The Ridge Above All Ridges

It is Saturday afternoon in Chamonix – the undisputed mountain capital of the world, the universe's biggest magnet for anyone interested in spectacular nature experiences. Tourists with selfie sticks bake in the autumn sun and consider which souvenir to buy: a t-shirt? A cup of coffee? A framed photo of Mont Blanc in a size of 2 x 2 meters?

There is a smell of freshly baked crêpes, sun cream and adventure in the whole city center just as mountain guide and Norrøna ambassador Wolfgang Huber makes the call. With nearly 25 years' experience as a mountain guide in the Alps and in Norway, he is a living legend in climbing and steep skiing. A real Guide de Haute Montagne, as it is called in French. Now also husband and father of two. Wolfgang says he has checked out the classic of all climbing classics in Chamonix, the Cosmiques Ridge, for us.

He tells us about large amounts of fresh snow. He tells us about a flawless weather forecast: more sun, even less wind. And he ends his call with this one, essential sentence: “I think this will be fun!”

THE NEXT MORNING, at 7:56 a.m., a tall man comes rolling in front of the base station of the Aiguille du Midi gondola on a juvenile bicycle. A climbing bag is well placed in the child seat. The smile is big. The hair is wild. The accent is still Austrian.

“Good morning” says Wolfgang.
“This will be a good day among high mountains!”

We buy tickets and let the gondolas take us to heaven. At the top station of the Aiguille du Midi, 3,842 meters above sea level, we stroll through long corridors. At a small bench, deep into the catacombs, we put on climbing harnesses and crampons. We find our ice axes. And then we try to find some courage.
You need a little extra courage to continue in the direction of the tunnel opening, to climb over the metal fence with a warning sign, to stick your head out into thin air.

To stick your head out into the Alps.
Right in front of us is the infamous edge that will lead us down onto the glacier. To the right there is a drop of several hundred meters. On the left it is even worse. There it feels like going straight down almost 3,000 meters – directly to the souvenir shops in downtown Chamonix.

Many people wonder what it really means to "step out of the comfort zone".
Going down the summit ridge from the Aiguille du Midi is the closest I can get to a definition of this expression.

Wolfgang naturally notices the tension in our eyes. It's been 15 years since we last went down here. Note to self: we should really go down here a dozen times – every single year.

WE GO DOWN IN SLOW MOTION, step by step, with other climbers both in front and behind us. A cold wind makes the atmosphere extra exotic. Fresh powder snow means that the crampons don't get the best grip. With the beanies pulled well down our ears – and with high concentration – we continue the right path with encouraging words from Wolfgang.

At one point it is so steep that we must turn around and climb backwards. Soon after, we have to jump over a small crack in the glacier – in a place where you really don't feel like jumping.

When we finally stand on the tiny shoulder below the summit ridge, it feels like we have been riding a roller coaster at a funfair.
A little too early in the day.

THE HIKING ACROSS THE GLACIER, below and around the Aiguille du Midi, goes fast. Suddenly we are at the start of the Cosmiques Ridge - with its world-famous, steep and gold-colored pinnacles. Wolfgang gives us a short brief on how he intends to climb further – and how we should follow.

“It gets steep up here, but the climbing is mostly easy. Try to climb with gloves on – so you don't freeze your fingers!”

The experienced mountain guide disappears elegantly upwards, with graceful movements and high confidence. We who follow him may not be as elegant. But we try our best.

And we soon get this peculiar feeling of being in very exposed terrain.

THE COSMIQUES RIDGE WAS FIRST CLIMBED by brothers George and Maxwell Finch on August 2, 1911. I give them my utmost respect – standing on the edge of a gigantic cliff and attempting an intricate climbing move to get onto the next ledge. The clothing and climbing equipment in 1911 were of a completely different kind to what we can use today. They couldn't take the gondola up here. No one had ever been here before. And they had no guide.
That must have been a real adventure.

We send a grateful thought to all adventurers who have the courage to set new tracks – and follow Wolfgang's good advice up small snow channels, over large boulders, along narrow shelf systems and up slippery rock formations.
Around us on all sides, the giants of the Alps smile at us: Dome du Gouter (4304m). Mont Maudit (4465m). Mont Blanc du Tacul (4248m). And of course – the king of all kings – Mont Blanc (4810m).

WE'RE GETTING INTO SOME KIND OF RHYTHM. We forget everything and everyone. We are in many ways outside the ordinary world.

We just move.
We are movement.
We just focus.
We are focus.
We just keep climbing.
We are climbing.

Entering this state is like poetry. Each body part becomes an instrument in a larger symphony. The mountain ridge becomes like a theater play – where we ourselves are allowed to play the main roles.
With only birds as an audience.

WOLFGANG LEADS US ON, past one exposed point after another. In one place we must abseil down a couloir before we can climb further. Elsewhere, we must place the front tags of the crampons into very specific, tiny holes to have a chance of getting up the slippery mountain.

“Isn't it funny?” Wolfgang shouts down to us.

And yes: climbing is so fun – and exciting – that we start to think we've chosen the wrong professions.

We should have tried to become mountain guides, too.
We should have had the mountains as our office.
This profession almost seems too good to be true.

AFTER FOUR HOURS OF CLIMBING, we are almost at the top of the ridge and have arrived at the place we have longed to return to for 15 years: the large mountain shelf just below the top station of the Aiguille du Midi gondola.
That time, in 2008, we were here with Norrøna's star photographer Frode Sandbech. The photo he took of Wolfgang – balancing on top of a pointed pinnacle just behind this mountain shelf, with the climbing rope in his hand and the world at his feet – we placed on the cover of the very first issue of Norrøna Magazine.

It is a picture that oozes mountaineering and adventure.
And now here we are again – with Wolfgang himself.

“I remember well that we took that picture” he says.
“And I remember well that it ended up both on the cover of Norrøna Magazine and as a wall decoration in a number of Norrøna brand stores. I think the picture hangs in some shops - to this day.”

We give each other high fives and agree to meet up here again.
Preferably in 15 years.

THEN WOLFGANG CLIMBS UP the iron ladder and over the fence to the pavilion on the Aiguille du Midi. Several tourists study us as we follow, well secured by Wolfgang's rope. Someone is taking pictures. Someone applauds. Someone wants to hear where on earth we come from.

It's a bit difficult to answer.
We come from a different state, a different consciousness.
A place where you forget all your worries.
A ridge where you feel present.
An exposed crest, where human beings maybe don't belong.
But where we felt more at home than anywhere else.

These are the Norrøna products mountain guide Wolfgang Huber wore on the trip over the Cosmiques Ridge:

In the autumn of 2008, photographer Frode Sandbech and editor-in-chief Eivind Eidslott were climbing the Cosmiques Ridge together with Wolfgang Huber. The result was this iconic cover of the first issue of Norrøna Magazine, which was launched internationally in winter 2009.