Patagonia Ambassador Robbie Phillips has never said no to a sail-to-climb expedition. It wouldn’t be long before Norway called him to its rocky shores: “I’d heard stories of huge granite cliffs rising straight from the sea and up the fjords, with more rock than you could climb in a thousand lifetimes,” Robbie said. He teamed up with his skipper friend Scott Johnstone, climbing partner Alex Moore and Alex's girlfriend Emma Homard to set sail some 850 miles from Scotland to the Norwegian Sea. While there was plenty of immaculate granite on the Lofoten peninsula, they focused on prize line on Merraflestinden, Kirkefjord. "Imagine a huge 40x40-meter face hanging high on the wall like a tapestry, split perfectly down the middle by a single crack," he said. "It doesn’t really get better than that." The involved descents were never a problem, because it never got dark. But that turned out to be a blessing and a curse. "The constant daylight wore us down. Each day we were slower to get out of bed, later to the wall, and even later back to the boat—or perhaps I should say early. By the end of the trip we were leaving the boat in the afternoon and returning in the early hours of the morning." One particularly memorable climb was a line on the right side of Merraflestinden called Syv Veggen. At the time the crew hadn't known it had been done in 2017, and got to experience the same intensity as a first ascent (plus the harder finish that they put up independently). The route followed vegetated corners before arriving at an incredible offwidth. "We needed a #6 cam to protect it," Robbie said. "It wasn’t as brutal as The Monster on Freerider but I hadn’t climbed an offwidth since then, so it was a proper wake-up call. When we topped out, we were met with what might be the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen. I was speechless. Alex said, 'I think I’m going to cry.' I’ve always thought Scotland was the most beautiful country on earth, but after that moment I had to reconsider." Photos: Ryan Balharry