The Fjord and Mountains

Around 1,5 hours away from Flåm you can find the largest glacier in Norway, Jostedalsbreen. The glacier stretches up to 2000 metres above sea level, and in the spring, there can be 10-12 metres of snow up on the glacier. Although, over the course of the last 20-30 years, the glacier has shrunk, mainly due to higher temperatures. In Vestland there are many fjords and valleys. These were formed during the ice ages. the last ice age ended around 10-12 000 years ago. At that time the whole of Scandinavia was covered in ice, and in this area the ice was around 2000 metres high. When the ice melted the glacier moved, and large rivers ran down to the coast. The rivers carried stones and gravel with them and that was how the valleys and fjords were formed. This happened over the course of many ice ages, probably through 35-40 ice ages.