STAVELEY daredevil Leo Houlding has started an attempted first ascent on a huge unclimbed rock face in the harsh Arctic wilderness.

Situated in the rarely visited area of Renland, in north east Greenland, the ‘huge, imposing and extremely remote’ Mirror Wall is a 1,200m high granite cliff – four times the height of London’s Shard.

In a Berghaus-sponsored expedition, Leo is leading a small team that hopes to be the first to complete a line on the wall’s north west face.

The 34-year-old has assembled a team of ambitious young adventurers to join him on the trip. He will share lead climbing duties with experienced South African climber Joe Mo?hle, 30, and 28 year old Matt Pickles, a talented sport climber from Todmorden.

At 26, Sheffield’s Matt Pycroft is one of the rising stars of British adventure film making. Pycroft, working with experienced climber and rigging expert Waldo Etherington, 27, from Dorset, will capture the expedition for a series of short films.

The expedition comes after months of planning. Supplies were shipped to Iceland, flown by light aircraft to Greenland and then snowmobiled to an uninhabited hunting outpost deep in the Scoresby Sund fjord in early May, before the seasonal break-up of the sea ice.

The team left the UK in late June and after a stop off in Iceland, made their way by air to Greenland before helicoptering in to basecamp in the wilderness of Renland, not far from the wall.

They also encountered an early setback when their supplies were raided by polar bears rummaging for food.

The team anticipates spending up to 15 days living on the wall in an attempt to free climb to the summit, hauling all their equipment and supplies, including hundreds of kilogrammes of ice, up behind them.

Speaking before the climb, Leo said: “There are precious few cliffs in the world that exceed 1,000m in vertical height, but right in front of us, in this little explored corner of Greenland, lies one such beauty.

“I’m a bit concerned about the snow conditions and serac bands guarding the approach. Once we’re on the wall it looks pretty safe but properly hard.

“None of the crew have been on this kind of trip before, but everybody has gelled really well and we’re working safely and steadily towards our goal.

“It’s really an inspiring wilderness and if this stable weather sticks around, we’re in for a treat.”