Reaching new peaks: Building on experience

Freeride World Tour 2024 champion Hedvig Wessel is regularly inspired by the mountains of her Norwegian homeland. For her new collection this year, she once again turned to these mountains, where she was also able to fulfil a desire for a new kind of challenge.

She has focused fully on doing everything it takes to win the Freeride World Tour for the last few years, sitting out of the 2023 competition to find a deep commitment to success in 2024. And that work paid off, as she took the overall title at the final round in Verbier earlier this year.

But now she is able to focus on finding new challenges, and one of those is using the whole mountain; spending more time climbing to the summit before descending on skis.

“The last couple of years, my main focus has been competition. At the same time, I've been trying to do adventures and trips to widen my skills in the backcountry. Even though there is so much more to learn, I want to use all that knowledge I've gained to take new and different steps within freeriding. I'm interested in bigger mountains, and [want to] focus on the ascent as much as the descent.

“When competing, it was important with quantity, how many runs can I do a day. Now, I'm excited to slow it down, and do bigger ski tours and trips—enjoying the environments, integrating climbing and camping—in a more mindful way,” she says.

It was this that led to the inspiration for her new collection: finding pieces designed to work on the ascent as well as the descent. That was why pieces like the Devour Glacial and the Calyx Carbon—both ideal for the journey up—were chosen. Speaking of the helmet, Hedvig said: “I love the new Calyx, with its light weight and versatility. As my journey now brings me to bigger mountains and longer trips, the Calyx ticks all the boxes”.

In choosing colours for her pieces, Hedvig’s inspiration came from the colours of the sunset over the Lyngen Alps in northern Norway. She tried to recreate the tones as experienced from the top of Piggtind, highlighting the spectacular pinks of the skyline as the sun drops below the horizon.

And it was on this mountain that she first tested the new pieces. Of the mission, she says:

"With three tents, two days of food, and warm clothes packed, we set off on a six-hour ski tour towards the foot of the mountain, where we’d camp. The winds meant we didn’t reach our preferred spot, but we found a good place to build shelter for our tents, then got an early night.

“We woke at 5am, packed our tents and headed towards Piggtind, starting with ski touring before the climb. When it got too steep to ski tour, we switched to crampons and began a gruelling four-hour climb straight up Piggtind.

“The snow was getting really soft with the sun shining straight at the mountain. We made it to the first top, a little plateau, and left our skis and heavy gear to climb the last, most difficult, part of Piggtind. Though only about 100 meters, it took hours. The snow was so soft. It was hard to climb, and hard to build safe anchors.

“When it was my turn to reach the summit, the sun was about to set and I knew I didn't have much time. It was one of the most intense climbs I've done. Short, but taking so much time because of the lack of grip.

“When I reached the top, drenched in sweat and frustrated from the climb, I was glad to be there with some of my favourite people, watching the most beautiful sunset covering the surrounding mountains in pink. With a panoramic view from the ocean to other peaks, it was a moment to remember. A big breath in, a quick moment of gratitude, and we had to turn around and head back down.

“The sun was setting fast. We rappelled down quickly to click into our skis and ski down the steep couloir we climbed. With the sun gone, the slush had turned to ice - and it was not a pleasant ski down. We grabbed our sleds and tents at our camp, and slid down to the car. Long past midnight, our happy but exhausted crew finally made it back to the car, grateful for an unforgettable adventure.”

Indeed, undertaking trips like this demands absolute trust in the whole group, and that is something that plays a pivotal role in choosing who to ski with, and who to share these experiences with.

Past experience on the mountain is fundamental in shaping how she approaches each mission she undertakes now:

“I look at how the collective knowledge and experience in the group will look like, trying to have people with diverse skills and backgrounds. When we're out in the mountains, trust is key,” she says.

As Hedvig looks to the future, more missions like this could be in store. In a post-FWT world, she hopes to not only experience more of the mountain, but also to make the most of her time on the mountain, allowing her the freedom to merge her creative outlets with her ski and mountaineering projects.

“I believe time has been restricting me for the last couple of years … Now, I hope I can focus on fewer projects, and put more effort and creativity into them,” she says.

And if the results of these combined efforts are as inspirational as the new collection, we can’t wait to see what comes next.