Falketind is a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
in
Årdal Municipality 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,
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 the ...
. It is located in the
Jotunheimen
Jotunheimen (; "the home of the Jötunn") is a mountainous area of roughly in southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all located in the Jotunheimen mountains, in ...
mountain range inside the
Utladalen Landscape Protection Area. The mountain is east of the old mountain farm,
Vettismorki
Vettismorki is an old mountain farm located just above the waterfall Vettisfossen in the Utladalen valley in Årdal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is north of the Vetti farm, and northeast of the village of Øvre Årdal. Today ...
, and northwest of the lake
Tyin
Tyin is a lake in Vang Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The lake is located in the southwest part of the Jotunheimen mountain range. The lake lies in Vang Municipality in Innlandet county, but a small portion of the lake extends into Å ...
.
The 1820 ascent was the first known ascent on an alpine mountain in Norway. A climbing party which included
Baltazar Mathias Keilhau and
Christian Peder Bianco Boeck went via Snøggeken (Falkbreen) and the northern ridge. At that time the mountain was named ''Koldedalstinden'', but
Aasmund Olavsson Vinje
Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (6 April 1818 – 30 July 1870) was a Norwegian poet and journalist who is remembered for poetry, travel writing, and his pioneering use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk).
Background
Vinje was born into a poor but ...
renamed the mountain ''Falketind'' more than fifty years later. In retrospect, the expedition leading to the first ascent became known as the "discovery of
Jotunheimen
Jotunheimen (; "the home of the Jötunn") is a mountainous area of roughly in southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all located in the Jotunheimen mountains, in ...
" (''Jotunheimens oppdagelse'').
Name
The first element is ''falk'' which means "
falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
" and the last element is ''tind'' which means "
mountain peak
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...
".
References
Related reading
*
External links
Falketind in Norrona Magazine
Årdal
Mountains of Vestland
{{Vestland-mountain-stub