Author: Cara Giaimo / Source: Atlas Obscura
In August of 2014, journalist Oliver Gee packed a knapsack, rented a pair of hiking boots, and set out on an adventure. He was headed to climb the south peak of Kebnekaise, the highest mountain in Sweden.
“The idea of standing on top of Sweden’s highest peak seemed like a really tangible challenge,” says Gee, who, at the time, worked for expat publication The Local.In the article he wrote about his experience (“Kebnekaise: How I tamed Sweden’s highest peak”), he describes the feeling of triumph he and his girlfriend felt as they reached the top: “Eventually we couldn’t climb any higher. We were on the top of Sweden. We’d done it.”
Four years later, the whole article is suddenly suffused with nostalgia. As of the beginning of August 2018, the south peak of Kebnekaise is no longer the country’s highest. That title now belongs to the north peak of Kebnekaise—less than half a mile away, but much more difficult to access. The switch, though expected, has thrown many people for a loop, from scientists to mountain safety officials to hobbyist climbers. Even in an age of climate change, some things still seem like they should be unchangeable.
Although it is all one mountain, Kebnekaise has two main peaks. The northern one is made of rock, and holds steady at 2,096.8 meters tall, or just under 6,880 feet. The southern one is glaciated, which makes it more mercurial: As the temperature rises, it shrinks. It grows again in the winter, when snowfall builds up. Depending on how these two seasons balance out, the peak may gain or lose a few meters over the course of a year. Scientists at the Tarfala Research Station keep tabs on it, measuring it each summer as though it’s a kid about to go back to school.
In 1902, the first reliable measurement on record, the southern peak was 6,958 feet tall. It stayed within a few stories of this height up until 1999, when it dropped below 2,110 meters for the first time. Since then, it’s been steadily dwindling: 6,890 feet in 2011, 6,886 in 2013, 6,881 in 2014. “This year it was really hot,” says Gunhild Rosqvist, the station’s director and a professor of physical geography at Stockholm University. “It lost the battle.”
The team took its measurement on Tuesday, July 31, and found that the south peak was just six inches taller than its brother. The next day’s heat, they knew, would knock off its crown. “When we actually got…
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