In May this year, I took on the massive challenge to climb up a 4000m mountain named Pollocks in Switzerland, Zermatt. I embarked on this crazy journey with my Dad and an old friend of ours named Tor. One of my biggest inspirations is my dad and his passion of ski touring. He was the one that made me passionate about skiing from a young age, and have been lucky enough to go every year since the age of 4. This trip was something that we had wanted to do together for a long time, and wasn't just any old ordinary ski vacation.
The only word I can think to describe Tor is... crazy. He now has a wife and children, so you could say that he has tamed down slightly now but he has always been somewhat of a dare devil. Originally born in Sweden, he has spent most of his life working in Switzerland and in his spare time will climb mountains on a weekly basis. Tor's ambitious lifestyle is something that I aspire to and with his surprisingly shy nature, you feel safe in his presence as he leads you up huge towering mountains with no one in sight and the sound of the melting crevasses beneath you! Somehow he has an ability to make me do things that I never thought possible.
The climb up on 'skins'-bits of material that stick onto the base of your skis to help you grip onto the snow, took two days, with one night in a hut and a 3am start on the second day to complete our ascent to the top. I went through so many different feelings of emotions of fright as we crossed the glacier in pitch black, and nothing but a torch to guide us. Complete awe, as the sun rose and all you could see was untouched snow covering the endless mountains that surround you and physical tiredness that I have never felt before. After a while, i couldn't really feel my legs moving my body up the mountain anymore.
Overall, the trip was an experience that I will never forget and it will always be with me.
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