I climbed this classic traverse solo in the end of July-2004. The weather was perfect, but the conditions were rather difficult because of all the treacherous snow and ice on top of the ridge. The traverse is normally climbed in two days, but I completed it in one long day. After 8 summits and 19 hours on the move, I was terrible exhausted when I finally reached Turtagrø Hotel late in the evening, but very pleased......

After a strenuous 24 hours non-stop drive from Switzerland to Norway, followed by a rest day in Oslo, I went to Jotunheimen aiming to climb Urdanostinden (2157m). During the day I ended up climbing seven summits in one day, far more than my initial plan. I had no anticipation that this was going to be one of my best days ever in Jotunheimen, when I woke up in the morning on what appeared to be a cloudy day.

Gran Paradiso and Gran Combin were the two next 4000m peaks on my to-do-list this summer, thus I headed for the St.Bernard pass on the border between Switzerland and Italy. I found a very nice campsite in the village of Bourg St. Pierre, a few kilometres below the pass, which was going to be my “basecamp” for some few days. Gran Paradiso in Italy is a 2100m ascent from the valley floor, and normally climbed in two days (F+). But I wanted to do this climb in one long day, mainly to avoid the overcrowded Emanuele hut, secondly to test my endurance in high altitude.

I was pretty tired after the Nadelhorn ascent. One day of sightseeing in Zermatt and one day of trekking in the lower mountains of Zinal, however, gave me loads of energy to continue the race of climbing 4000-meter peaks. The challenging Weisshorn (AD) was out of scope because of too much ice and snow on the ridge, so I aimed for the neighbouring Bishorn (F+) instead.

The day after I climbed Weissmies, I worked my arduous way up to Mischabel Hut more than 1500 meters above Saas Fee, to climb Nadelhorn. The Mischabel range is known for its harsh weather, especially the high winds on the ridge. When I arrived the hut, I heard that many climbers failed to reach the summit because of furious winds. I hoped the weather would improve on my summit day, and it did...

This was my third summer in the Alps in four years. As usual my plan was to ascend as many 4000 meters as possible. The first peak on my "to-do-list" was Weissmies, so I headed for the Saas Valley in Switzerland. I was very pleased to see that the weather was much better here than in Austria a few days before, when I had to cancel my Grossglockner climb. The sun always shines in Valais....

The day after I ascended Ringstindane, I was very lucky to have one more beautiful skiing day in Hurrungane (Jotunheimen). It's very rare that the sun shines from a cloudless sky several days in a row in these western mountains of Norway.

Beautiful weather, perfect skiing conditions and three remarkable summits to be ascended in the western part of Norway. This weekend turned out be be one of my finest skiing adventures in the mountainrange of Jotunheimen....