Carl Wilhelm Rubenson (30 July 1885 – 29 July 1960) was a Swedish-born Norwegian mountaineer and non-fiction writer.

Personal life

Rubenson was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

to landowner Carl Otto Rubenson and Elise Johansen. He married Ragnhild Fougner in 1911.

Climbing career

In 1906 Rubenson made several first ascents in

Jotunheimen Jotunheimen (; "the home of the Jötunn") is a mountainous area of roughly in southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all located in the Jotunheimen mountains, in ...

, together with Ferdinand Schjelderup and Agnes Jachelln. In October 1907, Ingvald Monrad Aas and he reached a height of 7,270 m at the Himalayan mountain

Kabru Kabru is a mountain in the Himalayas on the border of eastern Nepal and India. It is part of a ridge that extends south from Kangchenjunga and is the southernmost peak in the world. The main features of this ridge are as follows (north to sou ...

, possibly the highest altitude anybody had reached until then. However, Rubenson and Aas themselves believed that

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

Boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

, and

Kaufmann Kaufmann is a surname with many variants such as Kauffmann, Kaufman, and Kauffman. In German, the name means '' merchant''. It is the cognate of the English '' Chapman'' (which had a similar meaning in the Middle Ages, though it disappeared fro ...

had reached the same point on Kabru in 1883, an opinion shared with most contemporary climbers and supported by recent analysis.Willy Blaser and Glyn Hughes
Kabru 1883, a reassessment
''

The Alpine Journal The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. History The magazine was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London ...

'' 2009, p. 219 He co-founded the Norwegian mountaineering club Norsk Tindeklub in 1908, together with Alf Bryn, Ferdinand Schjelderup, Henning Tønsberg and others. He made the first ascent of the Norwegian mountain Stetind in 1910, together with Alf Bonnevie Bryn and

Ferdinand Schjelderup Ferdinand Schjelderup (8 March 1886 – 30 July 1955) was a Norwegian mountaineer, Supreme Court Justice and resistance member during the German occupation of Norway. Personal life He was born in Kristiania as the son of Thorleif Frederik Schj ...

. The three climbers reached the top of Stetind on 30 July 1910, on Rubenson's 25th birthday. This was the first of a number of

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

s to follow the next two weeks in Northern Norway. On 1 August Rubenson, Bryn and Schjelderup made the first ascent of Svolværgeita, on the Lofoten island of

Austvågøy Austvågøya is the northeasternmost and largest of the larger islands in the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. It is located between the Vestfjorden and the Norwegian Sea. The island of Vestvågøya lies to the southwest and ...

. Their route is called ' ("The 1910 Route"). This route includes a famous diagonal traverse across the north wall of the mountain, which was led by Rubenson. The group reached the top by 11 pm on 1 August. On 3 August 1910 the same group climbed Trakta on Northern Austvågøy, a mountain considered among the hardest summits to reach in Norway. Also this was a first ascent, where they climbed the main summit (Vestre Trakta) via the Northwest Ridge. Rubenson was part of the group that first attempted a winter ascent of Store Skagastølstind, but this attempt failed because of harsh snow conditions and risk of avalanches. Among Rubenson's books are ''Fjeldsport før og nu'' and ''Med telt og husbaat i Kashmir'', both from 1923. He was awarded honorary membership of both the British

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

and Norsk Tindeklub. Stetind 2009 1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubenson, Carl Wilhelm 1885 births 1960 deaths Norwegian mountain climbers Norwegian non-fiction writers Norwegian nature writers 20th-century non-fiction writers Swedish emigrants to Norway