Gjende
Lake in Innlandet, Norway
title: "Gjende" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["vågå-municipality", "jotunheimen", "lakes-of-innlandet"] description: "Lake in Innlandet, Norway" topic_path: "general/vaga-municipality" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjende" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Lake in Innlandet, Norway ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox body of water"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Gjende |
| image | Besseggen1.jpg |
| caption | Lake Gjende to the left, as seen from Besseggen, looking in the direction of Memurubu and Gjendebu. Lake Bessvatnet to the right. |
| mapframe | yes |
| mapframe-zoom | 9 |
| mapframe-caption | Interactive map of the lake |
| coordinates | |
| location | Vågå Municipality, Innlandet |
| type | glacier mountain lake |
| inflow | River Muru |
| outflow | River Sjoa |
| basin_countries | Norway |
| length | 18 km |
| width | 1.5 km |
| area | 15.64 km2 |
| depth | 64 m |
| max-depth | 149 m |
| volume | 1 km3 |
| shore | 40.32 km |
| elevation | 983.7 m |
| reference | NVE |
| :: |
|name = Gjende |native_name = |native_name_lang = |other_name = |image = Besseggen1.jpg |caption = Lake Gjende to the left, as seen from Besseggen, looking in the direction of Memurubu and Gjendebu. Lake Bessvatnet to the right. |image_bathymetry = | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 9 | mapframe-caption = Interactive map of the lake |coordinates = |location = Vågå Municipality, Innlandet |type = glacier mountain lake |inflow = River Muru |outflow = River Sjoa |catchment = |basin_countries = Norway |date-built = |date-flooded = |length = 18 km |width = 1.5 km |area = 15.64 km2 |depth = 64 m |max-depth = 149 m |volume = 1 km3 |residence_time = |shore = 40.32 km |elevation = 983.7 m |frozen = |islands = |cities = |reference = NVE
Gjende (Vang dialect form: Gjendin) is a lake in Vågå Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Jotunheimen mountain range and also inside Jotunheimen National Park. The proglacial lake shows typical characteristics of glacial formation, being long and narrow, with steep walls. The lake is 18 km in length and only 1.5 km in width at the broadest point. Gjende has a characteristic light-green color resulting from the large quantity of rock flour which is discharged into the Gjende by the Muru river. The river Sjoa provides the outlet from Gjende at Gjendesheim, and flows eastward into the Gudbrandsdalslågen river.
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/la2-demis-bygdin-annotated.png" caption="Gjende and other nearby lakes."] ::
Gjende lies in the middle of Jotunheimen National Park and both to the north and south of the lake lie peaks with elevations reaching greater than 2000 m. There are numerous staffed tourist cabins maintained by the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (DNT); in the west end lies Gjendebu, on the north side lies Memurubu and on the east end lies Gjendesheim. In the summer boats provide transport between these locations.
Name
The name () is derived from the Old Norse word which means 'staff' or 'stick'. This is referring to the form of the long and narrow lake.
The official name is Gjende which is taken from the Gudbrandsdal traditional district dialect used in Lom Municipality and Vågå Municipality. In the nearby Vang Municipality, the name of the lake is Gjendin in their dialect. Gjendin is the form you find in Henrik Ibsen's name for what is now called Besseggen, formerly Gjendineggen, or Gendineggen in the older orthography. The name Gjende is derived from the Old Norse word "gandr" that can be translated into "straight stick", whereas the lake to the south Bygdin can be translated as "bent stick", the two names thereby referring to the shape of the lakes.
The lake gave its name to a famous early outdoors man and free thinker, Jo Gjende (1794–1884), who had a cabin at Gjende.
Cultural and literary references
Lake Gjende is found in literature and travel books from the 18th century. Together, the Jotunheimen lakes of Gjende and Bygdin play in many such descriptions. For example, Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt took his famous wild-reindeer ride along "the Gjendin Ridge", a reference to either the narrow Besseggen Ridge - or the Knutshø ridge on the other side of lake Gjende.
Media gallery
File:Lake_gjende.jpg|Lake Gjende as seen from Gjendesheim. File:Gjendesheim Gjende panorama.jpg|Panoramic view on the Gjende lake near Gjendesheim File:besseggen.jpg|Besseggen seen from the east, with Gjende lake to the right and Bessvatnet to the left File:Camping at Gjende.jpg|Camping at Gjende lake. File:Muru_memurubu.jpg|The river Muru flowing into Gjende lake next to Memurubu File:Memurubu hytt Gjende panorama.jpg|Panoramic view over Gjende lake near Memurubu
References
References
- "Innsjødatabase".
- "Informasjon om stadnamn". [[Norwegian Mapping Authority.
- {{Cite SNL. Gjende. Gjende. 2025-08-11. Mæhlum. Lars. 2025-07-02
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