Rondane National Park ( no, Rondane nasjonalpark) is the oldest

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 ...

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 ...

, having been established on 21 December 1962. The park is located in

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county, in the municipalities of

Dovre Dovre is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dovre. Other villages in Dovre include Dombås and Hjerkinn. The ...

Folldal Folldal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Folldal. The municipality was established in 1914 when it was sepa ...

Sel Sel is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta. The municipality also includes several notable villages including ...

Nord-Fron Nord-Fron is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vinstra. Other population centers in Nord-Fron include the village ...

Sør-Fron Sør-Fron is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hundorp. Other villages in the municipality include Gålå, Ha ...

Stor-Elvdal Stor-Elvdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Koppang. Other villages in the municipality include Atna, Even ...

, and

Ringebu is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vålebru (the village is also known as ''Ringebu''). The municipality i ...

. The park contains ten peaks above , with the highest being

Rondeslottet Rondslottet is the highest mountain in the Rondane mountain range in Innlandet county, Norway. The tall mountain sits on the border between Dovre Municipality and Folldal Municipality, just north of the border with Sel Municipality. There is a tr ...

at an altitude of . The park is an important habitat for herds 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 ...

. The park was enlarged in 2003, and now covers an area of . Rondane lies just to the east of the

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending towar ...

valley and two other mountain areas,

and

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 ...

are nearby.

Dovre National Park Dovre National Park ( no, Dovre nasjonalpark) is a national park in Innlandet county, Norway. The park was established in 2003. The park covers an area of and the altitude varies from the tree line at about up to its highest point at Fokstuhø ...

lies a very short distance to the north of this park.

Geography

Rondane is a typical high

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 (topography), summit area, and ...

area, with large

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

s and a total of ten peaks above . The highest point is

("The Rondane Castle") at an altitude of . The lowest point is just below the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowp ...

, which is located at approximately above sea level. The climate is mild but relatively

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

. Apart from the

white birch ''Betula papyrifera'' (paper birch, also known as (American) white birch and canoe birch) is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America. Paper birch is named for the tree's thin white bark, which often peels in paper like ...

trees of the lower areas, the

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

and rocks are covered by heather and

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship. The mountains are divided by marked valleys through the landscape; the deepest valley is filled by

Rondvatnet Rondvatnet is a lake in Sel Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The lake is a long, narrow lake in Rondane National Park, about northeast of the town of Otta. The Norwegian Mountain Touring Association's tourist cabins at Rondvassbu ar ...

, a narrow

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

filling the steep space between the large Storronden–

massif and

Smiubelgen Smiubelgen is a mountain range in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the western part of Rondane National Park, separated from the eastern part by the lake Rondvatnet. The Smiubelgen mountains have sharper ridges than the eastern part of ...

("The blacksmith's bellows"). The central massif is also cut by "botns": flat, dead stone valleys below the steep mountain walls of the peaks. Generally, Rondane does not receive enough

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

to generate persistent

glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

, but glacier-like heaps of snow can be found in the flat back valleys. At the centre of the park lies the lake

, from which all the peaks above in elevation can be reached in less than one day's walk. In this central region and north of it, the altitude is quite high compared with the flatter plateaus of the south. Rondane has ten peaks over including: *

, * Storronden, *

Høgronden Høgronden is a mountain in Folldal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The tall mountain lies inside Rondane National Park in the northeastern part of the Rondane mountain range. The mountain lies east of Midtronden and Digerronden, north ...

, *

Midtronden Midtronden is a mountain in Dovre Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The tall mountain is located in the Rondane mountains and inside the Rondane National Park, about northeast of the town of Otta and about southeast of the village of ...

western summit, *

Vinjeronden Vinjeronden is a mountain in Innlandet county, Norway. It is one of the ten mountains in the Rondane mountain range measuring over in height. The mountain is a tri-point that lies on the border of the three municipalities of Dovre, Folldal, and ...

, *

eastern summit, * Trolltinden, * Storsmeden, *

Digerronden Digerronden is a mountain in Dovre Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The tall mountain is located in the Rondane mountains and inside the Rondane National Park. It is one of the ten mountains in the park that are over in elevation. The ...

, *

Veslesmeden Veslesmeden is a mountain in Dovre Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The tall mountain is located in the Rondane mountains and inside the Rondane National Park, about northeast of the town of Otta and about southeast of the village of ...

