’s 1953 expedition: “In the summer of 1953, my grandfather Pat Baird led a four-month expedition...for the Arctic Institute of North America. During this expedition, he first laid eyes on an extraordinary-looking mountain, which he named Asgard (subsequently changed to Mount Asgard), home of the gods.”

Asgard and the mountains of eastern Baffin Island. Photo: Onebigphoto

The jagged, fiord-indented east coast of Baffin Island features some of the highest cliffs in the world. The highest peak is Mount Odin (2,147m), followed by Mount Asgard (2,015m), Mount Qiajivik (1,963m), Angilaaq (1,951m), Kisimngiuqtuq (1,905m), Ukpik (1,809m), Bastille Peak (1,733m), Mount Thule (1,711m), Angna (1,710m), and Mount Thor (1,675m). There is also a whole other area further north with slightly lower but equally world-class cliffs in Sam Ford Fiord, where the walls rise directly from the ocean. In short, eastern Baffin offers amazing climbing.

The two towers

Mount Asgard lies inland on southeastern Baffin Island. Its granite north and south towers, separated by a saddle, soar 1,600m above the valley, making it a premier big-wall destination. Of the two towers, the north one is slightly taller than the south.

Mount Asgard. Photo: Niall McCann

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In 1934, Patrick Douglas Baird explored Greenland and northeastern Baffin Island. In 1938, he returned to Baffin, only to lose his companion when a storm blew him out to sea, to a watery grave.

A cartoon from the 1953 Baffin Island expedition, led by Patrick Baird. The C.D. Howe was a government Arctic patrol ship. Photo courtesy of Niall McCann

Although he never summited the peak, Patrick Baird was an important figure in the climbing history of Asgard. It began in 1953 during the Arctic Institute expedition, which he led. Four Swiss scientists -- Jurg Marmet, Hans Rothlisberger, Fritz Hans Schwarzenbach, and Hans Weber -- father of polar traveler Richard Weber -- made the first ascent. They reached the Asgard saddle from the east, then summited the north peak. Baird put up several first ascents during that four-month expedition, but he himself didn’t join the Asgard climb.

Hans Weber does a Tyrolean traverse across Baffin Island's Weasel River, with Mount Asgard in the distance. Photo: Weber family

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In 1963, Baird led another successful expedition to Mount Asgard. His 14-year-old daughter, Niall and Finn McCann’s mother, was a team member. Baird again did some notable first ascents in the area but did not climb Asgard.

Doug Scott and team on Baffin Island. Photo: Doug Scott

A climbing party, led again by Baird, made the first ascent of the 2,000m South Tower in 1971. Doug Scott, Guy Lee, Rob Wood, and Phil Koch summited via the 1,000m south ridge. They then made an epic descent in a blizzard. In 1972, Scott returned to Baffin Island with Dennis Hennek, Paul Nunn, and Paul Braithwaite, this time without Baird, and established the Scott-Hennek Route on the East Pillar of Asgard.

More on Pat Baird

Patrick Douglas Baird was born in the UK in 1912 and became a key figure in latter-day Arctic exploration. He studied geography and geology at Cambridge University. Then in the 1930s, he joined the British Arctic Air Route Expedition to Greenland (1930–1931) and led the Cambridge East Greenland Expedition in 1934. He also directed a 1936–1937 expedition to Baffin Island, where he did mapping and studied glaciers.

Pat Baird, ca. 1953. Artist unknown. Photo of original charcoal drawing. Photo: University of Calgary

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During World War II, Baird served as an instructor at the Canadian Army’s winter warfare school, training soldiers for cold-weather combat.In 1947, he became Director of the Arctic Institute of North America, guiding research and serving on the institute’s Board of Governors.

Baird wrote many scholarly articles on Arctic geography and glaciology. He also authored The Polar World in 1964 and co-wrote Field Guide to Snow and Ice with W.H. Ward. Baird died in Ottawa in 1984, and his ashes were scattered on Baffin Island. You can read more about Pat Baird here.

Niall McCann hams it up in front of his grandfather's photo. Photo: Niall McCann

The McCann brothers

Niall McCann, a biologist, National Geographic Explorer, and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, has extensive experience in big-wall climbing in the U.S. and Europe. He has also done ski-mountaineering in Greenland.

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Finn McCann brings over 20 years of climbing experience across more than 30 overseas expeditions, including Himalayan ascents, technical Alpine mixed routes, and multi-day big walls. He also participated in the 2014 Greenland expedition with his brother.

A collage of photos from Pat Baird's expeditions. Photo: Niall McCann