Valursfossen

Valursfossen is one of three major waterfalls located near the end of Valursdalen in Eidfjord. The falls occur along the river Veig as it drops into the valley in a very unusual way. As it approaches the headwall of the valley, the river is funneled into a natural flume which runs perpendicular to the natural orientation of the valley itself. Where the river is able to finally overcome the obstructing wall which forced its direction change, it abruptly turns 90 degrees to the left and plunges into the canyon below. But instead of continuing to flow in that same direction, the sloping bedrock below the cliff forces the river to flow in the opposite direction as it was above the falls, so in effect Valursfossen represents a point where the river is forced to change the direction it flows in by almost 180 degrees. We had previously given the height of this waterfall as over 270 meters, however in evaluating topographic data and photographs of the riverbed below the falls, it's clear that the steep cascades below the bedrock portion of the falls should not be included as part of its overall height. The actual height of the falls is approximately 110 meters (360 feet), the first half of which is a sheer plunging falls, and the remainder is a steep veiling horsetail that sheets down a diagonally oriented pitch of rock.