Lysefjord
Encyclopedia
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
located in Forsand
Forsand
Forsand is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. Forsand was separated from Høle on 1 January 1871. In 1999, evidence of a population here dating back to around 7500 BC was located....
in Ryfylke
Ryfylke
Ryfylke is a traditional district in Norway, located northeast of Stavanger and east of Haugesund. In the east it borders Setesdal and Sirdal.Ryfylke comprises the contemporary municipalities of Sauda, Suldal, Finnøy, Hjelmeland, Forsand, Strand, Kvitsøy and Rennesøy...
in south-western 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...
. The name means light fjord, and is said to be derived from the lightly coloured granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
rocks along its sides.
The fjord was carved by the action of glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s in the ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
s and was flooded by the sea when the later glaciers retreated. End to end, it measures 42 km (26.1 mi) with rocky walls falling nearly vertically over 1000 m (3,000 ft) into the water. Because of the inhospitable terrain, the fjord is only lightly populated and only has two villages on its length - Forsand
Forsand
Forsand is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. Forsand was separated from Høle on 1 January 1871. In 1999, evidence of a population here dating back to around 7500 BC was located....
and Lysebotn, located at opposite ends of the fjord. The few people who live or lived along the fjord are only able to leave their homes by boat, as the slopes are too steep for roads.
Lysebotn, at the far eastern end, is largely populated by workers at the nearby hydroelectric plants at Lyse and Tjodan, both built inside the mountains. At the Lyse plant, the water falls 620 m to the turbines, producing up to 210,000 kW
Kw
kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
of electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
; at Tjodan, the water falls 896 m to yield an output of 110,000 kW. The two power plants provide electricity for more than 100,000 people. A spectacular road which rises almost 900 m (2700 feet) through a series of 27 hairpin bends links Lysebotn with the outside world.
Lysefjord is an extremely popular tourist attraction and day trip from nearby Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
, from where cruise ship
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
s travel the full distance of the fjord. As well as the extraordinary scenery of the fjord itself, two points along its length are popular side trips. The rock of Preikestolen
Preikestolen
Preikestolen or Prekestolen, also known by the English translations of Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, and by the old local name Hyvlatonnå , is a massive cliff 604 metres above Lysefjorden, opposite the Kjerag plateau, in Forsand, Ryfylke, Norway...
, located above a vertical drop of 600 meters, can be seen from the fjord, but is more impressive from above. At the end of the fjord lies the Kjerag
Kjerag
Kjerag or Kiragg is a Norwegian mountain, located in Lysefjorden, in Forsand municipality, Ryfylke, Rogaland. Its highest point is 1110 m above sea level, but its northern drop to Lysefjorden attracts most visitors. The drop is and is just by the famous Kjeragbolten, a 5 m³ big stone...
mountain, a popular hiking destination with even more spectacular drops.
On the east side of the fjord lies the town Lysebotn
Lysebotn (Rogaland)
Lysebotn is a village of the municipality of Forsand at the end of the Lysefjord in Rogaland county in the southwest of Norway. It's a destination for over 100,000 tourists yearly, and a BASE jumping access point for Kjerag and Preikestolen , cliff blocks precipitously high above the fjord...
.
Not only is the fjord long and narrow, it is in places as deep as the mountains are high. Only 13 m (43 feet) deep where it meets the sea near Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
, the Lysefjord drops to a depth of over 400 m (1300 feet) below the Preikestolen
Preikestolen
Preikestolen or Prekestolen, also known by the English translations of Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, and by the old local name Hyvlatonnå , is a massive cliff 604 metres above Lysefjorden, opposite the Kjerag plateau, in Forsand, Ryfylke, Norway...
.
French writer Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
poetized in Toilers of the Sea
Toilers of the Sea
Toilers of the Sea , is a novel by Victor Hugo.The book is dedicated to the island of Guernsey, where Hugo spent 15 years in exile.The story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, a social outcast who falls in love with Deruchette, the niece of a local shipowner, Mess Lethierry...
admiring the scenery after a visit in 1866 that the Lysefjord was the most terrifying of the ocean reefs.
BASE Jumpers
BASE jumping
BASE jumping, also sometimes written as B.A.S.E jumping, is an activity that employs an initially packed parachute to jump from fixed objects...
are legally allowed to jump here.
External links
- http:www.ryfylke.com
- Lysefjord and Lysebotn
- Lysefjorden Turist information
- Webcam from Lysefjorden
- Lysefjord Map Handy Map with Trip explanation