Filefjell is a mountainous area in Norway. It is located between Lærdal in the Vestland county and Valdres in Innlandet county. It is the historical, as well as modern, main route, linking Western Norway and Eastern Norway. The European route E16 highway passes through Filefjell.

Etymology

Filefjell or sometimes Fillefjell, might be a double-name as "file" is thought to be derived from Old Norse word ''Fjáll'', the same root that evolved into the modern word "fjell". Thus Filefjell in English would be "Mountain-Mountain".

Geography

Filefjell stretches from Lærdal Municipality in the eastern part of Vestland county, at the innermost part of the Sognefjorden, to Vang Municipality in Valdres in the western part of Innlandet county. In the north, it borders the western part of the Jotunheimen mountain range. To the south, it meets with the Buskerud county border. The European route E16 crosses the mountain and reaches its highest point at the Varden. The road follows a valley through the mountainous area, and because of this is somewhat protected from the fierce weather of the Norwegian winter. The road is rarely closed due to wind or snow, making it the most reliable of the mountain passes in Norway. On both sides of the valley the terrain climbs steeply up to plateaus, with rolling hills and numerous lakes at sitting at elevations of about . The highest peak of the range is

Sulefjellet Sulefjellet is a mountain in Norway. The mountain sits along the border of Vang Municipality in Innlandet county and Lærdal Municipality in Vestland county. The tall mountain is located in the Filefjell mountain area, about west of the villa ...

at .

Flora and fauna

The biology of Filefjell is the same as most other Norwegian mountain areas. In the main valley, birch and species of salicaceae grows up to elevations of about . Higher up, the landscape can be described as a tundra where

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

and different forms of ericaceae dominate the landscape. Grouse,

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

, and the occasional wolverine and moose are found. Filefjell also has numerous wild reindeer. In the 1990s, someone attempted to start reindeer herding in Filefjell, but the project was later abandoned. Some of the reindeer herd, which was moved down from Trøndelag, was left to mix with the native reindeer. The lakes are populated by trout.

History

People have used Filefjell since the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

. Reindeer hunters dug systems of pits to catch their pray and these can still be seen. Arrow heads from the same period have also been found. Smedalen is the main valley in Filefjell. The name means ''The Smith Valley'' and evidence of Iron production in the Iron Age. Burial Mounds from the same period are also found here. The Filefjell Kongevegen (The Kings Road) is the name of the old trail over Filefjell. Due to the sometimes wet and marshy land in the valley bottom, the old trail runs farther up in the hill than the modern asphalt-road does today, and is still used for hiking. It has its name after king Sverre I of Norway who traveled here with his army. The road got official status as main road in the year 1791. Maristova (built on Queen Margrete's command around 1390) and

Nystuen Nystuen is a village in Vang Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located at an elevation of about above sea level. The village area sits at the western end of the lake Otrøvatnet in the Filefjell mountain area. The village ...

in Vang (first mentioned in 1627 but believed to be much older) guesthouses provide for travelers along the road. The hosts of the shelters were compensated by the king to aid travelers and provide shelters for those who used the road. This lasted until 1830. In Smedalen there has been, and still is, dairy farming in the summer. Goats, cows and sheep are herded in the rich mountain pastures and goat cheese is still sold in some places. In the middle of Smedalen, at Kyrkjestølen, St. Thomas Church stands. It is believed to have been built on a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

temple. This site was the meeting place for people from Sogn, Valdres and Hallingdal, who met to perform midsummer blót and trade. When Christianity came the hov was transformed into a church but the traditions remained mostly unchanged. Little is known of this until the 17th century when the church was upgraded. People started to believe that the church had healing power, and that sinners had a better chance of getting absolution here. People started to come here in great numbers for the Mass on July 2. But the main attraction was the market, where

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

and other sea products were traded for inland products like fur. Horse trading were also part of the market. Drinking, fighting, gambling, rape and murder were not uncommon in these markets. It is said that when the wives packed for their husbands going to the market, they also packed their funeral-shirts. In 1808 the priests were so angry with the ungodly activities that they demanded the church to be torn down and the market was banned. A modern church were built at the site in 1971.

Tourism

Filefjell is nowadays used mostly in recreational activities. Fishing,

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

, hiking and skiing are popular. Many

holiday cottages A holiday cottage, holiday home, vacation home, or vacation property is accommodation used for holiday vacations, corporate travel, and temporary housing often for less than 30 days. Such properties are typically small homes, such as cottage ...

have been built the last 30 years. Several hotels are used by tourists who come to ski in the mountain or in the

downhill skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping), w ...

park.

References

External links

Webcam at Filefjell

Filefjell
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008130634/http://www.visitfilefjell.no/v-index.html , date=2007-10-08 Geography of Vestland Geography of Innlandet Lærdal Vang, Innlandet Valdres