Langsua is the park most Norwegians have never heard of, despite being one of the largest in southern Norway. It was created in 2011 by merging the tiny Ormtjernkampen National Park, established in 1968 and at just 9 square kilometres one of Norway's smallest, with several surrounding nature reserves. The result is a 537-square-kilometre protected area on the eastern side of the watershed between Valdres and Gausdal.
The landscape is gentler than Jotunheimen to the west: no jagged peaks or dramatic glaciers, but vast open moorland, countless small lakes and some of the largest intact wetland systems in southern Scandinavia. The old Ormtjernkampen core still holds its original treasure: one of the last stands of virgin mountain spruce forest in southern Norway, with trees over 300 years old. The marshes are important breeding grounds for wading birds, and wild reindeer still use the area as part of their seasonal migration.
The park's real character is in its seterkultur, summer farming tradition. Dozens of old summer dairy farms, setre, dot the landscape, some still in seasonal use. Many of the DNT mountain cabins in the area are converted setre, giving the park a lived-in quality that the wilder western parks lack.
The landscape is gentler than Jotunheimen to the west: no jagged peaks or dramatic glaciers, but vast open moorland, countless small lakes and some of the largest intact wetland systems in southern Scandinavia. The old Ormtjernkampen core still holds its original treasure: one of the last stands of virgin mountain spruce forest in southern Norway, with trees over 300 years old. The marshes are important breeding grounds for wading birds, and wild reindeer still use the area as part of their seasonal migration.
The park's real character is in its seterkultur, summer farming tradition. Dozens of old summer dairy farms, setre, dot the landscape, some still in seasonal use. Many of the DNT mountain cabins in the area are converted setre, giving the park a lived-in quality that the wilder western parks lack.
There are plans to expand both Langsua and neighbouring Jotunheimen toward each other, so that only the Rv51 road over Valdresflye would remain unprotected between them, similar to how the E6 runs through Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park.