Hårteigen is a characteristic mountain in

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It sits on and is visible from most parts of the vast

Hardangervidda Hardangervidda () is a mountain plateau ( Norwegian: ''vidde'') in central southern Norway, covering parts of Vestland, Telemark, and Buskerud counties. It is the largest plateau of its kind in Europe, with a cold year-round alpine climate, and o ...

plateau. The mountain is located in the municipality of

Ullensvang Ullensvang is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre is the Odda (town), town of Odda. Some o ...

, and it is inside the

Hardangervidda National Park Hardangervidda National Park (, ), at , is Norway's largest national park. It spans from Numedal and Uvdal in the east and Røvelseggi and Ullensvang in the west across the Hardanger mountain plateau (Hardangervidda). Designated as a national p ...

. At an elevation of above sea level, the peak of Hårteigen rises above the surrounding plateau which is fairly level. It is located about northeast of the town of

Odda Odda () is a list of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Hordaland counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1913 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Ullensvang Municipality i ...

Name

The first element is from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

word ''hárr'' which means '

grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

' and the last element is related to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

verb ''zeigen'' which means 'show'. On the large and flat plateau of Hardangervidda this mountain was important for travellers to find the direction.

References

Inselbergs of Europe Ullensvang Mountains of Vestland {{Vestland-mountain-stub

Name

See also

References