Folgefonna og Buerbreen

Ice once covered the whole Norway. The glaciers we have today can be formed after these large ismasser. In a certain altitude not all the snow melts in the summer. Weather and wind have formed large glaciers - which lives and moves, grows and pulls back, pretty regularly over long periods of time.

Buer glacier is situated between the high mountains, about 250 meters above sea level where the sun is gone from 25. september until 18. For 100 years ago, the glacier was reaching almost down to the farms. In recent years, the glacier again begun to grow larger.

Tourist traffic increased in the years around 1890. It was then built a small hotel, Buer hotel - nearest to a restaurant - on a place called Gletthaug.

In 1897 there was a large avalanche in the glacier, and the powerful wind from the slide struck the hotel down. It was never rebuilt.

Today the Buer glacier is the main tourist attraction in Odda. Many cars from other countries in Europe find their way up the beautiful valley for a great nature experience.

Folgefonna is Norway's 3. It is 37 km long from north to south and 16 km in its widest part. The highest point is 1,661 meters above sea level.

Towards the east and west the glacier arms stretch down through the valleys, it is Bondhus glacier in Mauranger and Buer glacier in Odda.

There has been traffic over Folgefonna between Mauranger and Odda since primeval times. First there were only locals who used the track over fonna, gradually began tourist guides to guide tourists over. Lars Bust Thun was the first tourist guide. He started in 1856, only 20 years old. For each trip, he received NOK 18, and it was a lot of money at the time. It was almost the only Englishmen who went over the glacier at first, but from the beginning of 20th century, it was particularly German fotvandrere who took the trip over Folgefonna.