qupkene / Hikes / Galdhopiggen

Jotunheimen · Innlandet

Galdhopiggen

The highest point in Northern Europe, by one of two routes with very different requirements.

Galdhopiggen is the highest summit in Norway and in Northern Europe at 2469 m. It is not a technical mountain, but the two normal routes ask for quite different things and choosing the wrong one is the usual mistake.

From Juvasshytta

Shorter and less ascent, because the road takes you high before you start. It crosses a glacier, which means roped travel with a guide. Guided parties leave at set times in season and this is not a crossing to improvise: crevasses under snow bridges are the specific hazard and they are not visible.

From Spiterstulen

No glacier and no guide required, at the cost of roughly 1470 m of ascent and a much longer day. This is the route for anyone who wants the summit on their own schedule. It is a straightforward walk in good conditions and a serious one in bad weather, because there is a lot of exposed high ground and no shelter.

Altitude and weather

Two thousand four hundred metres in Norway behaves like considerably higher ground further south: the treeline is low, the weather is Atlantic, and summer snow is normal. Temperature at the summit is routinely well below what the valley suggests, before wind chill.

A note on your watch

Expect your barometric altimeter to disagree with the trig point. That is normal and explained in why your watch and your phone report different altitudes.