Archetype · Summit
The Ridgeline
You count in metres of ascent and days on foot.
Passes, towers, thin air, the camp at four thousand metres. You train for trips, you know your pace, and you like the arithmetic of oxygen because it tells you when to rest.
The Ridgeline travels on foot and plans by altitude. You have broken in the boots before the trip, you know what the Altitude Simulator says about the third night, and you turn around when the headache gets worse rather than better. Your risk is the descent: the knees decide the last day, and pride decides whether you used the poles.
Strengths
- Fitness built over weeks, not bought at the airport
- Respect for altitude and the rest day
- Comfort with cold camps and long days
Watch for
- Sleeping too high too soon
- Skipping poles and paying on the descent
- Treating wind as weather rather than as a hazard
Kit
- Boots broken in over fifty kilometres
- Poles and a hood that cinches
- A bag rated for minus ten, not the average night
