"... something that no-one before me has experienced"

Extreme climbing challenges in virtually untouched regions of the world are Stefan Glowacz’s passion. Next up on the program in April: the vast ice of Canada’s north coast, on walls of which to date only aerial photos exist. In part one of our interview the 42-year-old from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, talks about dangers, dreams – and the charm of daily life in civilization.

Just a few weeks, and then you’ll be embarking on your next climbing expedition. What images do you have in your head when you wake up in the morning; what thoughts do you fall asleep with?

What I constantly think about are mostly pragmatic things: How many lengths of safety rope do we really need? Do we know enough about the quality of the rock that’s awaiting us? How do we protect ourselves from polar bears?

How, exactly?

With polar bear fences, which we put up around the camp. If a bear tries to break through it, flares and blanks go off that are supposed to scare them away. And of course we’ve also got guns: two Winchester pump guns.

The location of the expedition is Baffin Island, the fifth-largest island in the world, situated between Greenland and the north coast of Canada. What conditions can you and your team expect there?

We’ll be in a region far from civilization where the average temperatures are about -20 degrees Celsius. The area is devoid of trees and shrubs – but full of elements of uncertainty. Because even the reports from the Inuits aren’t exactly illuminating: they would never think of climbing any of these mountains, for example.

What’s the goal of the expedition ...?

From Point Inlet, the last point of civilization, we want to make our way along 280 kilometers to the south in ski-dos. There’s a range of granite walls measuring 1200, 1300 meters in height there, which fall directly into the ocean, and which nobody has ever climbed before. After that we have to penetrate the wilderness for 350 kilometers to get to Clyde River, the next Inuit settlement in the south.

... and what is it that you are looking for inside yourself?

To realize dreams from my youth: to experience something that no-one before me has experienced; to live something totally new – and to connect this with a first-class athletic achievement at the same time.

What’s it like to live a civic life between expeditions – watch TV, go shopping, drive around in your car? Is it as if you enjoy the amenities like everyone else – but at some point you then feel that a switch gets flipped and you feel like you’re totally trapped?