Pythagoras Klippe -- one of the "great cliffs" of the world

 

Google Earth 3D image of the 4,500 ft Pythagoras Cliff, located on the outside of the final bend in the fjord before it opens out into Hall Bredning.  The fjord water here is about 4,000 feet deep, and the fjord wall passes downward beneath the surface without much change of gradient.  So this is not a true sea cliff cut by the processes of coastal erosion.  It should be compared with other great cliffs formed by glacial erosion.

I have been working on a new video about our kayak trip on Nordvestfjord in 1962, and I am increasingly concerned that the massive coastal cliff that towered above us on part of the journey has not got the recognition it deserves!  The cliff is almost 4,500 feet high  -- more than ten times the height of the highest cliffs in Pembrokeshire.

In my narrative I describe the cliff like this:

On the western flank of this upland plateau is the Pythagoras Klippe — at 4,500 ft, one of the world’s great cliffs. It was cut by the Nordvestfjord Glacier, and dominates the outer end of the fjord. The enormous cliff is so high that if you were to plonk Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, out in the fjord, you could stand on the clifftop and look down at the summit. It’s more than three times as high as the Empire State Building, and twice as high as the famous Pulpit Rock cliff in Norway. It’s also far taller than the famous El Capitan rock wall in America. The geology is similar to that of the Staunings Alps, with granite and other crystalline rocks.  But there are no clean climbing walls here — the cliff face is broken up by great chasms and fractures, and rockfalls are frequent. This giant, forbidding, lethal cliff stretches for about 4 miles, running almost north-south — and as we shall see, it plays a central role in our narrative.

To fully appreciate the scale of this cliff, we can compare it with some of the famous and spectacular cliffs in NW Iceland:

Haelavikurbjarg cliff in Hornstrandir is just 846 ft (257m) high -- so the Pythagoras Klippe is about 5 times as tall

The Latrabjarg cliff in Vestfirdir is just 441m high -- so the Pythagoras Klippe is more than three times as high

Because this wonderful cliff has been formed by glacial erosional processes (where the rate of downcutting and sediment removal vastly outstrips the periglacial and proglacial processes of cliff degradation) we need to see it as belonging in the same league as the high mountain climbing cliffs of the Alps, Himalayas and Andes.  Mount Thor on Baffin Island has a drop of 4,100 feet.  Mount Asgard also has a vertical drop of about 4,000 feet. Then we can think of Cerro Torre and Torres del Paine in  South America (about 900m or c 3,000 ft ).  In South Greenland there are several hugely impressive rock cliffs in Tasermiut Fjord.  There are endless lists of the "highest cliffs in the world" or "the most dangerous climbs in the world" ----but we won't get involved in those discussions.

Suffice to say that Pythagoras Klippe is one of the select group of coastal cliffs in the world that is more than 3,000 feet high.  I don't think it has been climbed, because it is too dangerous, with too many crumbling rock faces and rockfalls..... but who knows?  There are some crazy guys out there.......

Mount Thule

Mount Asgard

In the inner reches of Nordvestfjord is the Ingmikortilaq cliff (3,750 ft), first climbed by Alex Honnold and Hazel Findley in 2022.  Pythagoras Klippe is higher, and probably far more dangerous.......

Ingmikortilaq

By the way, the name "Pythagoras Klippe" is a strictly informal one, so it will not appear on any map.  The people of Greenland may already have a name for this cliff, and if so I hope it will be used to promote it as a place of wonder......