The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes are an orogenic mountain range that formed approximately 400 million years ago as the result of colliding tectonic plates.

The original Scandes were among the oldest orogenic mountain ranges in the world. They are estimated to have been almost tens of kilometers tall during their youth. Over the course of millennia, the mountain range was weathered down and flattened almost completely by erosion, before rising up once again as a young orogenic mountain range during the same time as the Central European Alps were formed.

Nowadays, the highest peaks of the Scandes are located in the Norwegion Jotunheimen region. Today, the highest peaks are only approximately 2,5 kilometers tall (Galdhöpiggen 2469 m, Glittertind 2464 m). The northernmost parts of the mountain range have been eroded into fells, which is the case with the Swedish Kebnekaise (2117 m) and the Finnish Halti (1324 m).