Jutulhogget

Useful Information

Location:	Urstrømmen (61.9968774, 10.8888101)
Open:	no restrictions. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Gorge
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	L=2.4 km, VR=240 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Helge Ness (1978): Jutulhogget, ei dramatisk framstilling av segna om korleis Jutulhogget vart til Noregs boklag, 1978 Ivar Berthling (1999): The drainage history of glacial lake Nedre Glåmsjø, southern Central Norway In: Norsk geografisk tidsskrift. Nr. 4, 1999 Fredrik Høgaas, Oddvar Longva (2019): The early Holocene ice-dammed lake Nedre Glomsjø in Mid-Norway: an open lake system succeeding an actively retreating ice sheet Norwegian Journal of Geology, 98 (4): 661–675. DOI online
Address:	Roros Tourist Office, Peder Hiorts gate 2, NO-7374 Roros, Tel: +47-72-41-0000. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1959	protected as a Nature Preserve.
2022	listed on the list "Earth’s 100 most significant geological formations" by the International Union of Geological Sciences.

Description

photography — Jutulhogget, Innlandet, Norway. Public Domain.

Jutulhogget (Giant's Cut) is a narrow gorge which crosses a ridge near Rondvassbu. Today there are two parallel valleys running almost north-south, which are separated by a low mountain ridge. Those valleys are the result of erosion after the last cold age. Around 10,400 years ago the melting water of the glacier was forming a proglacial lake named Nedre Glomsjø (Lower Glomsjø). The melting water was trapped by hills, moraine, and the retreating ice. At one point the dam eastwards was ruptured, water started flowing through this gap fast and faster, and in the end an estimated 180,000 m³/s rushed through this gap. This is three times the flow of the Amazon River. The enormous pressure of the water quickly eroded the gorge into the rock, actually in a matter of days. The lake had an area of 1,500 km² and a volume of 100 km³. All this water flowed out of the lake in a matter of weeks.

Today the gorge is 2.4 km long and has a depth of 100 to 240 m, the width of the gorge varies from 150 to 500 m, which makes it one of Northern Europe’s largest gorge. It is not the largest though, which is wrongly stated even on the Wikipedia page. There is no trail in the gorge, but on the western side near Urstrømmen is a parking lot and a viewoint. There is also a trail leading a short distance into the gorge.

Jutulhogget shares its name with the less-known Jutulhogget in Rondane nasjonalpark. This is also a gorge, but much less spectacular, although it has a waterfall. The other Jutulhogget is much harder to reach, it’s a full day hike.

The two giants Rendalsjutulen and Alvdalsjutulen (Elvdalsjutulen) were enemies. One day Rendalsjutulen cut the mountain gorge to redirect the Glåma river across to Rendalen. Obviously Glåmdalsjutulen was not happy that he water was stolen and so fought with Rendalsjutulen and killed him in the end. The why the gorge is named Jutulhogget, which translates "the cut created by a giant".