Gjende
Encyclopedia
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
in the Jotunheimen
Jotunheimen
Jotunheimen is a mountainous area of roughly 3,500 km² in Southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all in Jotunheimen, including the very highest - Galdhøpiggen...
mountains in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's Jotunheimen National Park. The proglacial lake
Proglacial lake
In geology, a proglacial lake is a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine or ice dam during the retreat of a melting glacier, or by meltwater trapped against an ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around the ice...
shows typical characteristics of glacial formation, being long and narrow—in length 18 km and in breadth 1.5 km at the broadest point with steep walls. Gjende has a characteristic light-green color resulting from the large quantity of rock flour
Rock flour
Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size...
which is discharged into the Gjende by the Muru
Muru
Muru is a river in Jotunheimen in southern Norway. It originates at the glacier Austre Memurubrean and runs through Memurudalen then finally empties into the lake Gjende right next to Memurubu. The river is approximately 10 km long and is the primary source for the lake Gjende.One of the...
river. The river Sjoa
Sjoa
The Sjoa river provides the outlet from lake Gjende at Gjendesheim in the Jotunheimen mountains of Norway's Jotunheim National Park. It flows eastward into the Gudbrandsdalslågen river via the Heidal traditional district in the Gudbrandsdal....
provides the outlet from Gjende at Gjendesheim
Gjendesheim
Gjendesheim Turisthytte has been a staffed lodge with Norwegian Mountain Touring Association Oslo og Omegn as proprietor since 1878, and is located in the heart of the Norwegian mountains. The lodge can accommodate 170 guests in bedrooms with 1, 2 and 4 beds and four dormitories...
, and flows eastward into the Gudbrandsdalslågen
Gudbrandsdalslågen
The Gudbrandsdalslågen river flows through the Gudbrandsdal of Norway.The Gudbrandsdalslågen begins in the lake Lesjaskogsvatnet , which lies in Lesja municipality in Oppland. Lesjavatn is the only lake in Norway which has two outlets; they flow into two of Norway’s more famous rivers...
river.
Gjende lies in the middle of Jotunheimen National Park and both to the north and south of the lake lie peaks greater than 2,000 m. There are numerous staffed tourist cabins maintained by the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association
Norwegian Mountain Touring Association
The Norwegian Trekking Association is a Norwegian association which maintains mountain trails and cabins in Norway. The association was founded on 21 January 1868 with the scope "to help and develop tourism in this country". Today the goal is to work for simple, secure and environmentally friendly...
(DNT); in the west end lies Gjendebu
Gjendebu
Gjendebu is the oldest cabin of the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association . The cabin lies 995 metres above sea level, by the western end of the lake Gjende, central in Jotunheimen. It is accessible by hiking along marked trails, or by boat over Gjende from Gjendesheim...
, on the north side lies Memurubu
Memurubu
Memurubu is a tourist hut in Norway, at the end or start of the famous Besseggen hiking trail. Memurubu is originally an old mountain pasture dating back to 1872, but has had tourists just as long. Cows are still grazing around the tourist hut, which lies at the mouth of the river Muru in the...
and on the east end lies Gjendesheim. In the summer boats provide transport between these locations.
Name
The name (Old NorseOld Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
*Gendir) is derived from Norse gandr m 'staff, stick'. This is referring to the form of the long and narrow lake.
See also Bygdin
Bygdin
Bygdin is a lake in the Jotunheimen mountain range. Bygdin is regulated and its normal level lies between 1,048 and 1,057 meters above sea level. It has an area of 46 km². The lake is long 25 km, but is narrow. The greatest depth is 215 m.Bygdin lies to the southeast in...
Cultural and literary references
Lake Gjende is found in literature and travel books from the 18th century. Together, the JotunheimenJotunheimen
Jotunheimen is a mountainous area of roughly 3,500 km² in Southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all in Jotunheimen, including the very highest - Galdhøpiggen...
lakes of Gjende and Bygdin
Bygdin
Bygdin is a lake in the Jotunheimen mountain range. Bygdin is regulated and its normal level lies between 1,048 and 1,057 meters above sea level. It has an area of 46 km². The lake is long 25 km, but is narrow. The greatest depth is 215 m.Bygdin lies to the southeast in...
play in many such descriptions. For example Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
took his famous wild-reindeer ride along "the Gjendin Ridge", a reference to either the narrow Besseggen Ridge - or the Knutshø ridge on the other side of lake Gjende.
The official name Gjende is taken from the Gudbrandsdal
Gudbrandsdal
The Gudbrandsdalen is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Oppland. The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer at Mjøsa, extending 230 km toward Romsdal...
traditional district
Districts of Norway
The country Norway is historically divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords,...
dialect used in Lom
Lom, Norway
Lom is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fossbergom....
and Vågå
Vågå
Vågå is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vågåmo....
. In the Vang dialect the lake is called Gjendin, which is the form you find in Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's name for what is now called Besseggen
Besseggen
Besseggen, or Besseggi, is a mountain ridge in Vågå kommune in Oppland county. Besseggen lies east in Jotunheimen, between the lakes Gjende and Bessvatnet....
, formerly Gjendineggen, or Gendineggen in the older orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
. The name Gjende is derived from the old Norse word "gandir" that can be translated into "straight stick", whereas the lake to the south Bygdin
Bygdin
Bygdin is a lake in the Jotunheimen mountain range. Bygdin is regulated and its normal level lies between 1,048 and 1,057 meters above sea level. It has an area of 46 km². The lake is long 25 km, but is narrow. The greatest depth is 215 m.Bygdin lies to the southeast in...
can be translated as "bent stick", the two names thereby referring to the shape of the lakes.
The lake gave its name to a famous early outdoors man and free thinker, Jo Gjende
Jo Gjende
Jo Gjende , was a Norwegian outdoorsman and freethinker. He is believed to have been the model for Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt....
(1794—1884), who had a cabin at Gjende.