Hallingskarvet National Park ( no, Hallingskarvet nasjonalpark) is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

in central

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

that was established by the government on 22 December 2006. The park is located in the municipalities of Hol (

Viken Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

county),

Ulvik Ulvik is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality stretches from the Hardangerfjord to the mountains that reach above sea level. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ulvik. The villages of Osa and ...

and

Aurland Aurland () is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Aurlandsvangen. Other villages include Bakka, ...

(both in

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county). More precisely, the park comprises the Hallingskarv plateau and the high mountain areas to the west of it. It includes the Vargebreen glacier as well as the valleys of Såtedalen, Lengjedalen, Ynglesdalen, and parts of Raggsteindalen. The national park covers of the

Hallingskarvet Hallingskarvet is a mountain range in southern Norway stretching from Geilo to Finse in Vestland and Viken counties. The highest point is the tall mountain Folarskardnuten in Hol Municipality in Viken county. In the north, there is a large damm ...

mountain range and hosts large stocks of wild

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

, an important factor in the establishment of the park. The highest point in the national park is

Folarskardnuten Folarskardnuten is the highest point on Hallingskarvet, and is also the highest point in the county Viken of Norway. The mountain lies within Hallingskarvet National Park. See also *List of highest points of Norwegian counties This is a list ...

which reaches an elevation of above sea level. The landscape of Hallingskarvet was shaped by multiple

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

s. The park shows the

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

history and the connection between this history and the variation in the species living there. It includes areas of special value and which are home to threatened or vulnerable species such as '' Draba cacuminum'' (whitlow-grass) and ''

Botrychium lanceolatum ''Botrychium lanceolatum'' is a species of plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fung ...

'' (lance-leaf grapefern). The

Bergen Line The Bergen Line or the Bergen Railway ( no, Bergensbanen or nn, Bergensbana), is a long scenic standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway. The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Oslo, ...

runs along the southern boundary of the park. There is no road access to the southern side of the park, so

Finse Station Finse Station ( no, Finse stasjon) is located in the mountain village of Finse in the municipality of Ulvik in Vestland county, Norway. The station is served by up to seven daily (peak days only) express trains in each direction, normally three p ...

, a stop on the railway line, is one of the few ways that people can access this part of the park. The

Norwegian County Road 50 Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

runs near the northern boundary of the park.

Protection and use

The main objective of this national park is to preserve a large, unique, and largely untouched area in order to protect the landscape and the

biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

with its

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

and populations of, amongst others, the wild reindeer. The protection is designed to safeguard a characteristic element needed to understand the

history of the Norwegian landscape. It is also designed to protect valuable elements of the

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

. The park is open to the traditional forms of

outdoor activities Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activiti ...

which require little or no technical means.

Name

The first element is ''halling'' (inhabitant of the

Hallingdal Hallingdal ( en, Halling Valley) is a valley as well as a traditional district located in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county in Norway. It consists of six municipalities: Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. Hal ...

valley) and the last is the finite form of ''skarv'' (mountain or mountainous area without vegetation).

References

External links

Map of Hallingskarvet National Park
{{authority control National parks of Norway Ulvik Hol Aurland Protected areas established in 2006 Protected areas of Vestland Protected areas of Viken 2006 establishments in Norway