7 day Backpacking Trip

Nyastøla, Grindsdalen. Photo: Tale Ivarhus

The Alpine Zones in Norway

We were tossed into a 7-day backpacking trip in the area above Leikanger and Sogndal the 5th of September. Pre trip we had to present our goals, frames and leadership for the trip, route plan and hazard management. My personal goals were recognizing plants, learning their names and fun-facts about them for future clients entertainment.

Low alpine zone

It starts where the forest ends and lasts until the common Bilberry vanishes which usually extends to 400meters of elevation. The elevations of the zones differ from south to north of Norway due to the climate (Kristoffersen, 2007;16). Shrubs dominate the zone, but three interesting plants that can be found here are:

Common Polypody

Recognized by it's thick, stiff and light green leafs, which does not grow all the way down its trunk. You can find them on rocks, cracks, and old trees. In the spring the root tastes like liquorice, but late summer it's more like bitter. Back in the days they used Polypody as candy, it is 500 times sweeter then sugar, and if you heat milk and add the root, you got a tea that can cure a cold (Compendium, 2011).

Common Plantain

Recognized by it's oval leafs from 5-20cm long and 5-10cm wide. Native Americans called it "the white man's footprint" because it appeared wherever the white man went. It is also known as "soldiers herb" for its use in the battlefields as field dressing. If you squeeze the juice of the plant on an open wound it's supposed to have a healing effect, it also calms insect bites (Møller & Christensen;214).

Common Tormentil

Recognized by the yellow flowers on a tight grassy system of stems low on the ground. They can be found in Asia and northern Europe on meadows, sandy soil, dunes and clearings. The dried root prepared as a lotion works to stop bleedings and diarrhea (Kristoffersen, 2007;90).

Mid alpine zone

This zone starts where the Bilberry vanishes. It is harder to differentiate where it ends and the high alpine proceeds, but the high alpine is dominated by snow, ice, boulder fields where the plants grow in isolated areas. There are a lot of plants from the low alpine zone except the ones that need the snow to melt early in the spring (Kristoffersen, 2007;18). Two interesting plants that could be found in the mid alpine zone are:

Dwarf Willow

Recognized by the small mouse ear looking leafs. They grow in clusters with a tight root system in the northern hemisphere including Europe, Greenland and the northern America. The Dwarf Willow can grow very old and is claimed to be smallest tree in the world. In the Alps it is found as high as 3300 meters above sea level (Kristoffersen, 2007;32).

Bristly Clubmoss

Recognized by the long arms with stiff, pointy leafs and a long oval bud on the top. It can be found on nutrition-poor soil and moors in the entire northern hemisphere. It is found up to 1600 meters in Norway. If you dry and shake them in your hand, the seeds will crackle if thrown on a fire. In the old days they were used to clean the pots after cooking (Kristoffersen, 2007;21)

High alpine zone

Starts where the plants grow apart in individual clusters, not as one field. Common terrain is ice, rocks and boulder fields. The high alpine zone alternate as the mid alpine zone does throughout Norway. It starts at 1600 meters in southern Trondelag and drop as low as 800 meters in Finnmark up north (Kristoffersen, 2007;19). Two fascinating plants that can be found here are:

Glacier Buttercup

Recognized by the short trunk and often many flowers. It has five to six petals, which first are white and then later red and violet. The Glacier Buttercup can only be found in large amounts up in the mountains, hence the flower that symbolize the Nordic mountains strongest. The petals curve after the sunrays and it can take seven seasons before it flowers. It can be found nearby glaciers, saturated gravel and it has the European height record of the flowers with 4275 meters on Finsteraarhorn in the Alps (Kristoffersen, 2007;56).

Snow Buttercup

Shortly described as a yellow Glacier Buttercup. It likes chalk rich soil and can light up areas around the snow where there are lots together. The plant prepare for flowering the autumn for the following spring and flower three days after melting. It grows at lower elevation compared to the Glacier Buttercup and are a typical northern hemisphere and Arctic plant (Kristoffersen, 2007;58).

References:

Kristoffersen, T. (2007). Det Blomstrende Fjellet. Vigmostad & Bjørke, Bergen.

Møller, K. B. & Christensen, K. I. (2011). Flora - Faktum Refereanse. Cappelen Damm, Oslo.

Compendium from Larsen, M. (2011).