To Mount Galdhøpiggen across Glacier Styggebreen (20.07.2006)
| Start point | Juvasshytta (1,841m) |
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| Endpoint | Juvasshytta (1,841m) |
| Map |
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| Ascents | Galdhøpiggen (2,469m) | 20.07.2006 |
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This was the year that my wife said to me: Atle, this summer you'll have to take our kids with you and go somewhere on summer holiday without me, because i will have to work. She was studying to become a nurse at this time, and she had decided that she had to work at our local hospital almost all summer, to ensure she'd get a foot on the inside, as this would enhance her chances of getting a job there when summer was over. So, I decided to take our kids with me on a holiday destination that I knew it would be difficult to talk my wife into going on, i.e. Mount Galdhøpiggen, Norway's highest mountain.
Talking my children into trekking Mount Galdhøpiggen was not as difficult as you'd think. They all love skiing in alpine ski arenas, and at this time, since it was summer, it had been a couple of months since they last had the opportunity to go skiing. I knew there was a summer ski center on a glacier pretty close to Galdhøpiggen, so I promised the kids we would stay at the location for three days, allowing one day for tracking Norway's highest mountain, and thereafter we would have two days left for skiing at Galdhøpiggen Summer Ski Centre.
Close to the summer ski centre, there is a mountain lodge called Juvvasshytta [i.e. "The lake Juvvatnet Cabin"], where we had booked two rooms for three nights; a double room for the girls, and a triple room for my self and the boys. The lodge is pretty large, and houses up to about 75 guests, and yet it has some very cosy living rooms where the guests tend to spend the evenings playing cards, Ludo, Yatzy and chess. Moreover, the staff at the lodge was kind in every way, and very helpful with booking a glacier guide for us, which is something you need, as you have to cross the glacier Styggebreen [i.e. "The Ugly Glacier"] on your way from the lodge to the summit of the mountain. The glacier earned its name, due to its tendency to form dangerous crevasses, hence you really need to hire a guide for the glacier crossing, unless you're quite experienced with glaciers yourself.
The first third of the trek goes across a somewhat stony landscape, the second third is the crossing of the glacier, and the last third of the trek is the climb along the mountain edge that leads up to the summit. Prior to leaving Oslo, I had purchased new mountain shoes for the children. My oldest son had chosen a pair of mountain shoes that reached up to the ankle only, whereas the other three had chosen more "normal" trekking shoes that reached about half-way up their calves. The girls were fine with these shoes, whereas those of their younger brother proved to be just one or two centimeters too short.
As we arrived at the glacier, we had a short break, and then we lined up along with about 30 other trekkers that had booked a trek with the same company; and then we were all connected to a long interconnecting rope. In July there tends to be a lot of melting snow and surface water on top of the glacier. As we started walking everything was fine, but the top snow layer was very soft, and got crushed into sludge under our feet; so that those who were first in the line were walking on top of the snow, very well, whereas those further back in the line [i.e. me, my daughters, and my youngest son] ended up with walking in about 15 cm of sludge and ice water. My daughters were fine, as the water failed to reach the top of their mountain shoes by just a cm or two, and I was fine; but my youngest son, who was just a little boy at the time, suffered a lot of ice water into his shoes, as the water tended to reach about a cm or two above the shafts of his boots. With his shoes and his socks soaked with water, he soon got exhausted, and wanted to abort the hike. We had to continue walking, however, as there was no way we could stop or turn around without disconnecting from the rope, which was, of course, forbidden.
We eventually reached the other side of the glacier, and had a 20 minutes break or so, before embarking on the final climb along the edge up to the summit. Fortunately, I had with me an extra pair of woolen socks for my youngest son. I took his mountain shoes off, and poured water out of them so as to get them as dry as I could, replaced his socks, and got his shoes back on. His mood was still a bit affected by his wet shoos as we continued our climb, however, but I somehow managed to make him continue along with me. When we had about 30 altitude meters left to the summit, however, his mood suddenly improved, and as he reached the top he was quite proud of his accomplishment, as were all the rest of us as well, actually.
The weather was amazing on this particular day, and from the summit of Galdhøpiggen we had a splendid view in every direction, we could see the summit of Mount Glitretind, Norway's 2nd highest mountain; and in the opposite direction we could see Sognefjorden, Norway's longest fjord. There was a little cabin with a little kiosk or cafeteria at the top of Galdhøpiggen. The assortment was limited though, as everything they sell has to be carried up there in back packs. I bought a 3 dl carton of orange juice for each of us, as we had already spent most of the water we had carried with us. I hadn't taken with me a proper camera, but I captured some images with my mobile phone, before we started our descent from the mountain.
Our descent along the mountain edge was uneventful. Prior to crossing the glacier again, our guides counted the number of souls to make sure no one was left on the mountain. Walking across the glacier, my youngest boys got water into his shoes a second time. Luckily, the first pair of woolen socks, the ones I had replaced during our ascent, were dry by now, hence we repeated the replacement procedure once we reached the other side of the glacier. (I had kept his wet socks close to my body, on the inside of my own clothes, ever since I replaced them; a trick I learned when I served in the army, as to how you could get your socks dry as quickly as possible).
Back in the mountain lodge, each and every one had a shower, next dinner was served, and thereafter we spent the evening playing Yatzy and Ludo. The next two days were spent slalom skiing in summer ski center, though my youngest daughter rented a snowboard, as she had long wished to try snowboarding, and myself I rented a pair of Telemark skies, as I had been having a desire to try Telemark-skiing.
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