Sognefjell Waterfalls

Sognefjellet / Jotunheimen National Park, Sogn og Fjordane County / Oppland County, Norway

About Sognefjell Waterfalls

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Sognefjell Waterfalls page is my waterfalling excuse to talk about the popular Sognefjellet National Tourist Route (Sognefjellsvegen) that cut right through the heart of Jotunheimen National Park.

Among the waterfalling highlights of this road as far as our experience went included Skautefossen, cascades behind Krossbu, twin waterfalls on the Nufsgrøvan, and Dumfossen just to name a few.

Rv55_249_07222019 - Looking up at a pair of twin waterfalls on the Nufsgrøvan, which were two of the more obvious and prominent waterfalls seen from Sognefjellsvegen
Looking up at a pair of twin waterfalls on the Nufsgrøvan, which were two of the more obvious and prominent waterfalls seen from Sognefjellsvegen

It made sense that we would expect to see waterfalls along this stretch of high mountain road as it passed by glaciers and mountains still clinging to snow even in the height of Summer.

In fact, Sognefjellsvegen was considered the highest mountain pass in Northern Europe, where its highest point sat at 1430m.

Given the skyscraping nature of this road, we actually had to wait out some bad weather before we finally got a chance to drive this road and see for ourselves what the fuss was all about.

Even with the clearing weather, we still had some low clouds taking their time burning off before we finally got to see the glaciers that provided many of the signature panoramas you see in the literature.

Rv55_552_07222019 - This was the signature view of the Sognefjellsvegen leading towards glaciers draping around the Smørstabbtindan peak
This was the signature view of the Sognefjellsvegen leading towards glaciers draping around the Smørstabbtindan peak

Technically, the Fv55 route stretched from all the way in Vaheim to the west and Lom to the east, but the National Tourist Route part of this stretch was said to go from Luster to Lom.

In our case, since we were time limited, we only made it as far as the vicinity of Slåligrende in the valley Leirdalen.

So for the purposes of this write-up, we’ll only focus on the waterfalls we witnessed along the Fv55 between Turtagrø and Slåligrende since we already have a write-up covering other parts of the Fv55 between Turtagrø and Skjolden.

Maybe if we’re fortunate to come back under good weather conditions with more time to spare, then we might do this whole drive properly and include Lom in this write-up.

Spotting Skautefossen

Rv55_085_07212019 - Looking back down at the tight hairpin turns on the way up the Sognefjellsvegen from the lookout where we were able to view the Skautefossen in the distance
Looking back down at the tight hairpin turns on the way up the Sognefjellsvegen from the lookout where we were able to view the Skautefossen in the distance

Skautefossen was one of the few named waterfalls that we noticed while driving the narrow Fv55 road climbing up towards Sognefjellet.

Since we didn’t take a detour and drive into Helgedalen, we had to settle for distant views of this waterfall.

Given that it drained a combination of alpine lakes and tarns as well as a glacier, it was no wonder why the falls had such a gushing flow, which we could appreciate from a distance.

We spotted this waterfall from a viewing area at a hairpin turn just under 3km from the Tindevegen turnoff (for Årdal) near the town of Turtagrø.

Rv55_094_07212019 - Distant look towards the Skautefossen seen as we were making our way east on the climbing Sognefjellsvegen
Distant look towards the Skautefossen seen as we were making our way east on the climbing Sognefjellsvegen

For the most unobstructed views of the Helgedalen and the Skautefossen, I had to walk a short distance from the viewing area onto a grassy knob in order to get the view you see above.

Cascading Waterfalls behind Krossbu

The waterfalls that we noticed behind the hamlet of Krossbu were primarily fed by the melting glaciers of both Leirbrean and Bøverbrean.

Both of these glaciers neighbored the Smørstabbrean, and together, they draped around the Smørstabbtindan, which provided the signature view of Fv55 leading towards this well-photographed ice field.

Krossbu was about 3km east of the Sognefjellshytta along the Fv55.

Rv55_213_07222019 - Looking towards a cascade tumbling towards what I think was the hamlet or camping area at Krossbu
Looking towards a cascade tumbling towards what I think was the hamlet or camping area at Krossbu

I recalled there might have been some pullouts to stop the car and enjoy the view though I didn’t recall that they were sighposted.

The Nufshaugen Waterfall

This was a twin waterfall tumbling on the Nufsgrøvan that faced west so we were looking directly against the morning sun at it.

It seemed like a popular waterfall in a similar manner that Låtefossen drew a lot of attention due to this side-by-side segmented characteristic.

There was even a sign at a pullout called Nufshaugen, which was why I tended to unofficially call this the Nufshaugen Waterfall.

Rv55_251_07222019 - One half of the Nufshaugen Waterfall with that tour bus in the frame on the lower left, which took up most of the pullout
One half of the Nufshaugen Waterfall with that tour bus in the frame on the lower left, which took up most of the pullout

To my knowledge, this waterfall didn’t have an official name, but of all the ones we saw along the Sognefjellsvegen, Julie and I think this was the most impressive one.

During our visit, there was even a tour bus that stopped here (and blocked a lot of the good views since it took up the choicest part of the pullout).

The Nufshaugen pullout was about 2km north of Krossbu or 5km east of the Sognefjellshytta.

Brangsgrove

I’m speculating about this waterfall because I don’t know if it really did fall on the Brangsgrove Stream.

Rv55_306_07222019 - Looking towards what I think was the Brangsgrove Waterfall though I couldn't totally be sure
Looking towards what I think was the Brangsgrove Waterfall though I couldn’t totally be sure

However, from correlating the time stamps on my photos in relation to other ones taken around the same time, I’m going with this educated guess.

We only spotted this waterfall when we were driving back west along the Fv55 somewhere west of the Jotunheimen Fjellstue though I didn’t recall that we could stop safely for it.

Spotting Dumfossen

The last waterfall that we’re singling out on this page (though it was by no means the last one we could have singled out) was also another educated guess on my part.

However, based on the photographs and their time stamps in our library, I came to the conclusion that this could very well be the one called Dumfossen on Norgeskart.

Rv55_280_07222019 - Direct look at what I think was Dumfossen
Direct look at what I think was Dumfossen

If so, then this was a tall waterfall fed by the Dumhøbrean Glacier as it tumbled into the Leirdalen Valley near the Jotunheimen Fjellstue.

It seemed like we had plenty of opportunities to spot and photograph the waterfall because we had quite a few photographs from either a pullout or from Julie taking photos while I was driving.

Finally, I do want to mention that we spent about 4 hours doing this drive, and it wasn’t all of it.

GoogleMaps suggested that the 82km stretch between Skjolden and Lom would take about 90 minutes without stops, but I highly doubt you’ll want to zoom your way through this stretch of road.

Authorities

The Sognefjellet Waterfalls reside in both the Luster Municipality in Sogn og Fjordane County as well as Lom Municipality in Oppland County, Norway. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their websites here and here.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual subscribers. See Membership Options.
Content is for subscribers. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: sognefjellet, luster, lom, oppland, sogn og fjordane, norway, waterfalls, skautefossen, dumfossen, leira, krossbu, nufsgrovan, glaciers, jotunheimen



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
Read More About Johnny | A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls.