Travel Norway #9 - Austerdalsisen - first view on Svartisen's glacial landscapes
Welcome Friends!
Another part of my photo-guide to Norway is ready!
In this part I would like to take You in a short, photographic jurney to the glacial tongue of Svartisen glacier in northern Norway.
Chosen interesting facts about the glacier and the place we will visit:
Svartisen is the second largest glacier in Norway. The name 'svartisen' doesn't mean "black ice" as it can be translated from norwegian, but it comes from old language and word: 'svartis' which describes the deep blue color of the ice building the glacier.
The highest point of the glacier reaches 1594 m and the lowest goes underwater to -170m. The thickest parts have as much as 450 meters which make this glacier the deepest in Europe!
There is a couple of different places where we can visit the glacier without climbing the maountains or glacier itself - one of them is presented here - Svartisvatnet lake.
Photo: Murky waters of Svartisvatnet - full of minerals, really tasty ;).
The glacier was almost 25% bigger when it was measured in 1905... so the speed of melting is really high and real. On the path to the glacier we can see many labels with dates - showing the place where glacier was reaching in the past.
Svatisvatnet waters are murky from a number of minerals coming directly from melting ice. We can reach the other shore of the lake, where the footpath starts, by two ways - one is by foot, using small path on the right side, going straight from camping place and parking area and the other - more popular and recomended is by boat. During the season it is swimming many yimes per day taking the visitors both ways. Boat trip takes around 20 minutes, after, we have around 3km more walking to reach the glacier.
The path is leading by the big, raging river of melted glacier - couple of waterfalls and cascades and among them, place where water is flowing directly under the rocks, from an underground tunnel which has around 2 km and goes from under the glacier.
Photo: The end of the underground tunnel where waters flow away straight from underneath the glacier above.
The part of the glacier we will visit is called Austerdalsisen, its lowest ice is reaching the young lake created from melting ice called Austerdalsvatnet. On the way we can see many Danger signs - not to go close to the water, as the big parts of ice can fall off into the lake creating the small tsunami wave and wash out the curious visitors into the ice-cold waters... of course - for photographic purposes, I ignore the signs on my own risk...
Geological structures there are simply amazing! The layers of colorful marbles and granites, sandstones, many other which I cannot even name... The area of Svartisen is well known from a pink marble rock - it can be found in whole world as a building material of monuments and modern art-structures. Unique, beautiful stuff! I brought a big rock of pink marble to my home, it is one of the most beautiful in my collection of minerals and stones.
Photo: Orange striped marble rock - one of the most beautiful in Europe!... maybe even world...
Landscape there is quite minimalistic if You are looking for vegetation, but it is so complex thanks to colours, geological construction, amazing rock forms and other details. I simply loved it, because it was like nothig else I have seen before!
The landscape was just "young" - all the area surrounded Austrdalsvatnet lake was under the ice not so many years ago... If You just imagine this and look at the landscape - it create some strange feeling like You are an explorer of new lands, discoverer of new landscapes, this is the place where mother earth creating its forms...
Hard to describe the feelings but in that moment I wished to stay there couple of days more to explore everything! Unfortunatelly, the boat was going to back pretty soon and for another one I would have to wait couple of hours... and we had to go back to Trondheim that day, to return the borowed car... well, next time I will plan to be there much longer. It is unique place with original landscape and fantastic geological background.
Photo: From time to time, Ice monster is losing its part, some of them in a size of a house... That is why walking among the glaciers wall are always risky.
The mix of colorful rocks, the water, blue sky that day, fresh green of vegetation...
I wasn't called myself an explorer If I didn't go close to the glacier ice wall - I never been on the glacier or even so close to it, so it was my first time, first oportunity to touch it, to hear it, to feel it...
I was walking among the glacier walls hearing the sounds of cracking ice somewhere deep inside - I understand why glaciers are called 'the living ice' - we cannot see this with naked eye but it is moving all the time, such powerful, huuuge structure, billions of tons of ice is moving, shaping the land underneath, and You are standing just next to it, feeling the proccess...
So tiny man with its short and fragile life towards the ice-monster forming the landscapes...
One of my dreams was to touch the glacier ice - the real ice of real glacier - and I did it! I was coming back there...sorry, I was running back there, because I was almost late on my boat, I wanted to be there even one more minute, just to contemplate the scene and the moment.
Photo: My hand holding the great piece of geological history of our planet - ice colder and tougher than regular!
I came back to the car, gather tent, all my stuff and head back to home - very hungry for more but very happy of what I saw and experienced.
I wish to visit the place some day! I wish to go up to see the ice fields of the glacier... I felt in love with this ice monster!
The place, and probably all other places, where we can approach the glacier, I truly reccomend to visit for all cost! Next to northern lights - this is the real taste of the north!
Photo: Marble heart for all supporters and real Steemians!
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All presented photographs are made by me and are my property, informations about glacier was taken from internet and my own knowledge.
If You like my work, check my portfolio site asphotovisions
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Thanks for watching and have a great day!
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Upvoting, Resteeming and Following are the best way to show the authors that You like their work, it supports them not only finacially but what more important gives a huuuge amount of positive energy to create more interesting posts and work on future projects!
Nice photos :)
Thank You!!
Hi @photovisions, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Paddling Nature Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
Nice!! Thanks a lot for this!!
