Besseggen ridge – hike in Norway

Get out of your comfort zone

I claw both my hands into the ledge above me, panicking and trying to find the right route before I move my feet even a millimeter away from the safe belay. But somehow everything is blocked. The feet don’t want to, the head doesn’t want to. My body begins to shake without control. The total blockage on a narrow, steep ridge that guarantees a 600 m deep drop into the glittering Gjende on one side and an icy slip into the Bessvatnet 300 m below on the other. How did I manoeuvre myself into this situation?

And yet it all started so innocently. Looking for inspiration for possible hiking destinations in Norway, Satu from Destination Unknown gave me the idea to make a detour to Jotunheimen National Park. “There are some amazing hikes there, especially the 6h hike from Gjendesheim which name escapes me right now,” she wrote to me in advance.

Sounds good, I thought, and researched the name of the hike, the name of which she spontaneously didn’t remember. I quickly found out that this was the “most popular hike in Norway”. According to various sources, the so-called Besseggen Ridge attracts up to 30,000 hikers every year. After a quick look at pictures of the route, I didn’t care about the popularity, because who can resist mountain lakes…?

The pictures convinced me so much that I rented a car especially for the detour to Gjendesheim. Anyone who knows me knows that driving is far outside my comfort zone. During the summer months, Gjendesheim can be reached by public transport, but we were exactly one week too early for that. Well, after the usual drama of the first 30 minutes, I mastered driving with astonishing bravura and reached Gjendesheim without any noteworthy incidents.

On the eve of the hike, we read various route descriptions of the planned tour. For the Besseggen ridge you can either start directly in Gjendesheim and hike to Memurubu or take the boat to Memurubu in the morning and then hike back (advantage: you are not dependent on the boat schedule). We opted for the latter. What bothered us more was the difficulty of the tour. The route is around 13 kilometres, the highest point is at 1,750 m (starting altitude around 950 m above sea level), the recommended hiking time is around 5 to 7 hours depending on your fitness level. Regarding the ridge itself, the Lonely Planet says: “Besseggen Ridge is never less than 10 m wide and only from a distance does it look precarious”.

“Easy, I guess I can’t be that bad. After all, we come from Switzerland and are used to mountains. It’s not my first hike,” I said to my friend. He, on the other hand, still looked skeptical.

Magical – Gjendesheim in the early morning

The day of the hike starts peacefully. Lake Gjende is as smooth as glass in the early morning hours. After a hearty breakfast, we board the boat that will take us to Memurubu.

Ship ahoy – drive to Memurubu for the start of the trek

During the high season, there can be longer waiting times here. The boat then simply sails as often as necessary until even the last hiker finds a place. On this June weekend, the rush is still limited despite the glorious weather.

Höhenrausch

After 30 refreshing minutes on the lake, we reach Memurubu. We shoulder our backpacks and start the ascent. The first kilometer has it all. The path winds steeply along the slope towards the ridge. After just a few minutes, I start to pant a lot. Step by step we master the meters of altitude until we reach the first high plateau after an hour, sweaty and out of breath. However, the effort is quickly forgotten at the sight of the overwhelming panorama of the surrounding snow-capped peaks and the deep blue Lake Gjende (which would actually be known for its emerald green color). Even if the Norwegian peaks with their clunky appearance are actually not really pretty. The fact that Jotunheimen translates as “home of the giants” hits the nail on the head. Compared to the graceful Dolomites, we find ourselves in a landscape that looks as if a giant had played with a few stone blocks.

During the next 1.5 hours, the trail leads over the plateau in a moderate up and down. The view over the mountain area changes every minute. In some places, we have three mountain lakes in view at the same time.

After about 3 hours we reach the banks of the Bessvatnet. I am still confident that we will be able to get through the key point without any problems. “We’ll take our lunch break at the summit,” I say to my friend and start the ascent. But after just a few meters, it’s funny. There is no longer a marked path in front of us, but only boulders piled steeply on top of each other. In the meantime, we have also packed the camera in the backpack as a precaution.

With a sweat of fear over the Besseggen ridge

What follows is a one-hour fight against the mountain, the fear of heights, the tears, the weaker self and the statement “most popular hike” printed in black and white. Handle by handle and ledge by ledge we fight our way up the ridge. Behind me is the friend who tells me step by step where I should put my foot next.

But sometimes you can do things that you would never have thought you could do yourself. Managed! Once at the top, I first have to sit down and look down into the depths.

Through the lunar landscape back to civilization

However, there is little time for a breather. We are almost halfway there, the highest point is still ahead of us. The next stage resembles a walk across a lunar landscape. Up here there is only something en masse – stones. Large stones, small stones, round stones, square stones and in between the bird’s eye view of Gjendesheim or a snowfield as a welcome change.

Further down we meet a herd of reindeer before we return safely to the mountain hut. In the meantime, I had some time to digest the experience at Besseggen Ridge. Nevertheless, immediately after returning home, I ask the hut warden whether all the 30,000 hikers here are actually dancing up the ridge. He just raises his eyebrow and says “you Swiss with your crazy mountain trails have reached your limits on the mountain!” and then adds in the next sentence to my reassurance that every now and then people have to be flown out by helicopter. In the last rays of sunshine of the day, we treat ourselves to a well-deserved Besseggen beer. Cheers!

Information and tips for the hike over the Besseggen ridge:

• In Gjendesheim, an overnight stay in a room with up to 3 beds per person costs 350 NOK – shower and toilet are available on the floor, hut sleeping bag recommended (can also be rented on site)
• Dinner in the hut also costs 350 NOK per person – very good cuisine!
• Breakfast is available for NOK 150
• Gjendesheim can be reached by bus from Otta and Oslo during the summer months (only from the end of June)
• Other accommodation options are available in Memurubu (also DNT) and Gjendebu
• The website of the Norwegian Trekking Association offers a good overview of mountain huts and hiking routes
• A good topographic map for route planning can be found here: DNT Turkart