A glacier in Härjedalen sounds wrong. It sits more than 400 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, and at this latitude the mountains are far less dramatic than further north. It is there anyway, all year round.
Helagsfjället, Maajåelkie in South Sami, lies in Berg municipality in north-western Härjedalen, close to the borders with both Jämtland and Norway. The summit sits at 1,797 metres above sea level, making it the highest Swedish mountain peak south of the Arctic Circle.
The glacier in the shade
Helagsglaciären is the southernmost glacier in Sweden. It lies in a broad, deep niche on the eastern side of the mountain and consists of two connected parts.
According to the Bolin Centre's database of Swedish glaciers it covered 0.48 square kilometres at a survey in 2008, and extends between roughly 1,370 and 1,620 metres above sea level. It was first mapped in detail as long ago as 1908.
That it survives this far south is down to position rather than altitude. The niche sits in the shadow of the face above it, and snow blown over the ridge collects there as well. Sun and snow drift, not mean temperature, decide whether a glacier holds on.
What the shape tells you about the terrain
Helags is a good example of how differently a mountain reads depending on the direction you see it from.
From the west it is a rounded ridge rising slowly. From the east it is a wall. The difference is pure glacial geology: that side has been hollowed out by ice, the other has not. It is the same mechanism that built the Matterhorn, only with one niche instead of four. More on that in the article on how a horn forms.
Getting there
The usual way in is from Ljungdalen. From the car park at Kläppen it is a little over ten kilometres up to the Swedish Tourist Association's mountain station, which sits below the mountain itself. From there it is a few kilometres further to the summit.
So the distance is perfectly manageable, but it is bare mountain the whole way, with no shelter. The wind is usually what decides the day. The first documented ascent was made in 1868 by the geologist Edvard Erdmann together with two local guides from Ljungdalen.
A mountain that works in relief
Not all of them do. Many Swedish mountains are so rounded that they become an even wave once scaled down, however beautiful they are in person.
Helags has that sharp face and the niche beneath it, which gives the relief a clear dark edge that reads even at a distance, plus the deep valleys all around. That is what got the place into the range in the first place. The criterion is not height but whether the shape is recognisable across a room.
See the Helags piece, or compare it with Hemavan and Kebnekaise further north.