Stetind is Norway’s national mountain. Not because it is the highest, or the most massive, or the most anything really. It was declared the national mountain by popular vote – and as far as I can tell it is the national mountain because it is the most impressive and picturesque mountain.
There are some fantastic routes up the Stetind. You can walk to Halls fortopp, a secondary peak nearly as high as Stetind, but from there the only way to get to the top is to climb. We had our sights on the sydpilaren(the south pillar) route, a long moderate route that climbs up a picturesque rib all the way to the top.
After a drive that felt a little too long we arrived in the drizzle to the parking/camping spot at the bottom of the mountain. It was really cold, but it was also beautiful, and the mountain towered, covered in clouds, above the tents.
On the first day of potentially okay weather we went for a drive to recheck the weather forecast – there was no reception at the campsite. Then we set off up the long approach taking enough gear to do the mountaineering route if it was dry enough. The trail and the rock along the way was soaking, the mountain was covered for nearly the whole day with mist, and there was no air movement. We thought we were following the instructions and headed way too far up Svartvatnet(the lake) to try and find a route up the mountain. Eventually we had to give up on that idea, come down, and walk up the very obvious walking path we had left earlier in the day. Another team did the mountaineers route that day, but we decided to save our energy – already rather depleted by scrambling around for most of the day – for sydpilaren the next day.
We rose early, and quickly cooked and ate our wild blueberry porridge. Then we joined the masses heading for the mountain. We were anxious not to become stuck in a queue like we had been on Presten. This was a serious mountain. It was bitterly cold, and the forecast was for heavy rain later which was due to arrive sometime between 9 and 11pm. So due to this anxiety it was a bit of a race to get to the bottom of the climb before as many people as possible. I power walked as fast as I could up there, and actually we were lucky with when we did arrive. There was one group well ahead of us, one group who were rappelling, and we became the first of eventually 4 parties.
It was the coldest I have ever been trying to go climbing. Ben led the first two pitches, and I could not bring myself to take off my gloves or approach shoes. After that with a Czech couple close behind us and another group arriving we decided Jono should lead so that we didn’t hold people up. After two pitches the sun also hit and made life a lot more pleasant. We felt a bit sorry for the guys who had rappelled past us, giving up because they were too cold, just half an hour before the sun.
The climbing was really really fun, the pitches are long, almost all are 50 or 60m. And as the ridge steepens the climbing gets harder and more interesting. Ben and I soaked in the views on the belay ledges as Jono slaved away pulling both single ropes up after him(we didn’t bring halves). I discovered that BaconOst is the perfect multipitch climbing food, and we stopped for a quick lunch on the upper escape ledge. We topped out around 5.30pm giving us plenty of time to enjoy the top. I was finally not cold for the first time that day, and then we set out across the mountaineers route to Halls fortrop, and down the way we had come the day before.
After all that climbing it felt like a really long walk down, and then a well deserved rainy rest day.
Julia.off.to.see.the.world. . . 