Sunnmørsalpane is the name of the Mountains around the fjord Hjørundfjorden. Of course - it is not the water that makes a fjord beautiful, dramatic and impressive, it’s the landscape around the fjord. Sunnmørsalpane has amongst some of the most beautiful Mountains in Norway, making Hjørundfjorden one of the most beautiful fjords. 

During the ice age, most of Norway was covered in ice. On their way to the sea, the glaciers carved out the mountains and created the deep fjords. In the Norwegian Alps, and some of the other places in the country, the mountain tops were above the level of the ice and survived to leave us these majestic peaks. The unique characteristic with the Norwegian Alps is that the peaks shoot straight up out of the fjord.

During the 1800s, the Norwegian Alps and Hjørundfjorden were extremely popular with mountain people and dignitaries from all over Europe. Many of the mountaineers of those days were English. One of the peaks in Molladalen is named after William Cecil Slingsby and a ski lodge near Øye is named after Cecil Watson Patchell. Among the dignitaries who often visited the area was the German Kaiser.

Following this was a period of calm, but more recently the Norwegian Alps are going through somewhat of a re-discovery. Geiranger, for example, is one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the world, but Hjørundfjord and the Norwegian Alps are just as impressive. Mass tourism has yet to arrive in the same quantity, which in some respects is good, but for mountain lovers it is one of the most amazing places you can find.

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