Besseggen
The walk over Besseggen is one of the most popular mountain hikes in Norway. About 30,000 people walk this trip each year. The route over Besseggen starts at Gjendesheim, up to the trails highest point, Veslfjellet (at ), down Besseggen, further over the relatively flat area Bandet (at the foot of Besshøe), and ends at Memurubu, where one may take the regularly scheduled ferry route back to Gjendesheim. Many choose to do the hike in the other direction by starting at Memurubu after first taking the ferry there from Gjendesheim. The trip is estimated to take about 5–7 hours to walk without rest stops.
From Besseggen there is a great view over the lakes Gjende and Bessvatnet. One of the unique aspects of the view is that Gjende lies almost lower than Bessvatnet, and while Bessvatnet has a blue color typical of other lakes, Gjende has a distinct green color. The green color is the result from glacier runoff containing clay (rock flour). Looking down towards Memurubu one can see the nearby river Muru coloring the water with a light colored runoff.
Impact of tourism
The large number of hikers has led to serious erosion on the trails leading to Besseggen, both from Gjendesheim and Memurubu. In 2005 the Norwegian government authorized spending of towards the restoration of the trails. The project involves placing stone plates on the trail to limit additional damage and prevent further erosion. The stone plates were flown in by
helicopter from Vågå since mass harvesting of stone from Jotunheimen is illegal. The technique used to pave the trail is modeled on the methods developed for the Snowdonia National Park in
Wales.
Media gallery
besseggen.jpg|Besseggen seen towards east, with Bessvatnet on the left and Gjende on the right.
bessegen_pano.jpg|Besseggen ridge seen from east.
besseggen2.jpg|Besseggen seen towards east
Walking_on_Besseggen.jpg|Hikers along Besseggen seen towards east, with Gjende on the right and Bessvatnet on the left
Gjende_from_Besseggen.jpg|Besseggen seen towards west, with Gjende on the left and Bessvatnet on the right
Utsyn_over_Gjende.jpg|View over Gjende seen toward east, with Besseggen on the left
002 Jotunheimein reindeer - tourist on Besseggen trail in Jotunheimen National Park, Norway.jpg|Tourist observes reindeer at Veslfjellet part of Besseggen trail.
Competitions
In 1961, 1962, and 1963 a race across Besseggen called «Besseggløpet» was held during the summer. The race was organized by
Norges Orienteringsforbund in cooperation with Den Norske Turistforening. The record time from 1963 is held by Reidar Andreassen who was almost four and a half minutes ahead of the next finisher. The record time of 1 hour 16 minutes and 48 seconds still holds today. The women's record, set in 1963, is held by Valborg Østberg from Gjøvik with a time of 1 hour 39 minutes and 47 seconds. She was a 32 year old housewife and mother of two kids and the
Dagbladet newspaper said that she "ran like a goat over Besseggen".
In literature
Besseggen is known from act 1, scene 1 of
play
Peer Gynt. Peer tries to convince his mother, Åse, that he has ridden over Gjendineggen, now known as Besseggen, on a
reindeer bull.
Besseggen is also described in the poem «Besseggen» by Ragnvald Skrede.
Name
The mountain ridge is named after
Bessvatnet, the last element is the finite form off
egg which means 'edge'. In the local dialect, the form is
Besseggje. The Bokmål written form of the name is
Besseggen and the
Nynorsk written form is
Besseggi.
See also
-
List of mountains of Norway by height
Further reading
External links
