or is a mountain in the municipality of

Narvik ( 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, N ...

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 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, Norway, Storå. The island of Hulløya lies off the coast of Kjøpsvik. The ...

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

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, Ice ...

. Stetind has an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

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

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

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 Mathias Soggemoen (5 October 1847 – 1929) was a Norwegian railway worker, mountain climbing pioneer and guide. Mathias Johnsen Soggemoen was born the oldest of seven siblings in Rauma in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. In 1875, he married Ingeb ...

attempted in 1889. Neither group succeeded, but Carl Hall built a

cairn A cairn is a man-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 gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

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 from Carleton, North Yorkshire. Born in Bell Busk, near Gargrave, Yorkshire, Slingsby first visited Norway in 1872 and fell in love with the country. He h ...

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 Fougner ...

, and Alf Bonnevie Bryn 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 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. There are two towns, Svolvær ...

summits

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

and

Trakta Litlkorsnestinden, or Trakta ( en, The Funnel), is a mountain in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The tall mountain lies on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, just north of the Trollfjorden. The summit is the ...

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 centur ...

, 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 forged or cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked"). Anvils are as massive as practical, because the higher th ...

" 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 topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a ...

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

References

External links

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