or is a small

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

that branches off from the main

Ofotfjorden Ofotfjord ( or ) is a fjord in Nordland county, Norway. It is an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, located about north of the Arctic Circle. The long Ofotfjord is Norway's 12th longest fjord and it is also the 18th deepest, with a maximum depth of . ...

Narvik Municipality ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is located in the

Ofoten Ofoten is a traditional district in Nordland county in Northern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Tysfjord, Ballangen, Evenes, Tjeldsund, Narvik, and Lødingen. It is named after the main fjord, Ofotfjorden, which is at the ce ...

district in

Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the la ...

, just south of the town of Narvik. The

European route E6 European route E6 ( no, Europavei 6, sv, Europaväg 6, or simply E6) is the main north-south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and ...

highway crosses the Skjomen fjord over the

Skjomen Bridge The Skjomen Bridge ( no, Skjombrua) is a suspension bridge in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The bridge is part of the European route E6 highway. It crosses the Skjomen fjord about west of the town of Narvik. The bridge ha ...

, just south of the mouth of the fjord.

Skjomdalen

A sheltered valley called "Skjomdalen" extends southward from the end of the fjord. The valley is inhabited by approximately 400 people. The population is spread out over several very small villages in the valley, with the largest being

Elvegård Elvegård is a village in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located along the Skjomen fjord. Skjomen Church is located in the village on the shore of the fjord. There is a golf course A golf course is the gro ...

which functions as a very small service centre for the valley. One of the world's northernmost 18 hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". The ...

s is located in Elvegård, near the fjord. Skjomen Church sits along the shore of the fjord in

Name

The name "Skjomen" was originally called ''Skieffa'' or ''Skievva'' in the 15th century. This is a name from the

Northern Sami language Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

that is believed to mean "Sea". The Sami people are a nomadic people living among others in the mountains of Sweden and Norway in the wintertime and traveling to the sea at springtime. In this case traveling to Skieffa (sea) or Skjomen.

History

Skjomen has a site of about 80 rock carvings near the sea. They consist of animal figures including reindeer, whales and moose as well as a human figure holding a reindeer in straps. The rock carvings are believed to have been made by the

mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...

Fosna-Hensbacka culture dating from around 5000 BC. The rock carvings were discovered in the 1930s. For a short period,

German battleship Tirpitz ''Tirpitz'' was the second of two s built for Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) prior to and during the Second World War. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial German Navy, ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Impe ...

hid beneath the extremely steep mountains surrounding the

to avoid attack by allied warplanes during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Geography

Skjomen is known for its scenic landscape with high, steep mountains, and clear water. Skjomtind, Reintind, and Klubbviktind are three of the many beautiful mountains surrounding the fjord. The highest point around Skjomen is the tall mountain Storsteinfjell. The Frostisen

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

, which is one of the larger plateau glaciers in Norway is located just west of the fjord. Frostisen covers an area of about and it is located at an elevation of above sea level.

References

External links