Torghatten is a
granite dome
Granite domes are domical hills composed of granite with bare rock exposed over most of the surface. Generally, domical features such as these are known as bornhardts. Bornhardts can form in any type of plutonic rock but are typically composed o ...
on the island of
Torget in
Brønnøy Municipality
Brønnøy is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre and commercial centre of the municipality is the town ...
in
Nordland
Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...
county,
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 ...
. It is known for its characteristic hole, or natural tunnel, through its center. It is possible to walk up to the tunnel on a well-prepared path, and through it on a natural path.
On 6 May 1988,
Widerøe Flight 710
Widerøe Flight 710, commonly known as the Torghatten Accident ( no, Torghatten-ulykken), was a controlled flight into terrain into the mountain of Torghatten in Brønnøy, Norway. The Widerøe-operated de Havilland Canada Dash 7 crashed on 6 M ...
from
Namsos
( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kl ...
to
Brønnøysund
Brønnøysund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the administrative centre of Brønnøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is also a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality within Nordland county. ...
crashed into the side of the mountain, and all 36 passengers and crew died.
Tunnel
According to legend, the hole was made by the
troll
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...
''Hestmannen'' while he was chasing the beautiful girl ''
Lekamøya
Lekamøya is a mountain in the municipality of Leka in Trøndelag county, Norway. The tall mountain is located on the island of Leka and it is a characteristic sea mark
A sea mark, also seamark and navigation mark, is a form of aid to na ...
''. As the troll realized he would not get the girl, he released an arrow to kill her, but the troll-king of
Sømna
Sømna is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative center of Sømna is the village of Vik i Helgeland. Other villages in the municipality include Dalbotn, Sund, Vennesund, an ...
threw his hat into the arrow's path to save her. The hat turned into the mountain with a hole in the middle.
The tunnel is long, wide, and high. It was formed during the Scandinavian
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 ...
. Ice and water eroded the looser rocks, while the harder ones in the mountain top have resisted erosion.
See also
*
Monte Forato
Monte Forato is a mountain (1,230 m) in the Alpi Apuane, in Tuscany, central Italy.
It is formed by two peaks of similar altitude, connected by a natural arch which has given the group its name (meaning "Holed Mountain" in Italian). The h ...
, in the
Alpi Apuane
The Apuan Alps ( it, Alpi Apuane) are a mountain range in northern Tuscany, Italy. They are included between the valleys of the Serchio and Magra rivers, and, to the northwest, the Garfagnana and Lunigiana, with a total length of approximately .
...
*
Moon Hill
Moon Hill () is a hill with a natural arch through it a few kilometers outside Yangshuo in southern China's Guangxi autonomous region. Moon Hill is part of the Guilin Mountains. It is so named for a wide, semicircular hole through the hill, ...
, in
Yangshuo County
Yangshuo County () is a county under the jurisdiction of Guilin City, in the northeast of Guangxi, China. Its seat is located in Yangshuo Town. Surrounded by karst peaks and bordered on one side by the Li River it is easily accessible by bus or by ...
*
Elephant Trunk Hill
The Elephant Trunk Hill () is a hill, landmark and tourist attraction in Guilin, Guangxi, China. It is not only one of the major tourist attractions of Guilin, an international tourist city, but also the symbol of Guilin, which uses elephant ...
, in
Guilin
Guilin ( Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...
Media gallery
File:Trollhatten-july08.jpg, The large hole in Torghatten
File:Torghatten-track.jpg, The climb up to the hole is not too difficult
File:Torghatten Mountain, Southwest view 20150606 1.jpg, View from the south
File:Torghatten im Februar 2005.jpg, Torghatten in February
File:Torghatten Mountain View.jpg, Torghatten Mountain taken from Viking Sea
File:Hole in Torghatten Mountain 1.jpg, Closeup of the Hole 1
File:Hole in Torghatten Mountain 2.jpg, Closeup of the Hole 2
References
External links
Brønnøy municipality website about Torghatten
Brønnøy
Mountains of Nordland
Tourist attractions in Nordland
{{Nordland-mountain-stub