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Galdhøpiggen is the highest mountaininNorway, at 2469 m above sea level. It is located within the municipality of Lom, (inOppland) in the Jotunheimen mountain area.
Geologcally Galdhøpiggen, as most of Southern Norway's mountain ranges, belongs to the Caledonian folding. The peak is made of gabbro, a hard but rather nutricious rock which is found in most of the Jotunheimen range. During the Ice Ages it was heavily glaciated and got its present form. The theory that the highest summits in Norway stayed above the ice as nunataks has been abandoned by most geologists. It fit well with the present flora in the area, but it doesn't fit well with the present knowledge of the thickness the ice and the results of glaciation.
For many years, Norwegians didn't know that Galdhøpiggen was their highest summit. The honor was granted to the much more visible Snøhetta in the Dovrefjell range. Hence no attempts were made to climb the peak, while Snøhetta was visited for the first time in 1798 as part of a scientific trip to the area. In 1844 the geologist and mountaineer, Baltazar Mathias Keilhau made two unsuccessful attempts to reach the summit. On one of these he reached the summit which later was named Keilhaus topp 2355 m above sea level very close to Galdhøpiggen, but the terrible weather forced them to return.
In 1850 three men from Lom reached the summit, the guide Steinar Sulheim, the local teacher Arnesen and the church warden Flotten.
Access to the top of Galdhøpiggen is not especially hard: 4 hours walk up, 2 hours down; from Juvasshytta (1850 meters above sea level) it takes about three hours up (with a about a 45 minute stop to prepare for crossing the Styggebreen glacier ("stygge" meaning dangerous, not ugly) glacier, an hour at the top and about two hours back. Even if Styggebreen glacier is given such a name, it has a small number of crevaces. Still it is probably the most dangerous glacier in Norway given the number of tourists crossing it every day during the short summer season.
Galdhøpiggen can also be hiked from the Spiterstulen lodge in Visdalen, with a technically very easy, but still somewhat strenous climb of 1300 m - nearly 4000 ft. From Spiterstulen you don't have to cross the Styggebreen glacier, and hence you don't need a guide. And if you are an ardent peak-bagger, you may count three summits on the route from Spiterstulen, Svellnose, Keilhaus topp and the summit itself.
From the summit, 35000 km² of area is visible. Galdhøpiggen has earlier been challenged for the title as the highest mountain in Norway by Glittertind, as some measurments showed Glittertind was slightly higher including the glacier at its peak. That glacier has, however, shrunk in recent years, and Glittertind is now only 2464 m even including the glacier. Hence, the dispute has been settled in Galdhøpiggen's favour.
At the summit a small hut is built. In the summer soft drinks, chocolate bars, postcards and other items are sold here. Earlier the Norwegian Postal Authority had a small post office here - being the highest in Northern Europe.
A sign states that rollerblades are strictly forbidden inside the hut, may be a somewhat superflous warning, since heavy boots is the footwear up there.
Galdhøpiggen is not only the highest summit in Northern Europe. It also contains the two probably unbreakable horticultural records in Northern Europe, being the upper limit for ranunculus glacialis (2370 m) and saxifraga oppositifolia (2350 m). Since the summer might not occur at all, some years, it is tells something about these flowers adaptation to the extremely harsh climate.
On sunny days in the later part of July and August, the summit is visited by hundreds of people.
