What Does it take to Climb the World’s Tallest Sea Cliff?

Climbing tends to turn into a sport of superlatives: the tallest summit; the fastest time; the most remote objective; you name it. Add this one to the list: the world’s tallest sea cliff, the 2,500-foot Cape Enniberg on the northern end of the Faroe Islands in the middle of the frigid North Atlantic. Home to one of the largest colonies of seabirds in the world, the peak had never been climbed from the ground up, and for good reason–the whole thing is falling apart.

In the true spirit of "let's see if we can do this," James Pearson, Cedar Wright, and Yuji Hirayama decided to go on a chossy adventure and make an attempt at a first ascent. After 15 hours and an untold number of pitches later, the trio stood on top of the summit. On the way, they experienced what they described as hands down the weirdest climbing they had ever done, encountering everything from seabirds vomiting in their face to finding sheep grazing on a ledge in the middle of the cliff.