Lom muncipality has approximately 2.450 inhabitants and covers a area of 1.968,6 km2. Farming and forestry have always been important for settling and employment in Lom. Aproximately 90% of the municipality of Lom is covered by glaciers and mountains with Galdhøpiggen (2.469 metres) and Glittertind (2.452 metres) as the two most known landmarks. Lom is also a lively village with farms irrigated by fresh mountain water producing a secure annual harvest of excellent quality. The majority of Jotunheimen National Park is in Lom Municipality, which is also an important gateway to the fjords, as both Sognefjord and Geiranger are just a short drive away. The entire area offers plenty of opportunities to experience magnificent nature and culture firsthand. Walk, wander and enjoy the fields, the forests and mountains. Plenty of memorable experiences await you.
GARMO
Garmo is a place, east of the municipality center Fossbergom. Highway 15 goes through Garmo. Garmo’s original church, Garmo Stave Church, was demolished in 1880, and was rebuilt at Maihaugen in Lillehammer. The author Knut Hamsun was confirmed here and worked at the store in Hesthågå. Garmo is otherwise known for its traditional gaming environment, which is still alive with a huge addition of younger ones. Garmo’s most famous playmaker in recent times wasHans W. Brimi.
LOM and JOTUNHEIMEN
No other area offers as many challenges and diversity asmountain landscape. You can choose from simple activities that you can do on your own or joina tour with a tour guide to ascend towering peaks, cross magical glaciers or descend intothe blackest of caverns. Some activities are of short durationand can be done without any special preparation. Most activities, however, require time to prepare and you musthave access to the necessary equipment.
JOTUNHEIMEN NATIONAL PARK
Was established in 1980 in order to protect cultural monuments and plant and animal life. The national park (1.145 km2) comes closest to the road at the top of Sognefjellet where the border passes just a few kilometres to the south-east. Jotunheimen is an area of majestic mountains, glaciers and lakes, with hard unyielding rock types, formed under great pressure deep down the earth´s crust and later forced up to the surface. Among the mountains in Jotunheimen there are fertile valleys, glaciers and large lakes. The park is well prepared for outdoor life with a wide range of marked routes an mountain logdes. Information signs are places on the major entrance road.
In national parks you can travel and set up tents wherever you like, hunt and fish in accordance with the applicable regulations and pick berries and mushrooms. However, the nature must not be unduly disturbed or injured in any way. Jotunheimen is a large and unspoilt mountain area dominated by ice and rock. The emeraldgreen mountain waters coloured by the silt from the glaciers also put their distinctive mark on the mountainous parts of Jotunheimen. In 1862, inspired by the savage landscape and influenced by the Norse mythology, the Norwegian poet Aasmund Olavsson Vinje gave these mountains their present name – Jotunheimen, the home of the giants. Containing northern Europe´s highest peaks, the wild landscape bears its name well.
GALDHØPIGGEN
Galdhøpiggen was first conquered in 1854 and is Norway´s highest peak. Galdhøpiggen with it´s 2.469 metres lies within the Jotunheimen national park.
GLITTERTIND
Icecapped Glittertind is only a few metres lower 2.464 metres to be exact. But the cruellest peaks in Jotunheimen are among the Hurrungane to the west. There are also several large lakes. The largest is Gjende and in the late summer the glacial melt-waters turn it an opaque emerald-green, in contrast to the deep-blue waters of Bessvatn 391 metres higher up. The path along Besseggen, with it´s 1.743 metres is the knife-sharp ridge between the two lakes, is a well-known tourist attraction. The trip over Besseggen is a norwegian classic. He breathtaking view from the top is in fact the most photographed veiw in Norway. Along the top ridge you have endless views of glaciers and snow-capped peaks of over 2000 metes. The great drop from Besseggen to the lake Gjende below is immortalized in Ibsen´s “Peer Gynt” – it was perhaps here that Peer in his fantasy made his daredevil leap over the Gjendin Edge astride a buck reindeer.
Gudbrandsdalen valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake Mjøsa, extending 230 kilometers toward Romsdalen. The river of Gudbrandsdalslågen (Lågen) flows through the valley, starting from Lesjaskogsvatnet and ending at Mjøsa. The Otta river flowing through Otta valley is a major tributary to Gudbrandsdalslågen.
Together with Glomma river and Østerdalen, Gudbrandsdalslågen and Gudbrandsdalen forms Norway´s largest river / valley system. Gudbrandsdalen is home to Dovre Line and the E6 road, and is the main land transport corridor through South Norway, from Oslo and central eastern lowlands to Trondheim and Møre & Romsdal.
THE HIGHEST PLANTS GROWING in NORWAY…
Jotunheimen holds the altitude record for a large number og Norway´s mountain flora. The beautiful Glacier Crowfoot is the highestgrowing flowering plant, thriving at 2370 m on Glittertind, only 100 m below the summit. Purple Saxifrage and Rose-root or Midsummer men also grow as high as 2.300 metres. In many parts of the national park the rocks are calciferous, supporting a rich variety of lime-loving plants, such as the sweet little Mountain Avens.
