This mountainous area was named after Danish politician
Thorvald Stauning (1873–1942) who had helped to finance expeditions to east Greenland planned and carried out by Danish explorers.[3]
History
The Stauning Alps had been partly mapped earlier and named Rink Bjerge by
Lauge Koch’s 1926–27 expeditions, being referred to as a "wild and jagged range of mountains." The range thus described obviously corresponded to the eastern end of the Stauning Alps and the adjacent
Werner Range, but the name was not approved owing to the lack of detailed maps. Finally the range was thoroughly surveyed and mapped in 1932 by Koch during aerial surveys made during the
1931–34 Three-year Expedition to East Greenland.[3]
There is almost full documentation of climbing in the Stauning Alps by the successive expeditions having visited the mountain system. Most of the available climbing reports have either been published or deposited in the archives of the
Danish Polar Center (DPC), the
Royal Geographical Society of London (RGS) or the
British Mountaineering Council (BMC).[3]
Dansketinden, the highest point of the Stauning Alps was first climbed by
Swiss mountaineers John Haller (1927–1984), Wolfgang Diehl (1908–1990) and Fritz Schwarzenbach on 5 August 1954.[4] The second ascent was made by a 1964 Italian expedition led by
Guido Monzino (1928 – 1988).[3]
The range is very rugged with numerous high rocky peaks and active
glaciers in almost all valleys. It is made up of
granite, harder in the northern than in the southern subranges. Therefore, the mountains in the north of the Stauning Alps are generally more
craggy, while those in the south are more
eroded and have a relatively smoother appearance.[5]
The whole area of this vast range system is an uninhabited, desolate mountainous expanse. The nearest settlement is
Ittoqqortoormiit and the nearest airfields are
Nerlerit Inaat Airport at
Constable Point to the east and
Mestersvig to the north.[6] Access to the range requires a special permit.[7]
The Stauning Alps have a big concentration of mountains higher than 2,700 metres (8,860 ft). The highest point is
Dansketinden (2,842 m). Other noteworthy peaks[3] are:
Nordsylen (1,196 m),[6] northernmost spire of the Syltoppene
Glaciers
Practically all the valleys in the Stauning Alps are filled by active
glaciers that mostly flow towards the North, East or South. Generally those glaciers flowing towards the west are steep and have dangerous
icefalls with deep
crevasses.[5]
Some of the glaciers in the range system are very large, such as the
Spaerre Glacier(Spærregletscher) and
Sefstrøm Glacier to the west, the
Skjoldungebrae to the north and the
Bersaerkerbrae(Bersærkerbræ) to the east.[2] Other important glaciers in the Stauning Alps are:
The Stauning Alps lie in the high
Arctic zone.
Polar climate prevails in the area of the range, the
average annual temperature in the area being -16 °C . The warmest month is July when the average temperature rises to -2 °C and the coldest is January with -21 °C.[10]
Bibliography
Bennet, D. 1972: Staunings Alps, Gaston's Alpine Books and West Col Productions, Reading, SBN 901516 58 9.
^Haller, J. 1958: Der ‘Zentrale Metamorphe Komplex’ von NE-Grönland. Part 2. Die geologische Karte der Staunings Alper und des Forsblads Fjordes. Meddelelser om Grønland 154(3), 153 pp.