Dumdalen Grotter

Useful Information

Location:	2687 Bøvertun, Norway (61.629974, 8.048961)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave River Cave Natural Bridge
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=25 m
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Aktiv i Lom AS, Galdhøpiggen Climbing Park, Galdhøpiggvegen 453, 2686 Bøverdalen, Tel: +47-612-12799. E-mail: Fyrst og Fremst AS, Brubakken 2, 2686 Lom, Tel: +47-966-46-116.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Dumdalen Grotter is a short through-cave and river cave, conveniently located right at the road. On highway 55 Sognefjellswegen, between Lom and Gaupne, there is a car park named Dumdalen Grotter Pakering about 1 km south of the hamlet Bøvertun. From here a narrow gravel road runs parallel to the new road, which is actually the old or historic road. It is gravel and quite narrow, intended for carriages of the 19th century. It was built along the slopes of the valley and crosses the tributary Dumma on a short river cave. It is only 25 m long but not very spacious and so it actually has a quite dark section in the middle, so we decided to call it a through-cave and not a natural bridge. As it is crossed by an actual road, though an abandoned one, it is actually a "true" bridge.

The whole valley of the Dumma, the Dumdalen, is located in the Breheimen nasjonalpark, it is limestone and heavily karstified. There are spectacular karren on the surface, and numerous caves. The name Dumdalen Grotter is actually wrong, the real name is Dumdalsgrottene in plural, the caves of the Dumdalen. The seven or eight different caves have no names, they were simply numbered. So actually the cave beneath the main road is named G1, the abbreviation for Grotter 1 or Cave 1. It's not easily crossed, though it is actually big enough to walk upright, but unfortunately the floor is mostly flooded by the river. Most people walk to the entrance but do not cross the cave. If you insist on doing so, you should start at the upper entrance and be very careful.

But there are trails on both sides of the river leading upstream. And after about a kilometer walk, there is another cave, G3 on the left side. Like below, the river enters the cave and leaves it again about 50 m below. This cave may be crossed with basic equipment, as it has no dangerous climbs and no cave clay, so you will not get dirty. It's a river cave after all, the sediments are washed away frequently. There are some ropes inside, which were installed by the tour operators, but the main goal is crawling not climbing, so they are actually superfluous. Soon after the two caves G4 and G5 are reached, and actually these are two cave entrances which lead to the same chamber inside, so it's actually only one cave. We were a little astonished why all the descriptions say there were "seven or eight different caves". Cavers normally define a cave as all passages which can be reached by a caver, so multiple entrances of the same cave are the same cave, not a different cave. It seems they had some problems here with numbering entrances instead of caves.

G6 is also called Phantom Cave, because its entrance is behind a thin waterfall. It has a huge entrance which leads to a single chamber. The main problem is that you may get wet when crossing the waterfall.

The most spectacular and also most difficult cave is G7 which is also named Spiral of Death. Its entrance is higher up in a cliff face and a little climbing is required to get there. This may be a little tricky during rain when the rocks are wet, and there is also a chance of remains snow fields until summer. The entrance, a circular hole is 1.5 m above the ground, a wooden ladder was installed to make this ascent easier. The passage behind is also circular, with a diameter between 1 and 1.5 m, so it requires crawling. This cave is higher up and the river does not flow through, so there is actually a little clay and mud, and you may get dirty. Then a crawl leads down in a spiral to a small chamber, this is the reason for the name of the cave. This chamber has a 15 m high shaft which actually opens to the surface, and you can see the sky.

To visit the caves we recommend appropriate hiking clothes for Norway, which includes good walking shoes, functional trousers and sweatshirt, and of course a raincoat. For the caves you will need a helmet with headlamp, and we recommend additional lamps for safety. The caves are often rather low and require crawling. There are trails to most caves, so they are rather easy to find, except probably G7. Search for the wooden ladder at the entrance to find it.

If you prefer to do such activities with a guide, we can only agree. There are Aktiv i Lom and Fyrst og Fremst which both offer tours into the caves. Tours should be booked ahead, at least the day before. The problem is, that they may be full or if there are no bookings at all, the tour may not take place. The tours are between 2 and 5 hours long, around 3 km walking distance, and include several caves. They are suitable for children, even four-year-olds were happy to crawl through the caves, but it depends on the child. It's possible to wait outside the cave until the others return though. The typical cost for a guided tour is around 800 or 900 NOK, which is about € 75. As the caves are freely accessible, this is not an entrance fee, it's the fee of the guide.