Geiranger — The Blog — TM Photography

As I woke up, the sun shone through the curtains in my room. It was a welcome sight, remembering the heavy showers of the previous day. I slept in, barely making it to the breakfast; I was in no hurry, as the drive that day wasn't that long. I was going to continue on my trip around Jotunheimen itself. The detour to Geiranger was long, but really worth it; now it was time to get back on track.

I had planned my next stay so that I had a short trip the next day to a very popular hiking destination East of Jotunheimen; the Besseggen. The drive would take me along the same road I had taken the day before, from Geiranger back to Lom. From Lom the road was unfamiliar, and according to Google there wasn't really anything along it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After checking out I carried my stuff down to the car. Having a 20+kg luggage with clothes and 10+kg backpack of camera gear was starting to be a big PITA, but at least I had everything I would need with me. Once in the parking lot, I took a look down the valley towards Geiranger and snapping a few shots. Another cruise ship had apparently arrived during the night, and sat in the middle of the fjord waiting to dock.

The view from the hotel. You can see the road up to the lookout I used the previous night in the top right.

I had done some research on the road I was going to drive on (again). Turns out, I had missed a pretty awesome location; Dalsnibba. I did remember driving past it, but I had no idea what it was at the time. Dalsnibba is a viewing platform and restaurant/souvenir shop on the top of Geirangerfjellet, a tall mountain overlooking Geiranger itself. There is a road all the way to the top, with ample parking. Similarly to Galdhøpiggen, the road has a toll. I tried several times to pay with card, but after some time I gave up and used cash instead. 'The cell tower is on the other side of that mountain wall', the girl in the booth said. Yeah, no surprise there, this is Norway after all :)

Just after Geiranger, the wall on the right blocks cell coverage to the road on the left.

The wall is huge and almost black. Looking at it is a bit surreal, actually.

I drove towards the top, noticing that there was a construction crew working on the summit. I wonder what kind of extra pay they get for conditions like this:

Those with fear of heights need not apply.

I guess they get used to it. Anyway, the view from the top was amazing. I wasn't alone, either. This was the first tourist attraction that actually had some tourists during the trip, so I was a bit annoyed. Only a bit though, people moved around so getting some shots wasn't terribly difficult. Half of the viewing platform was walled off because of the construction, but there is a bit just beside the wall that doesn't have any safe guards. At all. Guess where the people were?

Very close to the edge there, might want to step back a bit..

The view wasn't bad. The road is fun to drive on. Like really, really fun.

There must have been a hundred stone piles on the top. Not that I mind, the make for nice subjects.

Zoomed shot towards Geiranger. That road was fun too.

Up on the top I saw a few familiar faces; the Indian couple I had met walking up Fannaråken. Small world. I took the final pics, packed up, and started down the mountain. I had made it halfway when I had to stop:

A look back at the mountain wall. House for scale.

I continued down and along the road. The mountains became smaller quite quickly, but that doesn't mean there aren't things to see. I remembered there was a big waterfall/rapids on the way to Lom, about 50 kilometers from Geiranger. I wasn't in the mood to stop the day before, but today, the story was different. I missed it the first time, driving right by. I quickly turned around and drove off the main road. Yes, I could see some potential here.

I tried to find the name of this place, but no luck. Google Maps hasn't got any name on it either. I'm also kicking myself for not thinking to walk to the little bridge :( I might just put this one up on my wall, just to remind myself ;)

On the other side of the same bridge as above.

Neutral density and polarizing filters, oh how I love thee.

Remember when I wrote that I didn't have many shots from the day before, and could figure out why? I remember now. Even though the landscape (and especially the river and lakes) are great, there is barely any place to stop on the road. All roads go directly to someones private cabin by the water, making it difficult for a nerd like me to stop and take pics there, even if no one was home. The road also has practically no shoulders to stop on. It really sucks, as the road really is spectacular in places; the water is so turquoise its nuts.

After about half an hour of cursing the Norwegian road builders, the landscape changed back to the familiar wide valley, and I arrived in Lom just in time for some lunch. Now the unfamiliar road started. Unfortunately, it was quite boring. I don't know if it was because I was coming down from the mountains or what, but I wasn't inspired to stop for photos at all. I did force myself to take one, though:

After the road turned away from the lake, there was only forest. No views what so ever. I quickly found my hytte and settled down for the night. At least there was electricity for me to process and back up some photos, and I had had the foresight to buy some chocolate in Lom, so it wasn't all that bad. The only interesting thing was a bunch of Porsches that drove by in the evening. I counted 2 Cayennes and 4 911s, all driving very, very fast on the small road. No idea what that was about.

The next day was still a bit of a question mark. The plan was to drive to Besseggen and see if I'd do the climb to the top. The view seems to be quite nice. Afterwards, I only had a plan to drive toward Utladalen, but I had no idea where I'd stay that night. I also hadn't seen any points of interest along the way. I tried to plan something, but soon drifted off to a restless sleep.

I hadn't planned to go up to Geiranger before my trip; it is a bit out of the way. Still, I had seen quite a nice picture from the Ørnesvingen (Eagle's Turn), where you apparently have quite a nice view of the fjord leading to Geiranger itself. Also, After re-counting, I realized I had an extra night to spend and still make it easily to all other planned destinations.

I had one shot in mind, and really no idea what I'd find along the way. Also, I would have to drive back the same way to Lom (Fossbergom on the map, don't ask me why) to continue my roundtrip of Jotunheimen. Still, the drive was only three hours, so I went for it.

The road leaves Turtagrø and climbs a few hundred meter up to a plateau. This was the mythical Tourist Road 55 I had read so much about, so I was quite excited. Very typically though, the weather had turned worse again; it wasn't raining, but the clouds were low-hanging and ominous.

