Camera: Mamiya 645AF     Lens: Mamiya 645 N 2.8/55mm AF     Film: Agfa RS200     Date: 01.07.1991

Gjende Lake, Jotunheimen, Norway

Early in the morning we board the first tourist boat out of Gjendesheim on the east end of the lake. It takes us in 30 minutes to Memurubu, about half way to Gjendebu on the western end. On a beautiful trail along the lake shore it takes us over 3 hours to hike the 8km back to our camper ... accompanied by myriads of mosquitos.

The name Gjende is derived from the old Norse word “gandir” (Tolkien fans take note) that can be translated into “straight stick”, the name thereby referring to the shape of the lake. It shows the typical characteristics of glacial formation, being 18km long and only 1km wide, with steep walls and peaks along its sides reaching more than 2,000m. It’s here that Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt took his famous wild-reindeer ride along “the Gjendin Ridge”, a reference to either the narrow Besseggen Ridge or the Knutshø Ridge on the other side of lake Gjende.