[en] During the last few years it has become possible to give nuclei very high angular momenta by heavy-ion collisions. The compound nucleus is very hot and de-excites by emitting some neutrons and gammas, so that it reaches the yrast line (or close to this). It then de-excites along the yrast line from a very high angular momentum over a region where so far no discrete states have been observed experimentally. The author applies the Strutinsky shell correction method with a cranked modified oscillator potential to analyse the nuclear structure of rare earth nuclei at very high angular momentum. (Auth.)