A trip to Kebnekaise

I and my son Rasmus, 9 years old, recently had a bit of an epic trip to Kebnekaise, the highest mountain in Sweden.

We arrived to the mountain station below the mountain on sunday, august 9. Our plan was an easy scramble to the top and follow the ridge to the North Summit. However, as it often happen in the mountains. The weather worsened to be something ordinary hikers would call a “snowstorm”… The forcast promised winds up to 20m/s and rain and snow… Nice!

As Rasmus had a bit of pain in his foot after the 20km hike to our BC. He had been carried about 10kg and brand new mountaineering boots. So we waited and bid our time during monday. Om Thuesday afternoon we decided to have a go at the mountain.

We had a lot of fun batteling the rain, hail and snow in the howling wind 🙂 However, at 10 PM when we reached the old top cabin of Kebnekaise, Rasmus showed signs of hypotermia, so we sheltered ourselves inside. We han no kitchen, no sleeping bags etc. to get any warmth.

We just bid our time during the night. I must admit it was really cold, we both shivered uncontrolled from time to time. In the morning I was unsure of how Rasmus really felt, he could not manage to eat properly, not even a power bar. So I decied to descend. The descent went really well and was also a lot of fun in hard winds with a lot of spindrift.

When we reached our tent again, we had been away for 27 hours. Hard going for a nine year old. I’m proud of him!

Rasmus on Östra Leden / Kebnekaise