Mountain · Sweden
Kebnekaise (North Peak)
Kebnekaise carries its north peak to 2097 metres in Swedish Lapland, the highest point in Sweden. Bare rock and old snow cover the summit, and around midsummer the sun never sets there.
Picture credit: Carl Månsson (CC BY 2.0) · Alexandar Vujadinovic (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Kebnekaise (North Peak)?
Kebnekaise (North Peak) is part of the Scandinavian Mountains, Lapland.
You will find it in: Sweden.
Summit: 67.904° N, 18.528° E
The story behind it
Kebnekaise is not one peak but two. The southern summit wears a cap of glacier ice and the northern summit is bare rock, and because the ice keeps melting and shrinking in warmer summers, the rocky north peak has become the higher of the pair. The mountain stands far north of the Arctic Circle in Sápmi, the land of the Sami people, where reindeer graze in the valleys and the name Kebnekaise comes from Sami words for a crest shaped like a kettle. Most walkers start at Nikkaluokta, follow a long valley to a mountain station and then climb over loose stones and old snowfields to the top. The weather changes fast up there, since mist, wind and sleet can arrive within minutes even in July, so warm clothing belongs in the pack all year round.
Find it on the globe
Kebnekaise (North Peak) is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How high is Kebnekaise?
Kebnekaise reaches 2097 metres at its north peak, which makes it the highest mountain in Sweden. The icy south peak was once the higher one and loses height in every warm summer.
Which country is Kebnekaise in?
Kebnekaise stands in Sweden, in the far north of the country in Swedish Lapland. The nearest places are Nikkaluokta and the mining town of Kiruna, and the region belongs to Sápmi, the homeland of the Sami.
Can you climb Kebnekaise?
Kebnekaise is climbed every summer by fit walkers, most of them on the western route from the mountain station over stones and snowfields. The eastern route crosses a glacier and needs a guide, and warm clothes are necessary even in July.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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