Odda

Odda grew as a smelting town, with carbide production from 1908 using power from the new hydroelectric plant at Tyssedal and later zinc works, and its identity has been industrial for most of a century; the carbide plant closed in 2003 and part of the plant is now protected as industrial heritage. Since then the town has been reinvented around outdoor tourism, primarily because Trolltunga, a slab of rock projecting over Ringedalsvatnet lake, became one of the most photographed places in Norway: the hike is twenty-eight kilometres return with 800 metres of ascent, ten to twelve hours, and it has strained both the town and the mountain rescue service. Odda also gives access to the Buarbreen glacier arm and the Folgefonna national park.

History

Odda became a tourist destination in the 19th century, visited by English pioneers from around 1830 and by Kaiser Wilhelm II every year between 1891 and 1914, which led to the building of several hotels. Carbide production began in 1908 after the hydroelectric plant was built at nearby Tyssedal, in what was then the largest such plant in the world, and it ran until 2003; Odda was declared a town in 2004 (Wikipedia, Odda (town)).

What to look for

• The Trolltunga trail - a long day hike to the projecting rock slab.
• The industrial heritage - protected smelter buildings from the carbide era.
• Buarbreen - a glacier arm reachable by a scramble from the valley.
• The Sorfjord setting - the town at the head of a narrow fjord arm.

When to go

Mid-June to mid-September for Trolltunga without winter equipment; outside that window a guide is required and the route is genuinely dangerous. The town is quiet in winter with the glacier roads closed.

Good to know

Trolltunga is far harder than its photographs suggest, with rescues every season and a queue of hours at the rock in high summer. Parking is charged and shuttle buses are needed. Odda itself is a working town, not a scenic village.

Nearby

Buarbreen and Folgefonna are above the town; the Hardangerfjord and Roldal lie north and east.

Key facts