Sometimes things just happen and they turn out to be good things. In March 1999, I had to be in the Netherlands on business, and started looking at maps for something to do for a long weekend. For some reason, going up to Norway made perfect sense, and by some random decisions, I ended up choosing to take the ski mountaineering gear and go up to the Jotunheimen National Park region of central Norway. I figured that anyplace with a mountain named "Glittertind" had to be interesting.
"Jotunheimen" means "Land of the Giants," and this name is certainly appropriate. The area is filled with craggy peaks and ridges, all riven with steep, deep, and sculpted valleys. The region contains Norway's two highest peaks, Galdhoppiggen and Glittertind; neither exceeds 2800m in elevation, but in the winter latitude more than makes up for the small scale of the peaks.
Of the three days, only one featured passable weather, and I made an attempt to ski up Glittertind. When I reached the upper valley approach to Glittertind, the mountain was swathed in a marvelous lenticular cloud - pretty to look at, but that meant that the winds were far too strong to go much higher. I snapped the following picture during a brief interlude when the cap cloud partially left the mountain.
