Helags

About this place

Helags, or Helagsfjället, is a mountain in the province of Härjedalen in north-western Sweden, near the borders of Jämtland and Norway, about 18 km in a straight line north-west of the village of Ljungdalen. Its summit reaches 1,797 m, the highest Swedish peak south of the Arctic Circle, and the mountain rises steeply about 700 m above the surrounding high plateau. Together with the Sylarna mountains, Helags forms Sweden's southernmost high-mountain area. On its steep eastern side lies the Helags glacier, the southernmost glacier in Sweden, about 600 m long and up to some 50 m thick. The first recorded ascent was in 1868, when the geologist Edvard Erdmann climbed it with two local men from Ljungdalen. The mountain rises as a huge round-topped mass above a wide plateau of bog, stones and low shrubs, under snow for most of the year, with brown and green rock showing in the short summer. Ski and hiking trails marked with red cross-shaped signs cross the plateau to its foot, where the Helags mountain station stands in roadless country. Hiking is free, and the foot of the mountain is reached on foot or on skis from Ljungdalen. Mountain weather changes quickly and fog and storms are common, so bring a map and winter clothing even in summer.