Kevin Ramsfjell will cross Norway on rollerskis in just 13 days: 2600 kilometers in total and over 200 km a day. After the first stage, he is 50km ahead of schedule.

Kevin Brekken Ramsfjell will rollerski along Norway from Nordkapp to Lindesnes in just 13 days. 

Saturday got off to a brilliant start on the 2600 kilometers. The 22-year-old opened the record attempt with sun, little wind, and precipitation, as well as some impressions and memories for life. 

“The Nordkapp with a very strong midnight sun is the wildest thing I have ever seen. Orange sky from midnight to three o’clock. The rest of the stage went well: no problems, little wind, many reindeer, and only a little rain,” says Ramsfjell after the first stage. 

With the good weather, Team Ramsfjell chose to go all the way to Alta, a little further than the schedule. The distance for the stage ticked in at 266 kilometers on Racetracker, while Google marked 232 kilometers. 

The distance difference, Ramsfjell believes, may be due to a lack of coverage inside tunnels. For most of the stage, he went freestyle, but 50km was classic. 

After the first stage, he is, in any case, more than 50km ahead of schedule. It can come in handy. The weather is changing fast in Norway, not least in the north, and it has been announced that it will be sunny for the following stages. 

Tight schedule

To reach the finish line in 13 days, the 22-year-old plans to rollerski daily stages of 200km without rest days. The plan is to rollerski about 10 hours per day, breaks not included. Then he must have an average speed of 20 km/h to keep track. 

Thirteen days and 200 km per day is an ambitious and tight schedule, and therefore Ramsfjell has chosen a route that follows the fastest, straightest roads from north to south. 

“I really only took the distance 2600 kilometers and divided it by 13 to get a round number to relate to. 200km is a round number, and 10 hours a day is a round number,” says Ramsfjell to Langrenn.com. 

The route is almost identical to the one that ultra-running legend Simen Holvik followed when he set a world record for running the stretch last summer. Holvik spent 26 days. 

FACTS: Rollerskiing Across Norway 2022

• Who: Kevin Brekken Ramsfjell (22)
• What: Set a new record for crossing Norway on rollerskis
• When: July 16-28, 2022
• Route: Nordkapp to Lindesnes 
• Distance: 2600 kilometers 
• Elevation: 30,000+ meters
• Duration: 13 days 
• Current record for the stretch: 21 days, set in 2021 (Ståle Samuelsen, 63 years)
• How: 13 stages of 200km, daily sessions of 10 hours, average speed of 20km/h