Norwegians would

Your reminder of George Simpson’s October 1928 climb in his Austin Seven to the top of Ben Nevis in Octane 208 prompted me to watch again a video on YouTube of Norwegian car pioneer, rally driver and, later, Mercedes-Benz importer, Erik Cederwall-Larsen, driving his Austin Seven that same year to the top of Norway’s highest mountain, Galdhøpiggen.

At 8100 feet above sea level, Galdhøpiggen is twice the height of Ben Nevis and, judging from the 1928 footage, this took place in early Spring, which means he beat Mr Simpson by half a year!

Admittedly, Erik had fitted caterpillar tracks [pictured above] to travel over the snow but that also meant the little Austin engine had to propel the extra weight.

Only a short distance from the top, the expedition was surprised by a blizzard and had to abandon the car. The three-man team just barely escaped the storm by entering the summit’s tourist shack through its kitchen window, because the door was frozen shut.

However, the next day was beautiful and, once the Austin had been shovelled out from the drifts, the engine started right away and took Erik up to the view of the entire South of Norway.

Caterpillaring up the mountain had been successful but coming down was a different matter and his two assistants had to hang on to ropes to slow the car’s speed. Norwegians have always been the kind of masochists who stampede to the mountains to squeeze the last of the skiing season out of their Easter holiday, but this early example was literally over the top. Fred Ljone, Oslo, Norway