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Benedicte Westfal Larsen climbed over 100,000 meters of elevation in May, with a daily average of about 3,500 meters. She climbed Ulriken in Bergen over 190 times during the month, often using the Ulriksbanen cable car to help her descend. According to Strava, she is the woman in the world who has climbed the most elevation in the past month and probably the past year. She has accumulated over 700,000 meters of elevation in the past 365 days, which is equivalent to more than 81 trips up Mount Everest. She trains in all kinds of weather, including storms and cyclones, and has also hiked in Asia. Mountaineer Stian Angermund and others are very impressed with her efforts and the positive attitude she shows.

The summary is created by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality-assured by NRK’s journalists before publication.

The summary is created by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality-assured by NRK’s journalists before publication.

– Throughout May, I climbed 3,500 meters in altitude, on average, every single day.

That’s what Benedicte Westfal Larsen tells NRK. She is a super exerciser and loves to climb mountains.

Her favorite mountain is Ulriken in her hometown of Bergen. That gives her 500 meters of elevation gain on her heart rate monitor. Even though it’s the city between the seven mountains, it’s only Ulriken that gets conquered multiple times a day.

– That’s seven times, on average, she says.

When NRK turns on the thread, she is of course out hiking up her favorite mountain.

Today’s goal: An eight-hour hike with over 4,000 meters of elevation gain.

DOWN: On a rare occasion, Benedicte Westfal Larsen also goes down Ulriken.

According to Strava, she is the woman in the world who has climbed the most altitude meters in the last month.

Strava

The case was first reported by the magazine Kondis.

She has probably also climbed the most altitudes in the past year.

Then the weather and wind must give way for her to complete today’s hike. A task that can be tough in weather-prone Bergen.

– It’s part of going in really bad weather. There have been cyclones, storms and snow. I go anyway, and then in the end you don’t care. I like being outside anyway, she says.

HARD: To accumulate so many altitude meters in one year, Benedicte Westfal Larsen must climb Ulriken in all kinds of weather.

Goes up more often than down

To save her legs and gain new altitude most effectively, she often takes the Ulriksbanen cable car back down.

In May, she climbed 100,083 meters. She then became the best woman in the monthly Strava competition, which is about climbing the most meters of altitude in one month.

In May, she therefore climbed Ulriken 176 times, while she also climbed around 12,000 altitude meters in Asia.

For comparison, there are 51,550 meters of elevation gain in this year’s edition of the infamous Tour de France cycling race.

THE TOWER: Benedicte Westfal Larsen on her way up Ulriken. In the background we see the telecommunications tower on top of the mountain.

A man with the username “Dj Remi” climbed 100,853 meters of altitude, but according to Larsen, she had around 5,000 meters of altitude that were not registered by Strava in the competition.

The next woman on the list climbed only half as many vertical meters as Larsen.

– It’s not a hoax. Anyone can do it, you just have to be willing to spend time on it, says Larsen.

Showing the leaderboard from the Strava competition

– Extreme point

Former track and field athlete, and now physician, Marius Bakken believes that with good preparation, such extreme challenges can be successful if the right precautions are taken.

– You shouldn’t be afraid to challenge your body. It’s much worse the opposite, says Bakken.

He nevertheless adds:

– We’re talking about extremes here. This is of course the extreme of the extreme, but there are also some who want to do it. Then I think that if it brings joy to life, then it’s completely fine.

EXPERIMENTER: Marius Bakken participated in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He held the Norwegian record for 5000 meters from 2004 and 2019. Then Jakob Ingebrigtsen took his record.

Bakken has always experimented with training and was among the pioneers of double threshold training, a form of training that the Ingebrigtsen brothers have also used.

Bakken believes extreme training has become part of the zeitgeist.

– It is both exciting at the moment and in general what people will look for when it comes to testing our limits. A lot of it is about adaptation. If you have adapted over a long period of time, the body is incredibly adaptable.

Over 700,000 altitude meters

Larsen has no desire to compete against anyone but herself. She has slowly but surely trained herself to reach so many heights.

With a brand new heart rate monitor around her arm during the pandemic, she first started counting steps, then became interested in collecting as many altitude meters as possible.

– First I decided to walk 1,000 meters of elevation every day for a year. That’s 365,000, I managed that. Then it was 500,000, and now I’m up to over 700,000 meters of elevation, she explains.

Because it is the number of meters of altitude climbed in one year that is Westfal Larsen’s big goal. She does not count the calendar year, but from the same date last year. Her goal is to be over 700,000 meters of altitude in a year.

She has now climbed over 725,000 altitude meters in the last 365 days.

That’s the equivalent of over 81 trips up the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest.

FAVORITE MOUNTAIN: Ulriken is Benedicte Westfal Larsen’s favorite mountain.

– Impressed

One of those who is very impressed by Larsen is mountain runner Stian Angermund, who regularly meets her on the way up Ulriken.

One of those who is very impressed by Larsen is mountain runner Stian Angermund, who regularly meets her on the way up Ulriken.

He is allowed to compete again after he reluctantly accepted a 16-month doping ban, even though he was believed not to have cheated.

He is allowed to compete again after he reluctantly accepted a 16-month doping sentence, even though he was believed not to have cheated.

IMPRESSED: Stian Angermund is very impressed with what Benedicte Westfal Larsen has achieved. He finds it extra impressive that she does it day after day.

Angermund says that she has a strong willpower.

Angermund says that she has a strong willpower.

– It’s absolutely wild. It’s insanely impressive, Angermund says of her achievements and continues:

– She’s there almost every time I’m at Ulriken, I meet her. So she always has a smile on her face and is very positive. I think she likes talking to people on the stairs there too.