, In many parts of the park, there are spread-out holes (

kettle hole A kettle (also known as a kettle lake, kettle hole, or pothole) is a depression/hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating gla ...

s) created by small remains of

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 ...

glaciers, and peculiar small hills called "

esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Amer ...

s" made by ground

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

released by melting glaciers.

History

Prehistory

The

history of life The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and fossil organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as ''Ga'', for ''gigaannum'') and evide ...

in the area of the park begins at the end of the latest

. Large climate changes allowed

to spread widely across

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

, only to be forced back to a much smaller area — including the Rondane mountain area — only some hundreds of years later.

Archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

have found that the

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

quickly grew at high altitudes;

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

trees found at were 8500 years old. On the mountain plateaux, there is evidence that nomadic

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

s lived off reindeer. Large traps used to catch reindeer can be found at Gravhø and Bløyvangen and are also spread all throughout the park. These are constructed from stone to make holes or large fenced-in areas into which reindeer could be tricked or led. In conjunction with these large traps, there are also small arched stone walls which are believed to have been used as hiding places for archers waiting for prey. Various dating methods have suggested that the earliest traps may be as old as 3500 years. Most of the findings, including remains of houses, date back to the years between 500 and 700 AD. It is thus known with confidence that the large traps and accompanying walls were used from the 6th century until the onset of the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

in the 14th century.

Establishment

After nearly a decade of planning, Rondane was established as the first Norwegian National Park on 21 December 1962. It was first established as a nature protection area, but was later named a

. The main reasons for protecting the park were "to safeguard the natural environment with its native plants, animal life, and cultural heritage and also to secure the environment as a recreational area for future generations". Legal efforts to protect nature in Norway date from 1954, when the nature protection law was passed. Soon after, in 1955, community meetings were held in the municipalities close to Rondane, and a commission was founded. Norman Heitkøtter was president of the commission, and made it possible by Royal resolution to establish Rondane National Park. At its establishment, the park covered an area of (later, this was nearly doubled). Although Rondane was the first national park in Norway, many others followed. The parks are maintained by the

Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management The Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management ( no, Direktoratet for naturforvaltning, DN) was Norway's national governmental body for preserving Norway's natural environment, including establishing and regulating national parks and other protec ...

2003 expansion

As a special measure for the protection of the wild reindeer, the park was significantly enlarged in 2003, its area increasing from to . The park was enlarged mainly to the north-west, and slightly in the east and south. In addition, areas with lesser protection (landscape protection as well as nature protection areas) were established in connection with the park. A new national park,

, between Rondane and Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park was also opened. Following the expansion, it is now only approximately from the northern border of Rondane to the southern border of

, and large sections of adjacent mountain areas are protected by the three parks.

Geology

The

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

in Rondane comes from a shallow sea floor, created 500 to 600 million years ago. From this, changes in the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

's crust created a mountain area of

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

and

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

. There are no

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s found in Rondane today and so it is thought the sea where the rock came from contained no animal life. The present landscape was mostly formed by the last

, nine to ten thousand years ago. At that time large quantities of ice were formed, and it is believed that the ice melted gradually in shifting cycles of melting and ice accumulation. The ice melting must have been rapid when it happened, digging deep

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

valleys. Rondane contains a few small canyons which were created by the rapid ice melting, most prominently Jutulhogget and Vesle-Ula.

Biology

Rondane is one of the few places in Scandinavia and Europe where wild

(as opposed to the domestic breed) are found. The Directorate for Nature Management regards Rondane as "especially important as a life supporting area for the native reindeer".Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management on Rondane
/ref> It is estimated that approximately 2000 to 4000 reindeer live in Rondane and the nearby Dovre area. To protect the reindeer population in their core area, during hiking trails have been moved. The park was also enlarged in 2003 to provide increased protection for the reindeer. Other large

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

, including

roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

and elk (moose) are commonplace along the rims of the park and occasionally

musk ox Musk (Persian: مشک, ''Mushk'') is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial sub ...

from Dovre can be seen.

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

es, and a small population of

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

s are also present, while

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

are rare. The reindeer largely rely on the

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.reindeer moss ''Cladonia rangiferina'', also known as reindeer cup lichen, reindeer lichen (cf. Swedish language, Sw. ''renlav'') or grey reindeer lichen, is a light-colored fruticose lichen, fruticose, Cladonia, cup lichen species in the family Cladoniaceae. ...

that grow together with heather and hardy

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

on the quite arid and nutrient-poor stony plateaus. The lichen provide food for the reindeer, but also fertilize the earth, making it possible for less hardy

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 fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s to grow, and

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

and

lemming A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...

s to feed. One of the

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

species to survive very well is the

Glacier Crowfoot ''Ranunculus glacialis'', the glacier buttercup or glacier crowfoot, is a plant of the family Ranunculaceae. It is a 5-10(-20) cm high perennial herb. Often with a single relatively large (1.8 - 3.8 cm) flower, with 5 petals first white late ...

