Loen Skylift
Interesting facts
- In 2019 the Norwegian BASE jumper Tom Erik Heimen leapt from Mount Hoven 66 times in 24 hours, setting a world record for vertical metres flown in a day.
- Since the lift opened, Hoven has turned into a BASE-jumping magnet, with an estimated 10,000 jumps made from the mountain.
- At the highest point of the ride the cabin hangs roughly 170 metres above the slope below it.
- The whole line is supported by just one tower between the two stations, with two cabins shuttling up and down as a reversible tramway.
- Planners budgeted for 55,000 passengers in the first season, but about 92,000 people rode the lift by the end of 2017.
- Local tourism businesses reported revenue rising by around 80 percent after the lift began running.
- Construction started in 2016 and the project cost about 300 million Norwegian kroner.
- The previous aerial tramway built in Norway before it was the Hangursbanen at Voss, which opened back in 1963.
- The summit restaurant on Hoven has room for around 370 guests.
Why it is worth it
The Loen Skylift climbs straight out of the Nordfjord and up the face of Mount Hoven, lifting passengers from the water's edge in the village of Loen to a summit 1,011 metres above in about five minutes. It is one of the steepest aerial tramways in the world: the cable averages a gradient of around 45 degrees and reaches 60 degrees at its steepest, so that the cabin seems less to ride up the mountain than to be hauled up a wall. From inside, the fjord drops away beneath your feet with startling speed, the village shrinking to a scatter of roofs on the shore.
The lift was built by Garaventa, part of the Doppelmayr Garaventa Group, with some 1.5 kilometres of track rope between the stations. Each cabin carries up to 45 people and travels at up to seven metres per second. Queen Sonja of Norway opened it in May 2017, and it was the first aerial tramway to be built in Norway since the 1960s. It is owned by a local company whose shareholders include the Hotel Alexandra in Loen, the lift's manufacturer and the municipality of Stryn.
At the top, the Hoven restaurant is built as a stepped amphitheatre facing the view, with a roof terrace above, so that every table looks out over the inner reaches of the fjord. From the summit the panorama takes in Mount Skåla and the lake Lovatnet to the east, Olden and the Jostedalsbreen, the largest glacier on the European mainland, to the south, and the Nordfjord winding west towards Stryn. The summit plateau is the starting point for mountain walks along the ridges, including guided hikes to the peak of Staurinibba. For those who would rather climb than ride, the Via Ferrata Loen climbs the mountain, crossing the 120-metre Gjølmunne Bridge, described as the longest via ferrata bridge in Europe, and a short pair of ziplines runs nearby.
Getting there
The lower station stands in Loen, a village on the Nordfjord in Stryn municipality, western Norway. The nearest city is Ålesund, about 75 km away in a straight line but considerably further by road around the fjords. The nearest airport is Ørsta-Volda Airport, Hovden (HOV), about 52 km away. Loen can be reached by car or by regional bus, and cruise passengers usually arrive by road along the fjord shore from the port of Olden.
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From the encyclopaedia
Loen Skylift is an aerial tramway in the village of Loen in Stryn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The cable car climbs 1,011 metres (3,317 ft) to the top of Mount Hoven, above the Nordfjord. The maximum speed is 7 metres per second (16 mph). With a gradient up to 60°, it is one of the steepest in the world. The average is 45°. The gondola car is 170 metres (560 ft) above ground at the highest. It is the first aerial tramway installed in Norway since Hangursbanen in 1963.
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