Voldefossen

Voldefossen can be seen from the Aurlandsfjord between Flåm and Aurlandsvangen. There are limited places along the E16 to stop and view the falls but several can be found off the main road. The best view we found can be accessed by taking the E16 to the roundabout junction with Routes 50 (east) and 243 (west, signed for Aurlandsvangen) immediately south of the southern portal to the Lærdalstunnelen, and turn west onto Route 243. Drive for 1.6km then turn left onto Onstadvegen, crossing the Aurlandelvi on a long single-lane bridge. About half of a kilometer passed the bridge is a large grassy pullout which provides a good view up the fjord and of the falls. Because of the way the falls drop the best views are from a distance, but it should be possible to scramble up the stream to reach the base of the falls with some effort.Voldefossen is a tall but rather low volume waterfall which drains into the Aurlandsfjord from a small piece of the same glacier which feeds nearby Turlifossen. For all intents and purposes Voldefossen is a multi-stepped fall which drops approximately 530 meters (1,740 feet). However, Norway’s mapping agency Statkart specifically labels the two major tiers of the falls with different names – the upper being Voldefossen and the lower as Midtfossen. There is however effectively little to no separation between these two drops from a geologic standpoint, and within the World Waterfall Database guidelines the two drops are effectively two separate tiers of the same waterfall and should not be considered separate waterfalls. The top of the falls are situated at over 1,100 meters above sea level but because of the extremely steep terrain surrounding the falls and the distances one must be at in order to view the entire waterfall clearly, achieving an accurate measurement of the total drop has proven to be quite difficult. Five and one meter contour topographic maps provided by Statkart suggest the falls are broken down into at least four distinct sections; the upper drop (Voldefossen) falling 225 meters (720 feet), followed by a 20 meter (65 feet) fall, then a 172 meter (565 feet) fall (Midtfossen), and finally a series of cascades which add up to about 95 meters (310 feet) - though it isn't clear if this final series of cascades would all be properly classified as part of the falls. The drainage basin for this stream is rather small and though it does appear to originate in a small piece of a glacier at nearly 1,800 meters above sea level, when the winter snow pack has melted for the summer, the volume of this waterfall is greatly reduced. Visiting in the late spring and early summer months will, however, reveal a cataract of rather impressive stature.The name Voldefossen applies specifically to the 720 foot tall second tier of the falls, and Midtfossen applies to the roughly 545 foot tall third tier of the falls. As we consider them to be one continuous set of falls, we are using the name of the larger tier as the primary listing for this entry.