Some species, such as Alpine Rock-cress, Hairy Stonecrop and Red Alpine Catchfly, are only found in scattered mountain areas around the North Atlantic and this has long puzzled botanists. They may have survived the last Ice Age in isolated ice-free areas along the coast or on peaks rising above the ice-sheets. Most of the national park lies above the tree-line, but mountain birch grows freely around Lake Gjende and there are trees at 1200 m in the east.
OLD and NEW uses for the MOUNTAINS…
Hunters and fishermen have used Jotunheimen for thousands of years. Sites dating to 3000 BC have been found near Gjende and Russvatn lakes. Traces of pit-falls remind us of the time reindeer were hunted in this way; it became illegal in the 19th century. Today there are domestic reindeer herds over much of the national park, but wild reindeer still dominate in the west. Man has left many traces in Jotunheimen, such as the remains of cabins for falcon hunting and the cairns which still mark the ancient trackways.
Mountain pastures were used for summer grazing in many places: Gjendebu was originally a summer farm and at Memurubu the shieldings were in use right up to the present day. There is good trout fishing in several lakes and streams and fish breeding supplements natural spawning. This national park is one of Norway´s most popular mountain walking areas, and the Hurrungane group with Store Skagastølstind (2403 m) is a mecca for climbers.
A PART of the NATIONAL HERITAGE
The natural environment in Norway is spectacular and varied. There are still areas where nature´s own laws govern animal and plant life. But many of them will lose their distinctive qualities if they are not adequately protected. It is imperative to preserve for posterity a representative selection of Norwegian scenery and wildlife. Norway´s first national park was established in 1962.
The goal is to establish national parks and other protected landscape areas highlighting the country´s natural beauty from the coast to the mountains. Future generations have a right to experience untouched countryside, and in the future, too, scientists will need to study interrelationships in undisturbed natural environments. Many of the national parks receive large numbers of visitors, both Norwegians and foreigners, and are of great importance to tourism.
Our national parks house precious natural resources. Let us look after them together!
LOM STAVE CHURCH
The Lom Stave Church dates to approximately 1210 – 1240 AD and it appears in written sources for the first time during 1270 AD. This is a triple-nave and many-column stave church. The church was completely rebuilt into cruciform during the 1600´s and only the nave supporting inner staves exists from the original church. The chancel was decorated in 1608 and the chancel-arch was carved in 1793. The acanthus leaves of the pulpit are more recent work and the church was restored in 1933.
Even this church have archeological evidences of a even earlier church at the site, perhaps dating back to the period when St. Olaf introduced Christianity to the valley in 1021 AD. Parts of the old church may have been used in the construction of this.
The Stave Churches are constructions of high quality, richly decorated with carvings. In virtually all of them the door frames are decorated from top to bottom with carvings. This tradition of rich ornamentation appears to go back to the animal carvings of the Viking age. The dragons are lovingly executed and transformed into long-limbed creatures of fantasy, here and there entwined with tendrils of vine, with winding stems and serrated leaves. The elaborate designs are executed with supreme artistic skill. The stave church doorways are, therefore, among the most distinctive works of art to be found in Norway. However, it is difficult to connect them with the Christian gospel.
MOUNTAINS over 2.000 meters
Galdhøpiggen 2.469 metres, Glittertind 2.464 metres, Skardstind 2.375 metres, Surtningssui 2.368 metres, Store Memurutind 2.366 metres, Store Hellstugutind 2.345 metres, Storjuvtinden 2.344 metres, Leirhø 2.330 metres, Bukkehø 2.314 metres, Nautgardstind 2.258 metres, Veotinden 2.240 metres, Semeltind 2.236 metres, Visbretind 2.234 metres, Storebjørn 2,222 metres, Store Bukkeholstind 2.213 metres, Styggehø 2.213 metres, Slettmarkshø 2.190 metres, Saksi (Smørstabbtindane) 2.189 metres, Loftet 2.170 metres, Slettmarkspiggen 2.163 metres, Rygghø 2.142 metres, Skeii 2.118 metres, Store Urdadalstind 2.116 metres, Tverrbytthornet 2.102 metres, Skarddalstind 2.100 metres, Skagsnebb 2.093 metres, Rauddalstind 2.086 metres, Kyrkja 2.032 metres and Stetind i Jotunheimen 2.020 metres.
MAMMOTHS
Mammoths were common in our mountains and valleys 35.000 years ago. At the Norwegian Mountain Museum a full-size mammoth is on display. You can also learn about this species that died out about 7.000 years ago. The mammoth is related to the elephant and it has been known for 12 -14 million years. They were closely connected to the arctic environment and lived here in Jotunheimen about 35.000 years ago. A fully grown male mammoth could be about 4 meters high and weigh about 6000 kilos.
They were covered in reddish brown fur with a long “overcoat”. The ears were round and small. Small skin flaps covered delicate areas at the tip of the trunk and the anus to protect them from frost. The mammoth´s trunk was very suitable for shovelling snow. In the upper jaw the mammoth had two tusks, these were very useful as weapons and for procuring food. They could be up to 5 meters long and weigh 60 kilos each.
The dairy maid Kari Jotun made the first mammoth find in Norway, at Skårvangsætrin in Vågå in 1886.