For the folk metal band, see Glittertind (band)

Glittertind (band)

Glittertind is a Norwegian folk metal and viking metal project which started in 2001.The band consist of Torbjørn Sandvik, Geirmund Simonsen and various guest musicians....

.

Glittertind (official form on maps: Glittertinden) is the second highest mountain in Norway

Geography of Norway

Norway is a country located in Northern Europe on the western and northern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering the North Sea in southwest and the Skagerrak inlet to the south, the North Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast...

, at 2,465 m above sea level, including the glacier at its peak (without the glacier, it is 2452 m). It is located within the municipality of Lom

Lom, Norway

Lom is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fossbergom....

, in the Jotunheimen

Jotunheimen

Jotunheimen is a mountainous area of roughly 3,500 km² in Southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all in Jotunheimen, including the very highest - Galdhøpiggen...

 mountain area.
Glittertind had earlier been a challenger for the title as the highest mountain in Norway, as measurements showed Glittertind including the glacier was slightly higher than Galdhøpiggen

Galdhøpiggen

Galdhøpiggen is the highest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia and Northern Europe, at 2,469 m above sea level...

 (2,469 m above sea level). The glacier has, however, shrunk in recent years, and the dispute has been settled in Galdhøpiggen's favour. The summit of Glittertind was reached for the first time in 1841 by Harald Nicolai Storm Wergeland

Harald Nicolai Storm Wergeland

Harald Nicolai Storm Wergeland was a Norwegian military officer, politician and mountaineer. Having reached the rank of Major General by 1859, he served as Minister of the Army for several periods between 1857 and 1868. He later became Lieutenant General...

 and Hans Sletten.

Glittertind is easily accessible from Spiterstulen

Spiterstulen

Spiterstulen is a former mountain farm, now a tourist station in the valley Visdalen in Lom in Oppland, Norway. Spiterstulen lies 1,100 metres above sea level, between the two highest mountains in Norway, Galdhøpiggen and Glittertind. It is the largest tourist cabin in Jotunheimen, with around 230...

 lodge in the west, by a climb of 1300 m. and from Glitterheim

Glitterheim

Glitterheim is a mountain cabin in Jotunheimen, Norway, owned by the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association . The cabin lies 1,384 meters above sea level, at the foot of the mountain Glittertind. It was designed by architect Hjalmar Welhaven, and built in 1901.-External Links:...

 lodge in the east, by a climb of 1000 m. The hike from Glitterheim is the easier, but Glitterheim is inside the National Park and can therefore only be reached by foot. The summit hike is a very popular one, only surpassed in seasonal numbers by Galdhøpiggen, its western neighbor.

The route across the glacier that crowns the summit is completely without crevasses, but on a hot summer day it might be a wet hike across the melting snow which covers the ice. Visitors might even experience that the meltwater blows up across the summit, leaving hikers totally soaked. The view is magnificent. East and southeast of Glittertind there are hardly any high peaks, and hence most of the northern and eastern parts of the province of Oppland can be seen. All famous photos of Glittertind are taken on the eastern flank slightly below the top.

There used to be a cabin at the summit, but because of the impossibility of mooring it sufficiently, it was taken by a storm and landed on the Grjotbreen glacier, under the steep north wall of the summit.

The name

The mountain is named after the river Glitra, the last element is the finite form of tind m 'mountain peak

Mountain peak

A mountain peak is the highest part of a mountain; a mountaintop; the summit.Mountain Peak may also refer to:* Blue Mountain Peak, Jamaica* Hole in the Mountain Peak, Nevada, USA...

'. The name of the river is derived form the verb glitre 'glitter, sparkle'.

Guidebooks

• A. Dyer et al. Walks and Scrambles in Norway, ISBN 1-904466-25-7.
• Bernhard Pollmann Norway South, ISBN 3763348077.