Mardalsfossen: Tiered Waters
This waterfall is one of more famous ones in Norway. It exists in the valley of Romsdal and is within the area of the small city of Nesset. Mardalsfossen comes in at a total of 2,149 feet in height. This is composed of a series of two cascades and sheer drops with a small cascade section at the base of the falls. However the longest single-drop for Mardalsfossen is 975 feet. There are a lot of numbers floating around as to the height of the waterfall. This is probably due to the fact that there is no strict definition for where a waterfall begins and ends and for whether or not a waterfall broken up by cascades and other impediments should be counted as one whole waterfall. Simply put, some will measure the waterfall one way and others another way.
Sadly Mardalsfossen has been re channeled by the building of a Hydroelectric Plant, just a ways back from the falls. The plant was built during the 1970’s amidst much controversy from environmentalists. One such protester, the founder of the Norwegian Deep Ecology movement, Arne Nss actually tied himself to the waterfall in effort to stop the building of the dam and power plants. Many waterfalls in Norway were utilized in a similar manner. Deep Ecologists feel that everything, both human and non-human has the same inherent value, so the utilization of the waterfall was impinging on or perhaps restraining nature from its right to exist in a natural state.
Despite this re channeling the waterfall is still allowed to flow at full power during the months of mid-June to mid-August from 9 am to 9 pm. Many tourists take advantage of this opportunity every year to flock to Mardalsfossen and take picture memories of the tiered waterfall. It may seem strange that a waterfall would exist on an artificial schedule, but there are many who enjoy coming to the falls early or late enough to watch for the sudden change in volume as the dam opens or closes.
Most of the waterfalls in Norway were fed from the steady trickle of snow melt from higher up in the mountainous regions, but flows are usually higher in the early spring when the whether is warming up and much of the previous winter’s snow turns to water. Mardalsfossen flows into the nearby lake Eikesdalsvatnet.
On average the falls are 80 feet wide but they appear to be much thinner against the massive cliffs that they spill over. The falls, being tiered with the upper falls just to the right of the lower falls make for very scenic photos. Often there is a light mist rising from the cascades at the base of the lower falls. The cliffs themselves are a dark gray color, helping the white gush of water from the falls to really stand out and they melt into a sloping mountain on either side of Mardalsfossen that is covered in greenery all the way down to the lakeside.