Lyngen Alps

The Lyngen Alps (Norwegian: Lyngsalpan or Lyngsfjellan, Northern Sami: Ittuvárit, Kven: Yykeänvaarat) are a mountain range in northeastern Troms county in Norway, east of the city of Tromsø. The mountain range is located on the Lyngen Peninsula and it runs through Lyngen Municipality, Balsfjord Municipality, Storfjord Municipality, and Tromsø Municipality. The mountains follow the western shore of the Lyngen fjord in a north–south direction. The length of the range is at least 90 kilometres (56 mi) (depending on definition—there are mountains all the way south to the border with Sweden) and the width is 15–20 kilometres (9.3–12.4 mi). The mountains dominate the Lyngen Peninsula, which is bordered by the Lyngen fjord to the east, and the Ullsfjorden to the west. There are 140 glaciers in the mountains covering about 141 square kilometres (54 sq mi) of the Lyngen Peninsula at present. Gamvikblåisen and Strupenbreen are the two largest in the outer part of the peninsula, while in the interior Fornesbreen and the Jiehkkevárri glacial complex are the largest. The bedrock consists of a belt of ophiolitic gabbro that is flanked on both sides by predominantly schistose metasediments. The gabbro belt underlies the rugged mountains of Lyngsalpene. In the lowland areas between Oteren and Koppangen, amphibolites, greenstones, and greenshales predominate. In the lowlands on the eastern side of the Lyngen peninsula, mica schists, phyllites, and dolomites are mainly found. The lowlands on the western side are mainly composed of mica schists and a small amount of quartzites. Except for ice caps at the summits of Jiehkkevárri and Bálggesvárri, cirque glaciers dominate the present glaciation on the Lyngen Peninsula. The Lyngen Alps are sufficiently high as to give rain shadow in the interior lowland areas east of the mountains.

Neighbouring summits