In order to become a High Mountain Guide, each year new candidates with a great passion for mountains start the ENSA, the National School of Ski and Mountaineering, located in Chamonix. During 4 years of formation, they learn how to guide people on their rope. The older guides of the school have witnessed a fundamental change: whereas guides were mainly “for rich Sirs” round the beginning of the century, they are now “group organizers” of the modern leisure industry. The relationship between the guide and his customer oscillates between tradition and innovation. In this documentary the journey of the future guides is contrasted with the experiences and adventures of their predecessors. Their apprenticeship is filled with joy and doubts and turns them into “Men over the Mountain” with a devouring and fragile desire for altitude.