Haute Route Jotunheimen

You will meet the guide and the rest of the group at Otta station at 17:45 PM, just after the train/bus from Oslo arrives. We will travel together to Gjendesheim and have dinner at 20:00 where we will have a briefing for the trip. We get a good night's sleep before the adventure begins.

After a good breakfast at Gjendesheim, we get ready to finally start the trip through Jotunheimen. This first day is a solid stage, over Besshø and down to Memurubu. We follow the marked winter trail from Gjendesheim to Glitterheim to the east end of Bessvatn, from here we follow the ridge up to Bukkehø and further up to the top of Besshø 2258 m. The descent is decided based on the conditions, either the west chute or the west ridge if there is a risk of avalanches, or down towards Gjende and over the ice to Memurubu. In bad weather, we go directly across Gjende to Memurubu along the marked trail. Once at Memurubu, we eat a well deserved dinner and recharge for the next few days ahead of us. Note: there are no shower facilities at Memurubu in winter.

This stage is relatively long, and today we can pick out several 2000 meter peaks if the weather is with us. We follow the summer route over Raudhamarn to the top of Surtningsue 2368 m above sea level. From here we follow the ridge north where we can climb 2,000 meter peaks, before we end up at Søre Veotinden. There are several options for descending, one of them is down Styggehøbrean down into Veodalen and down to Glitterheim. In bad weather, we follow the branched route from Memurubu to Glitterheim. This is one of the heaviest stages of the trip where we ascend several summits and have multiple skis to skins transitions throughout the day.

Today we may be a little tired after yesterday's trip, so it is good that we have a shorter stage ahead of us. We climb Glittertind 2465 m above sea level, Norway's second highest mountain. We go up the normal route to the top, where we have a great view, and we can, among other things, overlook Galdhøpiggen. Down we ski towards Spiterstulen in the west, down the ridge to the bottom of Steindalen, from here over Skautkampen and down to Spiterstulen. In bad weather, we follow a branched route.

Today we head towards Bukkeholsbandet, and if the weather permits, we can take a trip to Nørdre Bukkeholstindan - where we can get a fantastic view of some of Jotunheimen's most iconic peaks. Then we go up to Søre Tverrbottinden and down in a southern direction to Leirvatnet before we are finally down at Leirvassbu.

We will wake up at the wonderful Leirvassbu, enjoy the view and take on the last day of the trip. It's a little sad, but at the same time a fantastic accomplishment. We are going to take a last trip up to Storebjørn 2222 m.a.s.l. We will follow the normal route from Leirvassbu up, and on through Bjørnskaret and down to Leirbrean and on to Krossbu. If the weather is bad, we can follow the valley from Leirvassbu out to the road. At Krossbu, we are picked up by minibus and head back to Otta Station, where we arrive before the last train to Oslo and Trondheim leaves.