or is a mountain in

Narvik Municipality () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located about northeast of the village of

Kjøpsvik or is a village in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the eastern shore of the Tysfjorden, north of the small village of Storå. The island of Hulløya lies off the coast of Kjøpsvik. The village has ...

. The mountain has very smooth sides reaching all the way to the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

. Stetinden has an

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

-shape which gives it a very distinct look. In 2002 it was voted to be the "National Mountain" of Norway by listeners of

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

. The coat of arms of Narvik Municipality is based on the silhouette of this mountain.

Climbing

The mountain had several attempts at first ascents. First was the German

Paul Güssfeldt Dr Paul Güssfeldt (spelled Güßfeldt in German) (14 October 1840 – 18 January 1920) was a German geologist, mountaineer and explorer. Biography Güssfeldt was born in Berlin, where he also died almost 80 years later. After attending the C ...

and the Norwegian Martin Ekroll in the summer of 1888. The Dane Carl Hall and the Norwegian mountain guide Mathias Soggemoen attempted in 1889. Neither group succeeded, but Carl Hall built a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

on the lower summit about southeast of the main summit. That cairn is now called ''Halls fortopp'' (elevation ). In 1904,

William Cecil Slingsby William Cecil Slingsby (1849–1929) was an English mountain climber and alpine explorer born in Bell Busk, near Gargrave, Yorkshire. In 1863 his family moved to Carleton where they opened a cotton spinning and weaving mill which operated for ...

also failed to reach the summit. It was not until 30 July 1910 that

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 ...

Carl Wilhelm Rubenson 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 to landowner Carl Otto Rubenson and Elise Johansen. He married Ragnhild Fougne ...

, and

Alf Bonnevie Bryn Alf Bonnevie Bryn (26 August 1889 – 12 September 1949) was a Norwegian patent engineer, mountaineer, golf player, novelist and non-fiction writer. Personal life Bryn was born in Oslo, Kristiania, the son of Alfred Jørgen Bryn and a grandson ...

finally reached the summit of Stetind. The weather conditions were good. It was Rubenson's 25th birthday, and he was given the honor of being first in the rope. The hardest part was to pass the smooth crag "Mysosten", which Rubenson finger traversed along a tiny crack. After this passage there was an easy climb to the summit. The same three climbers continued their 1910 tour by making first ascents of the

Lofoten Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...

summits

Svolværgeita Geita or Svolværgeita () is a tall pinnacle at the southwest face of the mountain Fløyfjellet (Nordland), Fløyfjellet on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago. The high Fløyfjellet is located on the edge of the town of Svol ...

and

Trakta Litlkorsnestinden, (nicknamed: ''Trakta'', ) is a mountain in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The tall mountain lies on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, just south of the Trollfjorden. The summit is the mos ...

Arne Næss Arne Dekke Eide Næss ( ; ; 27 January 1912 – 12 January 2009) was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term "deep ecology", an important intellectual and inspirational figure within the environmental movement of the late twentieth cent ...

, Ralph Høibakk, and K. Friis Baasted did the first winter climb of Stetind in 1963 on the eastern wall. In 1966,

and four others were the first ones to summit via the west wall.

Name

The shape of the mountain has been compared with a ''ste'' which means "

anvil An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually Forging, forged or Steel casting, cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked"). Anvils are massive because the hi ...

" and the last element is the finite form of ''tind'' which means "

mountain peak A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

". Slingsby characterized Stetind as the ugliest mountain he ever saw.

Tourism

Stetind is not a particularly popular tourist destination, despite being Norway's national mountain. It got a boom in tourism activity after the award, but the number of visitors returned to normal levels after a few years.

References

External links

* {{authority control Narvik Mountains of Nordland Tourist attractions in Nordland