As of 2008 it reached 2,465 metres (8,087 ft) above sea level including the glacier, measured as summer minimum.

[3] Glittertind had earlier been a challenger for the title as the highest mountain in Norway, as measurements showed Glittertind including the glacier was slightly higher than Galdhøpiggen which reaches an elevation of 2,469 metres (8,100 ft) above sea level with no glacier at the summit.

The summit of Glittertind was reached for the first time in 1841 by Harald Nicolai Storm Wergeland and Hans Sletten.

The route across the glacier that crowns the summit is completely without crevasses, but on a hot summer day it might be a wet hike across the melting snow which covers the ice.

The mountain is named after the river Glitra and the last element is the finite form of tind (m) which means 'mountain peak'.