Gaustatoppen 1883m n.p.m.
Gaustatoppen is probably the most popular mountain in Norway. It is a destination for over 100 000 tourists (2017) per year and it is among Preikestolen and Trolltunga the famous place in the country. This is not even the highest mountain in Norway (The highest is Galdhøpiggen, 2469m above sea level). But it is attractive because of short distance from Oslo (only 180km), the view from summit (they say that you can see 1/6 of whole Norway), lodge on the top, where you can sleep and eat (or eat and sleep) and the tramway inside the mountain, which can take you up and (or) down (if you buy a ticket of course).
I wanted to come here since I saw this mountain firs time, about two years ago, when I passed by Rjukan. The shape of Gaustatoppen looks like a volcano crater and I think it is one of the reasons, that it is so popular.
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Trail (one of official four) starts in Stavsro. The parking fee is 150 kr (for whole day). I was at place early in the morning to avoid the afternoon rain and crowd during the day.
Gaustatoppen is higher than other peaks in the area and it was formed millions years ago from seabed sand. It was time when continents were moving. This sand became hard quartz because of high temperature and pressure. Ground folding and moving rised up those rocks and many of them still looks like sand on sea bed, with characteristic folding from waves. The rocks still fractures because of freezing water trapped in the stone gaps. And the mountain looks like one big mound of stones.
Because lack of vegetation (except lower part), you can enjoy the view just from the beginning of trail. Climbing up from Starsvo you can see Heddersvatn lake and mountains Heddersfjell, Toreskyrkja and more.
Before I reach upper station of Gaustabanen and the lodge, the clouds appeared. And very soon, everything around became white. At least it not started rain.
The plans of making the tramway inside the mountain were completed in 1953. The project was finished in 1953 and it costed totally 14 million kroner. Transportation inside the Gaustatoppen consist in two stages: horizontal, 850 meter long way after you have to switch to another line. Second trolley take you up to upper station.
But before the tunnel and tramway were opened for tourists, NATO made Gaustatoppen its secret radio station. There was cold war time and the location of Gaustatoppen, in the heart of Norway, was the best place for build radio communication facility which could listen of signals from Soviet Union. It has to be a base for early warnings and intelligence.
The cold war was over but the facility was closed tor tourists until 2010.
Today, the tramway runs every 15 minutes, each day except winter and it can take 24 passengers each time. Ticket price for adults: 390 kr (or 300 kr if you want to go only one way).
Many tourists reach the lodge on Gaustatoppen and go back, because they don’t realize that the summit of the mountain is much further. About 600 meters of narrow ridge, full of big stones, scattered without any order led to the top at 1883 m above sea level. And this is the most difficult part of the trail. Often, you have to use all your limbs to climb, avoid or get down the big stone block.
I was at my way back when I saw the light into the lodge and the door of top station of Gaustabanen was open. The clouds were still around me and I didn’t intended to stay and wait for better weather. I begun to descent. During this walk I met others going up. There were more and more. Some of them asked about distance to the top, some were curious about the views from the summit. I had not good news for that ones.
Finally I got down to the parking lot. Now I could see how many cars are there. When I started to climb in the morning there were only few. Now only few free places left. I could imagine how much someone could earn, if they take 150 kr from each vehicle.
This post was originally published 2019-07-16 on https://kraina-trolli.pl.
