Jotunheim National Park
Encyclopedia
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...
, recognized as one of the country's premier hiking and fishing regions. The national park covers 1,151 km² and is part of the larger area 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...
. More than 250 peaks rise above 1,900 metres (6,000 feet), including Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
's two highest peaks: Galdhøpiggen
Galdhøpiggen
Galdhøpiggen is the highest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia and Northern Europe, at 2,469 m above sea level...
at 2,469 metres, and Glittertind
Glittertind
Glittertind is the second highest mountain in Norway, at 2,465 m above sea level, including the glacier at its peak...
at 2,465 metres.
The National Park covers most of the mountainous region of Jotunheimen, including Hurrungane
Hurrungane
Hurrungane is a mountain range in the municipalities Luster and Årdal in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway...
, but Utladalen and its surroundings are within Utladalen Landscape Protection Area
Utladalen Landscape Protection Area
Utladalen Landscape Protection Area is adjacent to Jotunheimen National Park, covering Utladalen, Norway's deepest valley. It is located about northeast of Øvre Årdal in the municipality of Årdal in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway....
. Geographically, it lies in both Oppland
Oppland
is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The county administration is in Lillehammer. Oppland is, together with Hedmark, one of the only two landlocked counties of Norway....
and Sogn og Fjordane
Sogn og Fjordane
is a county in Norway, bordering Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland. The county administration is in the town of Hermansverk in Leikanger municipality while the largest town is Førde....
counties. Geologically the Jotunheimen is a Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
province. Glaciers have carved the hard gabbro
Gabbro
Gabbro refers to a large group of dark, coarse-grained, intrusive mafic igneous rocks chemically equivalent to basalt. The rocks are plutonic, formed when molten magma is trapped beneath the Earth's surface and cools into a crystalline mass....
rock massifs of the Jotunheimen, leaving numerous valleys and the many peaks.
Wildlife include the reindeer, elk, deer, wolverines and lynx. Most lakes and rivers hold trout.
History
Jotunheimen has been the site of hunting since before recorded time. Remains of Stone AgeStone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
hunting camps have been found near the lakes Gjende
Gjende
Gjende is a lake in the Jotunheimen mountains in Norway's Jotunheimen National Park. The proglacial lake 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...
and Russvatnet
Russvatnet
Russvatnet is a lake in Jotunheimen, Norway, and also within Jotunheimen National Park. It lies between the mountains Surtningssue and Besshø.-References:*...
. These remains extend through the bronze and Iron Age, up to recorded times. The high pastures have been used as seters for at least 1000 years.
A “Royal Road” decree from the 15th century required that the residents of 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....
must keep the mountain crossing passable to the middle of the Sognefjell, allowing folk from the north 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...
access to their trading town of the period, Bergen. Caravans carried farm products down the mountains and returned with salt, iron, cloth and lutefisk
Lutefisk
Lutefisk or Lutfisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish or dried/salted whitefish and lye . It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor...
.
The name Jotunheimen, or “Home of the Giants” is a relatively recent usage. Aasmund Olavsson Vinje
Aasmund Olavsson Vinje
Aasmund Olavsson Vinje was a famous Norwegian poet and journalist who is remembered for poetry, travel writing, and his pioneering use of Landsmål .-Background:...
(1818–1879), a famous Norwegian
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...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who is remembered for his pioneering use of nynorsk
Nynorsk
Nynorsk or New Norwegian is one of two official written standards for the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. The standard language was created by Ivar Aasen during the mid-19th century, to provide a Norwegian alternative to the Danish language which was commonly written in Norway at the...
, as well as being an exponent of Norwegian romantic nationalism
Norwegian romantic nationalism
Norwegian romantic nationalism was a movement in Norway between 1840 and 1867 in art, literature, and popular culture that emphasized the aesthetics of Norwegian nature and the uniqueness of the Norwegian national identity...
, coined the term in 1862, adopting it from Keilhau’s “Jotunfjellene” or the mountains of the giants. A memorial was raised in 1909 to Aa. O.Vinje at the western end of Lake 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...
at his dear Eidsbugarden at today's outskirts of the national park where he had a private hut. Old friends and followers wanted to commemorate his contribution to appreciation of Norwegian nature and strengthening of the Norwegian national identity. Today Eidsbugarden appears as a rather large mountain tourist centre, with a newly restored hotel from 1909 that reopened in the summer of 2007, a 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) cabin and approximately 160 private huts. It can be reached by car or boat in summer and by snowmobile in winter.
In 1869 the DNT built its first hut on the shores of Lake Tyin. Today the DNT’s tourist huts make this area one of the best developed touring areas in Europe. There are also a restricted number of private cabins by the lakes.
By Royal Decree in December 1980, a national park of 1145 square kilometers was initially established in the heart of Jotunheimen. It includes much of the best of the region, including the Galdhø plateau, the Glittertind massif, Hurrungane
Hurrungane
Hurrungane is a mountain range in the municipalities Luster and Årdal in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway...
, and the Gjende
Gjende
Gjende is a lake in the Jotunheimen mountains in Norway's Jotunheimen National Park. The proglacial lake 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...
area. The park links to the Utladalen Nature Reserve, an area of 300 square kilometers.
Literary references
Jotunheimen is broadly recognized in literature, especially travel books from the 18th Century. The Jotenheim lakes of GjendeGjende
Gjende is a lake in the Jotunheimen mountains in Norway's Jotunheimen National Park. The proglacial lake 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...
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...
are in the center of many of these descriptions.
Literary references include:
- A.O. Vinje’s Diktsamling or poetry collection of 1864 celebrated Jotenheimen.
- Frederick DeliusFrederick DeliusFrederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
’ symphonic poem On the Mountains was sketched while the composer was on a walking holiday with Edvard GriegEdvard GriegEdvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
and Christian SindingChristian SindingChristian August Sinding was a Norwegian composer.-Personal life:He was born in Kongsberg as a son of mine superindendent Matthias Wilhelm Sinding and Cecilie Marie Mejdell . He was a brother of the painter Otto Sinding and the sculptor Stephan Sinding...
in the Jotunheim Mountains in 1889. - Henrik IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik 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 drama Peer GyntPeer GyntPeer 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"...
includes Peer's famous hunt description in the Jotunheim. It is here on the narrow Besseggen Ridge - or perhaps along the Knutshø ridge at the other side of Gjende - that Peer Gynt took his famous wild-reindeer ride along "the Gjendin Ridge". - Three in Norway, by Two of Them by J.A. Lees and W.J. Clutterbuck, includes extensive passages on three Englishmen’s fishing and reindeer hunting experiences in these mountains.