>On a humorous note, I'm going to guess that the area of land in the US which elevation is higher than the highest peak in Norway (Galdhøpiggen at 2469 m / 8100 ft) exceeds than the *entire* area of Norway

Yeah but how much of the continental USA is further North than Norway?

(Answer: none of it)

Barcelona is roughly at the Oregon/California border in latitude, give or take, if I remember right. And we think of that as warm and tropical. That's an idea you'll quickly lose after a cold shivering winter there, but few people go in winter/fall so the illusion is maintained.

I think we tend to forget just how far north Europe is.

It's also easy to be unaware of just how much it rains in Norway, one of my relatives is there now and he notes that it's supposed to be raining basically all this coming month. 2 years ago it rained every day I was up in the far north, and everyone I saw biking or hiking was usually in full rain gear, or had it close at hand.

I like those low tunnel type tents like the Ringstind, but that one seems to suffer from a serious glitch, no supports on the end to hold up the tent, no carbon fiber or anything, like Akto and Tarptents use in the tents discussed here, seems to make it a less attractive candidate for that style than a Hilleberg Akto, took me a while to notice that issue because it's kind of subtle and the pictures make it look like the end has some type of support, but it's all just tautness from guylines, not pole supports.

Definitely needs something sturdier than most of us would use here. Last August, I backpacker around Finse, constant 40mph wind, 40 degrees f and rain. My lunar duo held up, but if I lived over there I would get something sturdier.