Tungestølen-Austerdalsbreen

"The finest ice-scenery in Europe", said the English mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby about the three wild ice-falls called Lokebreen, Odinbreen and Torsbreen which tumble down from the Jostedalsbreen glacier at the face of Austerdalsbreen. Here you can get just a taste of the wild glacier landscape without having to walk over the glacier itself.

The starting point for the walk is Tungestølen, farthest up the Veitastrond valley. The path begins just over the bridge and is well marked and easy to find. It continues along the west side of the Austerdal river, right up to the glacier. It is level going all the way, with some short, sharp climbs from time to time. As is always the case with glaciers, one must be extremely cautious and not go too close to the glacier. Icefalls and "calving" can occur without warning. Keep your distance! There is little or no vegetation near the foot of the glacier. Moraine ridges, gravel, rock, and here and there green grass, dominate the landscape.

The mountain history books tell us that two of the great Jostedalsbreen pioneers, Kristian Bing and William Slingsby, discovered this very glacier arm. It was Kristian Bing who built the cairn on the ridge between Lokebreen and Torsbreen which later came to be called the Hvitesteinsvarden (White-stone Cairn) because he placed a white quartz rock on the top of it.

Map (turkart): Jostedalsbreen 1:100 000