The Alps. Their magnificent and massive appearance. Going to the Alps is always exciting, but going to the Alps to climb is much more exciting. On our way to Grossglockenr in the summer of 2019, Dejan and I discussed the challenges and possibilities we can find on the southern ridge of Grossglockner called Studlgrat. The first time I heard about this ridge of Studlgrat was the year before we climbed it. On a lovely sunny day in the home mountains, I heard the story of one mountaineer who had just done the Grossglockner via Studlgrat. His story was motivational for me. I carefully followed his words, asked things, and heard all the specifics I needed for one day, who knows, to climb this route. It didn’t take me long before I decided to go for this climb in the next alpine season. Learning, reading and collecting diverse information about this ridge, I finally found myself ready to try my first PD+ route in the Alps. Dejan, at that time, was my climbing partner. Together, we had many beautiful adventures around the mountains in the Balkans. We used to train hard together and dream of some more advanced climbing, such as this one, in the future. This was, for us, a great entrance to the more advanced alpine world of climbing.

Grossglocker is the highest peak in Austria, standing at 3798 meters high. From the summit, you can see the Pasterze, Austria’s most extended glacier, which lies on the Eastern slope of Grossglockner. In 2018, I stood on the summit for the first time in my life and was probably the first person of my bloodline. Moving through the rocky ridge, listening to my stable breathing and highly focused on the climb, I reach the top. We were three of us, all going alone and without any rope. We climbed the normal route, which is quite exposed in some parts, but nothing hard in terms of climbing. The day was sunny and warm. “We need to be careful when going down and keep all four eyes open,” I told my friends, Bonev and Dejan, because of the crowd.

We reach Kals am after 13 hours of driving from Skopje, with maybe two stops. Not tired, we pack our gear, put on our heavy backpacks, and start moving to the mountain hut. Impressed by the surroundings and the alpine environment, very often, I was stopping to take pictures. This valley is beautiful. Cows and goats are everywhere. You can find a goat moving around your legs. Rivers flow fast from the mountain, giving the moment a beautiful sound. I don’t remember the time when we reached the mountain hut, but I do remember that the sun was still pretty high in the sky, and our hunger was hitting us very intensely. About the sun, we can’t do anything, but we decided to put our hunger in control. Dejan, with his not well-speaking English, ordered pasta, saying only “Pasta, please”. Luckily, the waiter understood him, making me a ghost in this lovely conversation. Eating, hydrating and thinking, with much less speaking, the evening passed by. Like many others, the hut is full of books and articles about mountains, routes and safety guides. Although most of them were in German, I found one guidebook in English, which was “Grossglockner via Studlgrat”.

For going to the mountains, I can wake up whenever I need to, without any problems. It’s 04 AM, and the alarm starts to wake me up, forgetting that I am usually faster than the alarm. Our gear was ready the night before, and after breakfast, we started approaching the ridge of Studlgrat. The morning was cold, a little bit windy and still dark. As we entered the glacier, the sun entered the horizon. As we put on our crampons, we saw that we were ahead of the other parties, and in fact, we were moving slowly enough to give more time for the sun to light up the ridge we needed to climb. We had two 30-metar ropes with us, crampons, ice axes, six alpine draws, and three cams of different sizes. Roped up, moving on the glacier, I felt a unique experience. Imagine walking on the glacier as a human, far from the valleys, and you hear the wind blowing and the ice cracking below your feet. You are alive on this planet. Maybe you will never walk here again. Is that special?

We popped on the ridge, and our climbing began. Moving slowly on easier but loose terrain, we reach halfway. Moving in parallel and placing a small amount of protection, we felt fully awake. Now, it's a new day, a new opportunity to make something that will be valuable to remember. Each day we are living, we create stories. I was in the lead, and my climbing was on point until I lost myself on the wrong side of the ridge. I downclimbed a very tricky and exposed section and realised that I was on the wrong track. I was trying to spot a bolt somewhere on the rock but without success. Keeping Dejan safe with my voice, saying, “Don’t come here, it does not look nice, and there is nothing too valuable to see except a 1000-meter drop in the abyss”. After I came back, still with some dose of fear because of the loose rocks, I immediately spotted the right path. We are on the ridge, which means if it's not from the right side, then it is from the left side.

After we passed the hardest part of the route, where the Austrians had put fixed rope for people like me to pull on, we saw the cross on the summit. The summit looks very close, but it’s not. From where we spotted the summit, there was still some scrambling to be done, but the final part of the climb was behind us. Here, we took our first dedicated break. I took some pictures and videos while Dejan was eating his chocolate bars. After I finished with my shooting I joined him, taking out my snack and enjoying the moment. The taste of my chocolate bar was still in my mouth when we reached the summit. The climb took us 4:44 hours of almost non-stop moving. Happy and still fresh, we started our descent. Again, as the year before, I told Dejan, “We need to be careful going down”, looking at the group of 10 climbers coming to the summit from the normal route. We ended up running to the mountain hut, where Dejan told the waiter, “Pasta, please”.