Henrik Ibsen described the 963-sq-km Rondane National Park as ‘palace piled upon palace’. It was created in 1962 as Norway’s first national park to protect the fabulous Rondane massif, regarded by many as the finest alpine hiking country in Norway. Ancient reindeer-trapping sites and burial mounds suggest that the area has been inhabited for thousands of years and the park is now one of the last refuges for the wild reindeer. Much of the park’s glaciated and lichen-coated landscape lies above 1400m and 10 rough and stony peaks rise to over 2000m, including the highest, Rondslottet (2178m), and Storronden (2138m). Rondane’s range of wildlife includes 28 mammal species and 124 bird species.
