Kjøsnesfjorden is the narrow eastern arm of Jølstravatnet, the lake that dominates the Jølster valley. It looks and behaves like a fjord, with steep cliffs dropping straight into dark water, but it is freshwater. The lake sits 207 metres above sea level, so the sea never reaches this far inland. Cold meltwater from the Jostedalsbreen glacier feeds it, which is why Jølstravatnet is known as one of Northern Europe's richest trout lakes.
The quiet drive you experience today is new. For decades, Road 5 ran along the fjord shore between Lunde and Føreneset, and it was one of the most dangerous stretches of national road in Norway. In 1999, an 18-year-old man was killed when a rock hit the bus he was riding in. In 2003, a driver lost both legs when a boulder crushed the front of his car. On one evening in 2004, around thirty separate rockfalls closed the road with cars trapped between them.
The first fix was the Støylsnestunnelen, 2,630 metres long, opened by King Harald in 2009. That took the worst section off the fjord shore. The rest was finally sealed off when the Kjøsnestunnelen extension opened in November 2022, bringing the combined tunnel to roughly 8.5 kilometres.
In August 2020, photographer Rune Venes walked the abandoned old road for NRK and said it looked like a scene from an action film. Eleven years of untouched rockfall had left boulders the size of cars sitting in the middle of the tarmac, shredded guardrails, and craters punched through the asphalt. It is a sobering look at what drivers used to risk every time they drove to Skei.
There are a few small pull-outs along the current route. It is worth stopping for a moment, the scale only hits you when you stand still and look up.
The quiet drive you experience today is new. For decades, Road 5 ran along the fjord shore between Lunde and Føreneset, and it was one of the most dangerous stretches of national road in Norway. In 1999, an 18-year-old man was killed when a rock hit the bus he was riding in. In 2003, a driver lost both legs when a boulder crushed the front of his car. On one evening in 2004, around thirty separate rockfalls closed the road with cars trapped between them.
The first fix was the Støylsnestunnelen, 2,630 metres long, opened by King Harald in 2009. That took the worst section off the fjord shore. The rest was finally sealed off when the Kjøsnestunnelen extension opened in November 2022, bringing the combined tunnel to roughly 8.5 kilometres.
In August 2020, photographer Rune Venes walked the abandoned old road for NRK and said it looked like a scene from an action film. Eleven years of untouched rockfall had left boulders the size of cars sitting in the middle of the tarmac, shredded guardrails, and craters punched through the asphalt. It is a sobering look at what drivers used to risk every time they drove to Skei.
There are a few small pull-outs along the current route. It is worth stopping for a moment, the scale only hits you when you stand still and look up.