, found up to an elevation of .

Tourism

Visitors to Rondane are free to hike and camp in all areas of the park, except in the immediate vicinity of cabins. Apart from being closed for motor traffic, not many special regulations apply. Fishing and hunting is available to licensees. The

Norwegian Mountain Touring Association The Norwegian Trekking Association ( no, Den norske turistforening, DNT) is a Norwegian association which maintains mountain trails and cabins in Norway. The association was founded on 21 January 1868 with the scope "to help and develop tourism i ...

(DNT) is an association that owns and manages a network of mountain cabins in the service of hikers. In Rondane, there is a central cabin by the southern end of the lake Rondvatnet, Rondvassbu. There is also Dørålseter and Bjørnhollia at the northern and eastern rims of the park. All three cabins are manned, and provide food and limited accommodation (possible to book beforehand). There are also un-manned cabins in the Park, like Eldåbu where a key is needed. DNT also mark trails in the Park, with red Ts that are easy to spot. The T-trails lead the way cabin-to-cabin, as well as marking the path to some of the peaks close to Rondvatnet. Recently, some of the trails have moved slightly to avoid the core areas of the wild reindeer. The service cabins are also open during the winter season, although they are sometimes only self-serviced off season. Ski trails are marked and sometimes prepared, either by DNT or some of the hotels and skiing resorts close to the park.

Rondane Høyfjellshotell

The Rondane Høyfjellshotell
is located just east of Otta and is the closest hotel to the Rondane National Park, being only away. Environmentally-friendly energy is created by the hotel through its own hydropower plant. The hotel has a total of 210 beds in 50 rooms, 4 apartments and 10 cabins. Amenities include a gym, spa, pool, sauna, and restaurant. The hotel also has opportunities for physical activities including biking, hiking, cross country skiing, and rafting. There is also the capacity for conferences and parties at the hotel. The hotel was built in 1939 and burned down in 1961. In 1963 a new hotel was opened to guests. The existing building has on 3 floors. In 2016 there were renovations works at the hotel with significant upgrades to the spa, pool, and common areas. Most of the rooms were refurbished, as well as the bathroom of those rooms.

Rondane in literature

The landscapes of Rondane have inspired many Norwegian writers. Probably the best-known work is

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five- act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1876. Written in Norwegian, it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Ibsen believed ''Per Gynt'', the Norwegian fairy tale on wh ...

(1867), a play by

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

, which is partly set in Rondane: :Act 2, Scene lV :(Among the Ronde mountains. Sunset. Shining snowpeaks all around. :Peer Gynt enters, dizzy and bewildered.) :Peer ::''Tower over tower arises!
Hei, what a glittering gate!
Stand! Will you stand! It's drifting
further and further away!
...'' With this scene, Ibsen wrote Rondane into one of the 19th centuries better-known plays and made Rondane a symbol for Norway.

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (15 January 18125 January 1885) was a Norwegian writer and scholar. He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore. They were so closely united in their lives' work that their folk tale collection ...

, writer and gatherer of Norwegian folk tales in the mid-19th century, collected many stories connected with Rondane, including Peer Gynt, the story that inspired Ibsen. A third writer who set one of his famous works in Rondane is the poet

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 ...

with his poem '' Ved Rundarne''.

Name

Rondane is the finite plural of the word ''rond''. Several mountains in the area have the ending ''-ronden'' (

, Storronden and

), and this is the finite singular of the same word. The word ''rond'' was probably originally the name of the long and narrow lake

('Rond water/lake') - and the mountains around were then named after this lake. For the meaning see under

Randsfjorden Randsfjorden is Norway's fourth-largest lake with an area of . Its volume is estimated at just over , and its greatest depth is . The lake is located at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in Innlandet and Viken counties in the munic ...

References

External links

VisitRondane.comNorwegian Directorate for Nature Management map of RondaneRondvassbuMapImages from RondaneRondane Høyfjellshotell
{{use dmy dates, date=February 2022 National parks of Norway Protected areas established in 1962 Protected areas of Innlandet Tourist attractions in Innlandet 1962 establishments in Norway Dovre Folldal Sel Stor-Elvdal Nord-Fron Sør-Fron Ringebu