GALDÖPIGGEN The highest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia and Northern Europe

Roughly, one year ago, in August 2024, I set out to climb Sweden’s highest mountain – Kebnekaise, 2090m above sea level. Situated in the northern part of Sweden, close to Kiruna. A part of Sweden where the sun really never sets during summer and the population live in constant daylight 24/7 – ”the Land of the Midnight Sun”. On the other hand, during winter time, they live 24/7 in constant darkness. This climb, which also was my first climb, was brutal. The weather conditions were extreme. Strong winds, pouring rain during 14h, flooded rapids and really foggy conditions made the whole experience quite sad and extremely challenging. Normally at the top, the view is breathtaking, but this time you could hardly see your hand in front of you.

So the question is? How can an extreme experience like this, encourage me, 5 months later to climb Kilimanjaro, 5895m above sea level, in Tanzania? The world’s tallest, stand alone mountain. I have no clue! Also an adventure with really bad weather conditions but a life changing experience. You can read my article covering this experience on pattayatrader.com

The 7th of August 2025, I again found myself chasing a new bucket list experience – climbing GALDÖPIGGEN – the highest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia and Northern Europe, 2468 metres (8,100 ft) above sea level. Inspired by a friend, with whom I climbed Kebnekaise. This time I managed to convince my dear husband Per, my eldest son Philip and his girlfriend Emma to join me in my quest for adventure.

Preparation is the key for all activity in mountainous terrain. You need to be in quite good physical condition to manage steep mountain terrain for 11 or more hours. You need to be prepared for very quick weather changes. Investment in good equipment and clothing which protect you from strong winds, rain and snow is of utmost importance! Never ever gamble with this as it can without a doubt, be a matter of life or death.

On the mountain you are left out to the forces of nature and if you don’t have high quality clothing to protect you from getting cold it can put you in a severe situation. My trip to Kebnekaise is a perfect example of this. My rain gear kept me dry during 14h of constant raining. I will never forget the faces of those who got stuck during 24h on the mountain this same day, as the rapids floded and the rescue team did not reach anyone to evacuate them until early the next morning. That was a cold night! So good clothing is a must! Expensive but a must!

Planning for our climb to GALDÖPIGGEN, the hardest thing was convincing my husband, son and his girlfriend of the importance of being well prepared! Months before the climb, I heard myself repeating over and over again: ”You need to be physically active months before the climb, you need to prepare your body for steep and rocky hills, walk up stairs, invest in good clothing and BUY walking sticks!

The hardest part was convincing them of the walking sticks! I heard them, simultaneously, say: ”walking sticks are for old people”. No, a walking stick is not just for ”old people”! It is a life saver, both up the mountain and down the mountain. It helps you find balance, it helps your knees while going down the mountain as it can get very steep and slippery and if you are tired, it can be a great support to lean against. Coming down they did thank me! To quote them: ”without the walking sticks it would never have been possible”!

In total, it was a couple of amazing days! We drove from our home town Helsingborg, in the south of Sweden, early morning and reached Oslo at 11:00. A 5h drive. In Oslo we picked up our son and his girlfriend. They had taken the train from Stockholm. From Oslo we drove for another 5h (in total a 12h drive). Driving through Norway is with no doubt, like driving through a live postcard. It is so beautiful! The mountains, the lakes, the forests are not to be found in many other places.

After arriving at Spiterstulen, which is the mountain lodge where you stay when climbing GALDÖPIGGEN, we were informed that the weather forecast showed heavy rain and snow at the top (-4 degrees celsius), and very strong winds the next coming day when we had planned our climb. Up to 27s/m on top of GALDÖPIGGEN. My usual luck! Never go climbing with Louise if you want the sun to shine!

The recommendation was to stay in the valley for other activities and see if the weather would change. This actually turned out to be a great recommendation as we could try out our equipment, feel how heavy we could pack our backpacks without feeling uncomfortable and just see how much clothing we would need and practice to dress layer by layer. I have been taught that ”layer by layer” is the thing to do. Then you can always adjust your clothing accordingly if the weather changes. We also tried out our walking sticks.

