Skåla is a mountain in the municipality of

Stryn Stryn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the vi ...

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 ...

. The mountain is located about east of the village of Loen and about south of the lake

Oppstrynsvatn Oppstrynsvatn (also known as ''Oppstrynsvatnet'', ''Strynevatnet'', or ''Strynevatn'') is a lake in the municipality of Stryn in Vestland county, Norway. It is located about east of the village of Stryn (village), Stryn (the administrative cent ...

. There are two summits to the mountain, one at and one at above sea level. The latter one is sometimes called ''Stryneskåla''. Every year there is a race from the village of Loen up the mountain.

Skålatårnet/Kloumantårnet

The tower at the top of the tall summit is built from rocks. It is called ''Skålatårnet'' ("Skåla tower") or ''Kloumantårnet'' ("Klouman tower"). The construction of the tower was initiated by Doctor Hans Henrik Gerhard Klouman from the nearby village of Innvik. According to what seems to be a widespread legend, the tower was built as a means to cure

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, which was widespread in the late 19th century. However this myth has been falsified by local historian Ove Eide. According to Ove Eide, no references to tuberculosis exist in any written records before 1991, i.e. one hundred years after the tower was completed. Furthermore, it would have been very difficult to use the tower for such use since no houses for doctors or nurses exist, and the transport of sick people to the top would have been extremely challenging. Other sanatoriums for tuberculosis had huge verandas with beds for curing patients outdoors. The written sources show that the tower was built for mountain tourists. The walls in the tower are wide, and there are two floors. Today, the tower is accessible to the public, with 22 beds. It is administered by ''

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Turlag'', a subsidiary of the

Norwegian Trekking Association The Norwegian Trekking Association (, 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 in this country". Today the goa ...

Name

The name of the mountain is the finite form of ''skål'' which means "scale" or "bowl". In the hillside that faces the lake Strynsvatnet has a large depression in it which is shaped like a bowl.

Skiing

Skåla is one of the best

backcountry skiing Backcountry skiing ( US), also called off-piste (Europe), alpine touring, freeriding or out-of-area, is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas either inside or outside a ski resort's boundaries. This contrasts with alpine s ...

mountains in Norway. The trail up is also possible to reach during the winter. It takes about five hours to reach the top and gives you a downhill experience to remember.

References

External links

Skåla
Mountains of Vestland Tourist huts in Norway Stryn {{Vestland-mountain-stub