Lunde Turiststasjon sits on the northern shore of Kjøsnesfjorden, directly beneath an arm of the Jostedalsbreen glacier called Lundebreen. The same family has farmed here since the 1500s. They started taking in travellers at the end of the 1890s, and the fourth generation runs the place today.
For centuries this was a staging post. Travellers heading west to Fjærland would arrive at the farm, take a room, and wait. When the weather finally turned, a guide from the family led them up the mountain and across the Jostedalsbreen, down to Fjærland on the Sognefjord side. It was one of the most used southern crossings of the ice. The current host's great-grandfather ran it as a proper glacier-guiding business already in the 1800s.
In 1903, Andreas Lunde set out to make the start of that climb safer. With backing from the Norwegian Tourist Association, around 800 days of work went into blasting shelves into the cliff, setting iron bolts and ropes. The result was Lundeskaret, the steepest DNT-marked trail in Norway. By 1930 he had chiselled 53 proper steps into the rock.
The road and tunnel to Fjærland opened in May 1986. From that day the glacier crossing stopped being a necessity and became an expedition. The trailhead for Lundeskaret moved up to the tunnel portal. The station itself stayed put, still open, still run by the same family. Today it offers rooms, cabins, apartments and boat rental on Jølstravatnet.
For centuries this was a staging post. Travellers heading west to Fjærland would arrive at the farm, take a room, and wait. When the weather finally turned, a guide from the family led them up the mountain and across the Jostedalsbreen, down to Fjærland on the Sognefjord side. It was one of the most used southern crossings of the ice. The current host's great-grandfather ran it as a proper glacier-guiding business already in the 1800s.
In 1903, Andreas Lunde set out to make the start of that climb safer. With backing from the Norwegian Tourist Association, around 800 days of work went into blasting shelves into the cliff, setting iron bolts and ropes. The result was Lundeskaret, the steepest DNT-marked trail in Norway. By 1930 he had chiselled 53 proper steps into the rock.
The road and tunnel to Fjærland opened in May 1986. From that day the glacier crossing stopped being a necessity and became an expedition. The trailhead for Lundeskaret moved up to the tunnel portal. The station itself stayed put, still open, still run by the same family. Today it offers rooms, cabins, apartments and boat rental on Jølstravatnet.