The Norwegians sure like their stone piles.

I'd love to come back with clear skies and no wind...

The road winds through the various hills, high above the treeline. The views were very nice, even though I couldn't see much of the highest peaks. The road soon starts making its way down to Lom; the valley itself is quite narrow at first, widening quickly. The Bøvra river follows the road the whole way, stopping at a few lakes. The river is entirely turquoise in color, which looks really weird in places.

The color is crazy, especially with the varying depth of the river.

A look backward from Jotunheimen Fjellstue, along Road 55.

The valley widens considerably before Lom. Can you tell it's raining again?

Halfway to Lom, the first rain shower hit. This was no light drizzle either, it was proper, soaking rain. Still, I had a plan, and I'd be damned to let rain stop me. Or gates in the road. I'm talking about Galdhøpiggen, the highest peak in Norway. I was driving right beside it, and I noticed that there is a road that takes you quite the way there. What the map didn't say was that the road had gates. With a toll booth. Well, since I'm here...

After paying the toll and reading the warning signs (basically 'IF YOU DIE ON THIS ROAD, TOUGH LUCK. DON'T BE STUPID.'), I started the drive into the clouds. The rain soon turned to really wet snow; I slowed down but kept climbing. Once at the end of the road, the view was both astonishing and disappointing. Astonishing, because people were skiing on the permasnow; disappointing, because you couldn't see anything of the mountain itself. Best laid plans, and all that..

Skiing on Galdhøpiggen, in early September. Wat.

I drove down the mountain in sporadic rain showers and stopped in Lom for some lunch. I still had some way to drive, and it was afternoon already; I had to get going. That went well, for about 20 minutes.

Damn it Norway, I'm trying to get to places!

The river Otta runs from the plains close to Geiranger all the way down to Lom, and is spectacular the whole way. These pictures were taken at Dønfoss, where there is a big camping site just next to the river. The noise is deafening, I can't imagine what it's like to sleep next to the water.

After Dønfoss, the road slowly travels through the valley, climbing slightly on the way to the coast. Yes, it goes higher, not lower. The cost is full of mountains and fjords, while I was still in the midland plains.

When reviewing my pictures from the day, I was disappointed that I didn't have more of them. I wonder why; I can't remember any pressing reason why I wouldn't have taken photos. Regardless, I'd drive down the same way the next day, and the weather was better then anyway. I'm just wondering what happened :)

Breiddalsvatnet, on the road towards Geiranger. You can see the Geiranger mountains in the distance.

Although Road 55 stops in Lom, the road to Geiranger is also a tourist-designated road. This one is numbered 63, but known colloquially as Trollstigen, the troll road. I didn't see any trolls, but if there is a place where they'd live, this is it. Again, I don't have many pictures from this particular part. The reason is that in many places it is forbidden to stop beside the road because of land slides. So, I just drove through down to Geiranger. The next day I ignored the signs ;)

The first part of Trollstigen, where the road plunges down towards Geiranger.

Not planning to drive here in the first place, I didn't have any idea of what sights there are along the way. For instance, I didn't know what Dalsnibba was, missing it entirely on the first day. Luckily I got wiser during the evening, when I had internet connectivity at the hotel. I only knew that there was a view platform before Geiranger, and then another after the town. I was hoping to get a photo with a cruise ship leaving, but I had no idea about the cruise timetables; for all I knew, there might not be a ship for a week.

I turned a corner and looked down into the Geiranger valley, and couldn't believe it; just what I had ordered. A cruise ship was in the fjord, ready to leave. I stopped at the first viewing platform, grabbed my camera, and ran to the cliffside.

The Geiranger fjord. The other view platform is to the right; you can see the road leading up the cliff. Speaking of cliffs, the one to the left was over a hundred meters down to the bottom.

The ship is huge, yet in pales in comparison to the fjord.

I grabbed a few shots, and then ran back to my car. I didn't know how fast the ship would leave the fjord, or how long it would take to drive to the other end of the fjord. What I did know was that I wanted a shot of the ship leaving, and here was a ship. I might not get another chance.

Trying to keep inside the speed limits, I drove down the first serpentine road an into the small town of Geiranger. Ignoring all of it, I quickly found the way out to the other side, and raced up the second cliff toward Ørnesvingen, the second platform. I parked my car, grabbed my gear, and ran to the edge yet again; I had made it, the ship hadn't left yet.

View from Ørnesvingen. The fjord is so wide and huge that it's difficult to get a picture that conveys it. Geiranger is on the far left edge.

I set up my tripod, and took a panorama image. The issue was that the fjord is really wide (more than 120 degrees) from left to right, and very narrow to the opposite side. I found out that getting a shot that represents it is quite difficult. Still, the ship was there, so I started snapping pics, and kept going until I couldn't see it anymore.

Preparing for the turn out from Geiranger.

Drifting a hundred thousand tons through the narrows.

I regret not taking more tight shots of the ship; that would have shown the scale better. Nevertheless, I got a few that I liked, so I was happy. I drove down to Geiranger and found my hotel. Geiranger itself is really small, and almost fully catered for tourists. the dock areas are basically a giant tourism shop, and there are a quite a few attractions, such as the 'Norwegian Fjord Centre'. Didn't bother with those though; I was famished.

After a (very nice) dinner I looked at what I could find along the road the next day, and where to sleep since I hadn't decided that yet. I found a hytte that was in a good location along the route and booked it. I also found out about Dalsnibba, and some other places along the road I had driven along. Tomorrow, I would stop and get all the pics I missed today. But more on that in the next post.

Day 6: sights old and new

Day 5: a slight detour