Rjukan and hike on Hardangervidda

Rjukan is a small town (3,100 inhabitants) located in a narrow valley by the Måna River, in the municipality of Tinn, in the Telemark county. The history of Rjukan started at the beginning of the 20th century, when the enormous potential of using Norway’s waterfalls to generate electricity was discovered. It was then that hydroelectric power plants began to appear, such as the one in Tyssedal or in Rjukan. Simultaneously with the Rjukan power plant, huge industrial plants producing fertilizers were built, all in one complex, called Vemork. Rjukan quickly turned from a small agricultural village into a thriving industrial city with up to 12,000 inhabitants. The fertilizer factory, operating under the name of Norsk Hydro, still considered one of the largest domestic concerns, was founded on the initiative of an industrialist and visionary, Sam Eyde. It was in Vemork that in the 1930s heavy water began to be produced on an industrial scale, a product which, as it soon turned out, could serve as a moderator in atomic fission chain reactions. So when the Germans occupied Norway in 1940, they immediately showed up in Rjukan and took over the factory, ordering to increase the production of heavy water. The rest of the story, known as the Battle of Heavy Water, is described here.

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But let’s go back to Sam Eyde and his visionary ideas. Due to the geographic location of Rjukan, in a long narrow valley facing east to west, with steep mountain slopes to the north and south, there was a problem with the sun during the long winter months. The residents were deprived of sunlight for about half a year, which, as you can easily guess, could be a bit depressing. Eyde and his Norsk Hydro financed a project to build an aerial cableway to the northern slope of the mountain so that the local population (mainly Norsk Hydro employees) could enjoy the sun not only during summer. The Krossobanen funicular was established in 1928 and was the first project of this type in northern Europe. This cableway works to this day and attracts crowds of tourists not only in winter. It is a great alternative to the strenuous climb to the Hardangervidda plateau stretching from the north. The upper station, Gvepseborg, is located 890 meters above sea level and 495 meters above the lower station. The slope on which the passing carriages cover the entire route is 60%, and the entire tour takes 4.5 minutes.

*Rjukan, view from Haddelandsveien trail.*

*Hardangervidda plateau and Gautatoppen Mountain.*

Eyde also thought of designing a system of huge mirrors, mounted on the northern slope, that would reflect the sun’s rays and illuminate the city below. Due to the lack of appropriate technology, he failed to implement this idea. However, this project revived 100 years later thanks to a local artist, Martin Andersen. Despite initial skepticism, the project was successfully implemented and in October 2013, three rectangular mirrors, 5 x 8 meters each, were installed at a height of 730 meters. The mirrors, controlled by a special mechanism, rotate in such a way to direct the reflected sun’s rays to the central square of the city and at the same time follow the changing position of the sun in the sky.

My idea for this trip was to start in the center of the town and climb up on Hardangervidda plateau at the Friday’s evening, find some place to sleep and spend Saturday walking around. I wanted to see the famous Sun Mirror as well, so this one was my first goal, as the Solspeilet is located more less in halfway of Haddelandsveien trail. This path is described as very demanding and now I can confirm it. Carring on my shoulders heavy backpack and climbing on that steep slope was a huge challenge. I felt exhausted even before I reach the path directed to Sun Mirror.

Finally I made it and I could see how the mirrors look like. And they made me really impressed.

It was really late, when I reached Gvepseborg, upper station of the Krossobanen cableway. I didn’t manage to find the path I wanted and all I could do was to rest here and go further on Hardangervidda the next day. I get up early, collect all my stuff and considered what route could I do now. There are several trails around the Gvepseborg and I chosed the 8km walk to the cabin called Helberghytta (after Carl Helberg, resistance member during II World War and local hero, one of those who blew up german’s heavy water resources). I thought that there will be easy stroll, but carrying heavy backpack on the shoulder and fighting with mosquitos almost all the time, make me really tired.