We had set out to leave the mountain cottage at 06:00 am but unfortunately the breakfast did not start until 07:30, which delayed us. You never know what will happened during the climb and you don’t want to be stuck on the mountain if the weather changes or an injury occurs. Leaving early is therefor quite important! Before leaving we filled our water bottles and our thermos with hot drinks. It is cold on the top and a warm cup of cocoa or coffee is lovely when you are cold. We had packed extra snacks, bars, candy and sandwiches which we had prepared at breakfast, some pain killers, plasters and a positive attitude. All ready to go!

The mountains in Norway are steep. The incline started directly after leaving the lodge at 1100 metres. We had a plan to use 5h up and 4h down. The weather was on our side. Starting out it was cloudy with some light rain, fog in some parts and quite a lot of snow as we reached higher altitude.

When we reached the top, the sun shone and we felt like actually being on top of the world. In any case on top of northern Europe’s highest mountain – GALDÖPIGGEN. The climb had been hard and steep. At one part it was so slippery, icy and steep that many climbers before us, turned around and went back down. Due to my son and his calm approach to the whole situation, we managed to overcome this challenge (although very scared) and continued our climb. We had to pass three steep tops until we reached our final goal and the mountain cottage at the top. In total it took us 6h going up!

After finally reaching the top, we were quite exhausted. It had been a hard climb but I must say that both my husband, my son and his girlfriend were heroes. They have never done anything like this before and had really no idea of what was expected of them. They did so well and I am so proud of them. Even for me, it was a real challenge. My body was tired after too much work back home and too little rest, but of course, so worth it. In the morning heading out I was not really convinced we would manage with what we had set out to do. It was hard at times. Especially when others on the climb gave up. We did it and with that came new energy. It was so beautiful at the top, the sun shone and the sky opened up for us. At this point, you really do feel like a hero. Being in a place that is so spectacular and breathtaking is hard to describe and put into words. Maybe this is why I want to, not only climb mountains but do challenging things over and over again. The feeling of accomplishment.

At the top, it was so nice to sit down, have a hot drink, some sandwiches and chat with others who also

had managed to reach the top. We found a group from Japan chatting away at one table and a family of three with a toddler whom they had carried all the way up in a special constructed ruck sack. They had also brought their dog! For us, this just seemed insane and dangerous but in Norway, this is quite normal. A famous Norwegian saying goes: ” Gå på tur – aldrig sur” which can be translated to: out walking/climbing – never unhappy”

We knew that we couldn’t stay for too long time at the top as the weather change can be instant. The trail, going up and down, was marked with a red ”T”. If it starts to snow and the snow covers those stones, you will find yourself in a very dire situation and maybe not find your way back home. After taking the obligatory photos at the landmark – the highest point – we started our descent. In an instance, the sun suddenly disappeared and the wind started to get nasty. The clouds started to get grey in a scary way and we knew, we needed to hurry up. I had a hard time seeing the red ”T” marks which made me nervous. Luckily the weather stabilized and we could continue following other climbers footprints on the way down. It took us 5h back to the lodge.

I would say that the hardest part of climbing a mountain is going down. You are tired and your legs hurt from the steep incline. The part that , at an earlier stage of this story, I described as icy, slippery and steep, we now had to climb up and that was so scary! Again my son was courageous. Slowly and with a secure hand he walked us slowly and safely up that part. I know, I will wake up many times in the future, having a night mare, thinking of exactly that part of the climb. But we found courage and together we did it!

Coming down, we were in heaven! The feeling from yet another successful climb was amazing. We did not give up even if it was really hard at some points. Congratulations to all of us! Gold star to my son who showed such calmness, guiding us and specially guiding his girlfriend when she was afraid or just exhausted. I am so proud of you!

The feeling of accomplishment is hard to describe. Doing things like this, wondering if it even is possible and then succeeding, in what you set out to do, is a life changer, every time! A comparison with life in general, is when we do things that scare us or things that really feel uncomfortable. When we find the courage to do it and succeed, whatever it may be, this is what life is all about. Trying! Even if we don’t succeed, we still have the courage to give it a go and that is what it is all about. Trying is succeeding and failure in trying is an even a greater success!

So if you have a dream, big or small, do it! There is no tomorrow! New dreams are now waiting to be fulfilled. What that will be I hopefully will tell you the next time we meet here in ”Discover Pattaya”.

Until then, lots of love and have a great day!

Louise Roxlin