Besseggen

Besseggen is a very popular hike - around 60,000 hikers walk this route every year. The main season for Besseggen traffic is July and August and the first weekends in September. Besseggen is one of those hikes you can do early in the season and well into the fall.

Besseggen

Besseggen is 17 km long and the highest point is 1743 meters above sea level. Most people run it in between 5 and 7 hours. Some want to run fast, the record is 1 hour and 14 minutes. Reidar Andresen achieved this during the Besseggen race, which was arranged in the early 1960s. As far as we know, the record for the other way is around 12 hours - so the range is huge. Most people who walk Besseggen take a boat between Gjendesheim and Memurubu. Boat schedules and information can be found at
gjende.no.

If you want to go outside the boating season, you have several options:
You can go back and forth the same way, and turn around wherever you want. Besseggen itself is halfway there.
You can walk Besseggen one way and along the water the other, in which case you should allow 8-10 hours.https://www.high-endrolex.com/21
You can walk up to Bessvatnet, walk around the lake and up the ridge. It takes about 7 hours.

What most people find special about the Besseggen hike is that from the ridge you look down into two lakes: Bessvatnet (1374 m) and Gjende (984 m). You look down into Gjende, which has a characteristic glacier green color - the emerald - and on the other side you have Bessvatnet with its beautiful, dark blue color - the sapphire. Don't forget to enjoy the spectacular views of Jotunheimen!

Fjellstua
Foto : Terje Rakke / NordicInfo
Foto Terje Rakke / Nordic Life

Henrik Ibsen writes about the buck ride in Peer Gynt. Here it's called Gjendin-eggen, but dear children often have many names! Either way - enjoy the trip, and enjoy the literature!

 

"Have you ever seen it, Gjendineggen? It's half a mile long, sharp beyond, like a scythe. Beyond glaciers, landslides and slopes, straight down under gray, you can see on either side the smell of the waters, which glisten black, heavy, more than thirteen hundred cubits below."

Good to know

  • June - mid September
  • 17 km long
  • Highest point 1743 m above sea level.
  • From Lemonsjøen to Gjende 35 km.
  • Estimated time spent 5 - 7 hours