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MZ: And the ascent?
We crossed the glacier, dropped our skis off and started cramponing up the face. It was pitch black out and there was rock fall. I had two ice tools and it was pretty near vertical...about 50 or 60 degrees.

MZ: Was it difficult climbing with a three man rope team?
No, we free soloed it the whole way, except for the last pitch.

MZ: What?
There was a lot of activity on the face, so we had to climb behind the ridge lines to protect ourselves from rock fall. We got up to the last pitch and began climbing in under this massive overhanging tractor size cornice to a small little pocket where Stian was able to chop a piece out so we could reach the actual summit.

MZ: How was the view up top?
Oh, it'd been 8 hours of climbing - we were done. We hung out on the top for a while but it was pretty hard to celebrate because we were so exhausted. At that point, Stian looked at me and said, "I'm so dangerously tired."

I was like that too. So tired. Dangerous tired.

MZ: Did you get down okay?
Looking back at the line of what we had just climbed, the reality of it started kicking in - it was steep! You get so used to the steepness as you're climbing that you get comfortable with your surroundings.

We set an anchor and rappelled the first pitch. I went in with my board on. Those guys didn't wear their skis but I just felt that I had to have my board on because there was no place down there for me to put it on. It turned out they had to wait 3 or 4 pitches to put their skis on but I let go of the rope after two pitches and slide slipped for a way.

I had to switch edges cuz my calves were in agony, so I popped onto my toe side as I'm looking down 1000 meters of exposure with a massive cliff that dumped out onto a glacier. That was the first turn I made - that was a big moment - Jesus!

MZ: Were you riding in soft boots?
No, I was riding with Scarpa mountaineering boots with plate bindings. I'm glad I had them - it's the only way to go. If I'd had a soft set up, I would have died because it's impossible to hold an edge for that long - your legs burn out.

MZ: During the descent, what did missing an edge mean?
Death. If you couldn't self arrest - it was death. The slope was 60 degrees plus, straight off a massive cliff that dumped right into crevasses. If you couldn't self arrest, you were done. I was really feeling the ice axe that day.