One of My Best Expeditions Included Big Wall First Ascents—And I Didn’t Lead a Single Pitch

The wind howls through the mast, making its cables vibrate like guitar strings. Seven of us are sitting shoulder to shoulder around the small table in the middle of our 15-meter aluminum sailboat, mugs of tea trembling with every gust. Outside, the boat is thrown sideways again and again. We’re stuck in a harbor—once more.

Three years ago, this was my reality for weeks. We had left France with the ambitious goal of reaching Greenland’s east coast by sail, but the North Atlantic had other plans.