Svellofossen

Svellofossen can be seen from many areas around Øvre Eidfjord, but the best views are from the road leading into Hjølmadalen. From Highway 7 in Øvre Eidfjord follow the signs pointing to Hjølmadalen (the street is Hagavegen). The falls will be seen high up on the west side of the valley, adjacent to the falls on the Reipo.The stream Svello is a small tributary to the lower end of Hjølmadalen near Øvre Eidfjord. As it flows over the edge of the valley it plunges and horsetails over a nearly vertical step, and then splits into two channels and cascades steeply for a total fall of 525 meters (1,720 feet), below which the stream transitions to a steep talus runout through the forest in the final descent to the valley floor. The falls drain from a rather small area and appear to be rather insignificant for most of the year, but when surveyed in June 2011 were flowing quite well. Adjacent to Svellofossen is another waterfall of similar size along the stream Reipo (which we unfortunately were not able to properly document at the time).