Svolværgeita: Jumping the Goat's Horns

If the first words that just came in to your head were never in a million years, then you are probably in good company. The Svolværgeita mountain in Norway was first climbed just a little over a century ago in 1910. Yet since then a tradition has emerged among the mountaineering fraternity: those who reach the goat’s horns jump them. Because they can. Image Credit Flickr User Sonia Marotti The town of Svolvær in Norland County nestles below the mountain. It is situated in Lofoten (which we have visited before on Kuriositas) on the south coast of Austvågøy, and faces open sea to the south with the mountain directly to the north. It is easy to see where the goats horns got their name. There are two spiky rocks which only the most experienced rock climbers can (safely) reach. The National Library of Norway Image Credit Flickr User QuiteAdept The first picture above is from the early 1900s when the mountain was first conquered, followed by a photograph of how the same scene looks today.…