Stødnafossen

The falls are visible from Highway 5 at the east end of the town of Lærdalsøyri. The best place we found for viewing the falls was a large gravel parking area immediately off of Highway 5 adjacent to the intersection with Sjukehusvegen, which is also signed as the road to the hospital in town. This intersection is found about 4.5 km west of the junction of Highway 5 and the E16, or about 2.3 km east of the junction of Highway 5 and Route 243Stødnafossen is a two-stepped fall dropping 215 meters (705 feet) into Lærdalen just across the valley from the town of Lærdalsøyri. The falls first slide down a long horsetail-type fall for 110 meters (360 feet), pause briefly in a series of small cascades, and then hurtle another 80 meters (260 feet) in a sheer plunge to the valley floor, with more small cascades at its base. The falls drain a modest basin between Lærdalen and the Sognefjord which features broad, flat valleys and very few lakes, with most of the drainage being below 1000 meters above sea level. This means that while the falls will flow well when temperatures are above freezing, during the late summer months the volume of water present in the stream will be greatly reduced.