Vidden

Åsane

Most associate Åsane with ridges, naturally enough (the Norwegian word for "ridge" is "Ås"). A lesser noticed trait in the landscape are the unusual flat areas that lie between the ridges. The Dalselva River, which was channeled at the end of the 1950s, runs down only 2.5 metres from Lake Langavatnet by Vågsbotn to Flatevad, where it goes over into rapids by Fossekleiva. The layers of gneiss stand nearly vertically, and the mountain surface is so even that one might think it had been planed with a planer.

Måbødalen- geology

The old pack road had 1500 steps, where cars today gas through the mountain. The time of this hard work is over, and of getting used to the steep terrain, as well; only the view from the top is much the same as before. Vøringsfossen in summer is one of Western Norway’s biggest natural wonders. It marks the transition between the older, open part of the Sysendalen valley and the younger, narrow and winding valley of Måbødalen.

Skytjedalen

Huglo

The majority of Huglo is bare rock. A bit of dwarf pine forest is the only vegetation able to put down roots. Along the west- and east sides, to the contrary, the landscape is unusually green and lush. The reason lies both in the bedrock and in the ice that covered the area 12 000 years ago.

Kattnakken–Stovegolvet

The highest mountainous area on Stord, including Kattnakken, Midtfjellet and Stovegolvet, has more in common with the mountainous terrain on the mainland than in the low coastal landscape of Sunnhordland. The volcanic bedrock together with the erosive powers of nature has resulted in a unique plateau landscape.

Sandviksfjellet

On Sandviksfjellet there are old boulders that have been made into mountains. The stones have been stretched out or squeezed together between huge slabs of rock, during slow, but powerfulprocesses of transport. This conglomerate shows, in quite a special way, the enormous powers that were active during the collision between Norway and Greenland over 400 million years ago.

Isdalen

The valley on the inside of the Svartediks dam, a five minutes' bus ride from Bergen centre, is often referred to by Bergen folk as Isdalen ("Ice Valley") - justifiably, since the area could have been described in textbooks for its ice-carved land forms. The glacier's polishing over ca. 40 ice ages has created a magnificient landscape. The original ice valley climbs up behind Ulriken at the end of Svartediket.