With its vertical, anvil-like shape, Stetind (1,392m) rises straight out of the ocean, about 80km southwest of Narvik, and for sailors it’s a well-known landmark. In 2002, Stetind was selected as Norway’s national mountain. Stetind has a climbing history that dates all the way back to 1910, and there are a few really high-quality routes that are very popular. Most parts of the mountain have been explored, but if you look close, this vast ocean of rock has plenty of potential between existing lines.

By chance, Andreas Widlund and I bumped into each other while waiting for the ferry to Lofoten. Full of excitement, Andreas told me that he had just been to Stetind, scouting and rope-soloing a few pitches on the southwest face. Eighty meters up, the corner he had been following suddenly disappeared and blank slabs forced him back down. “I’m sure it goes in some way! Plus, I’ve never seen it this dry,” he said with a grin. Without any fixed plans for the coming few days, we quickly decided the only sensible thing was to drive back to Stetind and give it a proper try together. This face had been on my mind for a few years and a lot longer for Andreas.

After sleeping under a large boulder at the base of the wall for a few hours, we racked up and started the first pitch on June 30 around 5:30 p.m. We planned to climb through the night and the next day, and longer if needed. After arriving at Andreas’ high point, we climbed a tricky and somewhat bold slab traverse to reach another corner system. This would turn out to be the crux of the entire route at N7 (6c+).

For hours we searched our way higher and higher up the face, freeing every pitch onsight. At times we took wrong turns, resulting in some scary downclimbing or run-out traverses. There was one A0 section on the very last pitch. After 33 hours (with two long breaks), we topped out, happy and very tired.

Our route, the Southwest Face (790m, N7 A0), climbs straight up the highest part of the face. In the middle we seem to have crossed [and likely shared a bit of ground with] an existing route (Guldfisken, 11 pitches, N6, Nilsson-Lindberg, 1980 or 1981). Our route offers everything from tricky slabs and runouts to well-protected corners and steep cracks. The rock quality was mostly good, with occasional wet sections and loose blocks.

— Joda Dolmans, Norway