Bessvatnet

The Bessvatnet is a lake in the municipality of Lom, Oppland Fylke in Norway. It lies at an altitude of 1,373 meters.

Location

It is located on the southern branch of the Besseggen in the Jotunheimen mountains. On the other side of the Besseggen ridge is 389 meters below the Gjende. From the eastern shore there are 51 Riksvei for about 5 km.

Name

The name says Bessvatnet on Norwegian " Bear Lake " ( Old Norse: bersi "bear" and vatn " water lake " ), and is derived from the Bessa River, which emerges from the sea and three km further opens at Bessheim in the Sjoa.

Nature

The lake is about 6 km long and up to a kilometer wide. It extends half-moon shape from east to south-west. The water of the Bessvatnet appears blue and is partially covered with ice until the summer. The narrow, only about 50 m wide land bridge, the steep ridge between the two lakes Gjende and Bessvatnet called Bandet and was planning subject of water power industry, which wanted to use the gradient to generate electricity.