Look up to the east side of the Aurlandsfjord, about 540 metres above the water. If you can make out a few buildings clinging to a green patch on the cliff face, that is Nedbergo. People have farmed that ledge since before the Viking Age. After the Black Death wiped out the population in 1349, the farm sat empty for 250 years until someone was desperate or brave enough to climb back up and start again around 1600.
Life at Nedbergo was vertical. Everything went up or down: people, animals, hay, milk, cheese. In 1931, they finally installed an aerial cable below the farmyard so they no longer had to carry goods on their backs down to the fjord. In 1936, they upgraded to a two-wire system where one wagon went down as the other came up. The farm faces southwest, so the sun warms nicely in spring. For this reason, vipers are plentiful.
The best story from Nedbergo involves a bear. One night, a bear came into the farmyard and attacked a stallion. The bear had visited before and killed a heifer, so this time the horse fought back. It had spiked horseshoes and struck with its front legs. In the morning they found the dead bear on the ground, its coat torn to pieces. The stallion was still running circles around the farmyard, furious. The farm was worked until about 1960. After 1900, families wintered down at Undredal and only brought their animals up in summer.
Life at Nedbergo was vertical. Everything went up or down: people, animals, hay, milk, cheese. In 1931, they finally installed an aerial cable below the farmyard so they no longer had to carry goods on their backs down to the fjord. In 1936, they upgraded to a two-wire system where one wagon went down as the other came up. The farm faces southwest, so the sun warms nicely in spring. For this reason, vipers are plentiful.
The best story from Nedbergo involves a bear. One night, a bear came into the farmyard and attacked a stallion. The bear had visited before and killed a heifer, so this time the horse fought back. It had spiked horseshoes and struck with its front legs. In the morning they found the dead bear on the ground, its coat torn to pieces. The stallion was still running circles around the farmyard, furious. The farm was worked until about 1960. After 1900, families wintered down at Undredal and only brought their animals up in summer.