Amazing!! And thanks for sharing. It looks surreal... like it doesn't belong. I can see why you fell in love, who wouldn't!! Did you really try the water? The colours are mind blowing... I've resteemed!
Great thanks for resteem. Support always welcome! Indeed, the landscapes looks like from other planet, especially those near the glacier, where is no vegetation yet...
You're very welcome! Happy to help : )
And about the water - Yes, I tried it! It has a lot of different minerals, can be healty but we shouldn't drink so much of it... and it taste like a chalk melted in water...
Yes I noticed all the powdery white rocks near the water in one of your shots (near the bottom), was that dried our minerals. Hmmm, doesn't sound like it tastes so great... I'm sure in small amounts it would have great health benefits.
I liked your reference to the reduction in size too... since we're always told that global warming isn't real. : )
Taste is individual thing - it is quite specific, but I didn't felt it like being horrible ;)...
About the Global Warming issue - It is natural process of our planet, so denying it's reality is like telling people the dinosaurs never existed or the earth is flat ;) ... the only problem is that we are speeding it up quite a lot, and this is the matter to discuss - how big is our influance on this process...
Oh indeed... but then we must also remember that Galileo was locked up for years of his life as he was seen as crazy for thinking the world wasn't flat. I think there's many discoveries in science that are denied for a long time. But yes I agree with you, I think we're speeding it up too. I just get sick of hearing it's not real when clearly there is something going on, the planet is certainly getting a lot hotter.
As I kid we use to get excited when the temps got near 40 degrees as we would be sent home from school if we reached 40. However, 40 is now a very normal and we're now starting to see numbers up near 50 degrees. Last summer (just gone) the media was saying that over the coming years this is going to become our new normal, that we can expect to see numbers up near 50 more regularly. This isn't normal...
So true - myself, as a kid I remember winters full of snow, actually - few meters of snow, now in Poland, winter time is more like autumn... the same things going on in Norway, every year some new records of hot in the north during summer and cold in winter time - weather is getting more and more extreme which is another evidence that global warming is real process.
Yes very true! We barely get a winter here in Australia now... it cools down but not like it use to. Our bees here last year worked all year round, they usually stop for the winter as it gets too cold for them. That's interesting to hear first hand that it is going on everywhere. Certainly worrying isn't it.
We can be worried or just accept it as a natural state of our planet - cycle of ice ages are working, global warming is the beginning of another one and we cannot help it or stop it. Earth is a living planet and we are just one of the species living on it...
Amazing post @photovisions! Your photos are a great testimony to such beautiful landscapes. It is a dream of mine to see these glaciers before they completely disappear.
I am sure they won't disapear so fast, so I wish Your dreams come true! Thank You for comment!
Wow awesome post, would love to go to Norway!
I wish You this @vtravels ! Thanks a lot!
Wow! These are next level, hoping to get to Norway in a few years for the Orca!
My friend was swimming with orcas in the far north of Norway and he said it was the strongest experience in his life. Thanks @cam.mcfarlane
Wow, thank you so much for this incredible virtual journey of the glacier and for putting yourself in danger to get some of these photos, which are so awesome btw ;) That blue color of the glacier is just stunning. I love the images of the lowest part of the glacier, which stops so unexpectedly.
Thank You, great to see You liked this, indeed, the colour of the glacier is one of its kind...
Wow, very beautiful landscapes. I hope to visit Norway someday, it looks fantastic.
It is, and it is just one of hundreds places like this :) I still have many to visit... Thanks for comment!
You got my follow :) Cheers!
Thanks a lot!!
Nydelige bilder, fikk faktisk skikkelig lyst til å reise og besøke Svartisen nå!
Tusen Takk! Du skal besoke Svartisen - fantastisk landskaper.
Wow, po prostu wow! Robi wrażenie! Chyba właśnie podjęłam decyzję, gdzie jadę w wakacje :)
W to konkretne miejsce czy ogólnie do Norwegii? Pod ten lodowiec można też dotrzeć od drugiej strony, ale tam nie byłem. Może uda się w tym roku jeszcze raz go odwiedzić... Dzięki za komentarz!
Ten lodowiec jest ekstra, ale chyba już nie starczy mi na niego czasu. Chciałam jechać pod namiot na/w Lofoty. Mam nadzieję, że jeszcze nie dotarły tam tłumy turystów i można spokojnie nasycić oczy widokami :)
No nie wiem z tymi tłumami, obecnie jestem w Polsce ale z tego co widziałem na początku kwietnia, sezon kamperowy już się zaczął...Może nie być tłumów ale powoli się pewnie zagęszcza, wisona to piękny okres - na górach nadal śnieg i lód a na dole pierwsze kwiaty i świeża trawka...
No właśnie, wiosna jest ekstra, ale niestety teraz nie mogę wziąć urlopu. Także zostaje mi lipiec-sierpień, czyli pewnie tłumy :/
Dokładnie tak jak piszesz...ja byłem na początku lipca, po południu ciężko się jeździ samochodem, bo wszystko blokują monstrualne campery, ludzi i fotografów wszędzie multum ale jeśli udać się nieco dalej od głównej drogi i popularnych wiosek, to można znaleźć prawie bezludne miejsca gdzie da się spokojnie rozkoszować klimatem tego miejsca, polecam eksplorację mniej znanych zakątków również!