Very few people have put Store Blåmann on their climbing map. Yet this summit features a compact granite north face, overhanging and streaked with cracks over a height of 400m. Not far from Tromsø, even further north than the famous Lofoten Islands, this 1,044-metre peak facing the icy Norwegian Sea has a dozen major routes leading to its summit. Among them is the extremely difficult Arctandria, recently climbed by Norwegian Tuva Stavø. Meet this eighth-degree climber.
In 2005, Didier Berthod laid – and stuck – his hands in this Arctandria route. It’s a de facto harbinger of cracks to come. It was then the late Hansjörg Auer who reached the summit after a one-day ascent in 2007. He said : “Considering the technical difficulties and the alpine character of the route, it can be described as one of the most difficult of its kind in Europe.“
Since