There are still left unclimbed in this region other gruesome peaks which await mountaineers capable of taking the initiative. The glaciers of Frostisen and a few of the high peaks rising out of this snow field have been fairly well explored, but as yet little information has been given us on the subject.
Up to comparatively recent years there was a strange ignorance about the higher mountains in Norway, and great uncertainty as to which was the highest. Once upon a time Sulitelma held the honour. Snehaettan also had a short reign. In an old atlas of mine, Skagastölstind is termed “the culminating point of Scandinavia.” Then came the plea for Galdhöpiggen; and not many years ago a claim was put in for Knutshultind, which was never looked upon seriously. For a good many years, however, Galdhöpiggen has been recognized as the king, though its neighbour, Glittertind, was only twenty odd feet lower. The summit of the former consists of a narrow rock ridge terminating abruptly in a precipice at one end, which therefore cannot hold much snow. The latter is a snow dome. I pointed out many years ago the probability that after two or three years of unusually heavy snows the snow dome would rise, that Glittertind would be raised to the throne, and Galdhöpiggen be deposed. This has come to pass, and now Glittertind—a much duller mountain than its rival—is “the culminating point of Scandinavia.” It may and ought to be deposed ere long.
Local Conditions.
In both Central and Arctic Norway there are some conditions which do not prevail in the Alps. The long nightless days have both their advantages and their disadvantages. In Arctic Norway there is a topsy-turvyness to which we are unaccustomed. One never knows when to go to bed, and, as the snow does not get so soft as in Central Norway, there is a great temptation to delay departure and waste much time on the way. There is naturally a feeling of romance in arriving on the summit of a difficult mountain a few minutes before midnight, and of watching the sun roll along several degrees above the mountain horizon. Still, for the sake of the sub-conscious machinery of the body, it is best to observe the usual hours for work and for sleep.
In Central Norway I have seen the sun both set and rise again a couple of hours later while I was traversing a difficult mountain ridge. But there is an enormous difference between the length of days in the end of June or July and that in the middle of August. Occasionally mountaineers who do not recognize this fact get benighted.
In Central Norway the snows become soft by 9 a.m., though not to the same extent as in the Alps. Still, an early start is desirable when a fine expedition is contemplated. Especially is this the case when crossing the Justedals-brae or other huge snow fields.
Avalanches fall as they do in the Alps, but rarely between the end of June and the beginning of September, and stones, icebound at night, are loosened by the sun in the morning, and come toppling down in the orthodox manner, and may, perchance, be a danger to the unwary. In fact, the ordinary dangers associated with high mountains exist equally in Norway.
In some regions magnetic rocks occur, and then the compass is of no use. Where this is the case, and mists come on, and there is no wind to indicate the cardinal points, the interest of the expedition may unexpectedly be increased.
Ice, hard blue ice, is much more often encountered on the Norwegian glaciers and gullies than in the Alps.
On very steep snow slopes and glaciers in the Far North one frequently comes upon a deep square-sided groove in the snow; at the top of the slope it may be 12 feet wide and 4 feet deep. This imperceptibly widens, during a descent of between 1500 and 2000 feet, to a groove, still square-sided but now 20 to 25 feet in width and 7 or 8 feet deep. Such grooves are most difficult to cross, and on one memorable expedition on Rulten, when victory was almost assured, the party was driven back by the apparent danger of making such a crossing. These grooves show no sign of the work of falling stones or rocks, but are probably, at an earlier period of the year, caused by water. I have never met similar grooves in Central Norway, nor yet in the Alps.