Lake

Bondhusvatnet after 1 September

The ban was lifted on 10 July 2026. An English page still says the inner valley is closed for summer 2026, and the signs that day win.

Hardanger Shop · Updated 29 September 2026

Send on hardanger.shop/guide/en/bondhusvatnet-etter-1-september

We have not walked in.

RoadOpen26 June, from Sunndal
Ban10 Julylifted, it can return
LakeDrinking waterno swimming

A drawing of Sørfjord, fruit trees in blossom on the slope, and the Folgefonna ice plateau above the mountains. Not a photograph of Bondhusvatnet. — Our drawing, 18 September 2026. A view over Sørfjord toward the Folgefonna ice plateau, with fruit trees in blossom on the slope. Bondhusbrea is an arm of that plateau, the encyclopaedia says. It is a drawing, not a photograph of the lake.

The tape

Rhuan, who runs the shop, has not walked in to Bondhusvatnet. On 28 September 2026 he says the car park was full every time he tried. Come early.

Kvinnherad kommune, 24 June 2026, the page last updated 3 July: the police forbid staying in the area from Bondhusbreen along the river down to Bondhusvatnet and the sandbank at the foot of the lake. The ban was to last until 1 September 2026, and then be assessed again. NRK Vestland the same day, 11:48, puts the ban along Brufosselva and on the sandbank.

26 June, the page last updated 1 July: the tape is inside Holgersneset, at the inner end of the lake. Bondhusdalen from Sunndal up to Bondhusvatnet is open. The risk is the river mouth at the inner end of the lake and the river course up towards the glacier edge. Geologist Jostein Bakke's estimate on that page: the lake would rise by five centimetres if the glacial lake drained.

NRK, 10 July 2026, 11:42: the police have lifted the ban. The glacial lake has drained. The kommune the same day, the page last updated 12 August: the ban on travel between Bondhusbreen and Bondhusvatnet is lifted. The glacial lake drained around the turn of the month. Monitoring continues, and the ban can be brought back if the lake builds up again. The camera in that article watches the glacial lake. It is not a parking camera. The signs that day win.

The June page still says the ban lasts until 1 September. The lift on 10 July is the later page. The English destination page, read 28 September 2026, says the innermost part of the valley, in towards the glacier, is closed for summer 2026. Visit Norway's listing 212292 says the same. The Norwegian page on the same site does not contain the word stengd, and it mentions neither 10 July nor 1 September.

Parking

The kommune calls the place Sunndal. The Folgefonna National Park visitor centre calls the quay Sundal. The ice road from the quay was built in 1863 to carry ice to the fjord, not for visitors. The gravel road to the lake can be used with a stroller and a wheelchair. Boots if you follow the path to the inner end of the lake and on to the moraine at Bondhusbrea.

The Norwegian destination page gives two methods, both 125 kroner. A machine, a ticket in the windscreen, 500 metres off Fv. 551. A camera that reads the licence plate, 125 kroner for the calendar day from 00:01 to 23:59, which the page says is not a 24-hour period. Visit Norway's listing 212292 has only the ticket. Listing 17911 and UT.no say parking costs, with no amount.

The length is not one number. UT.no and the English FAQ print 2.3 kilometres for the gravel road. Visit Norway's listing 17911 and fjords.com print 2.5 kilometres each way. The FAQ also prints 4.6 kilometres and 135 metres of ascent for the walk there and back. The visitor centre prints two hours return to the lake, three hours to the far end, four hours to the moraine. UT.no's header, 8.8 kilometres and four hours, is the moraine in Vetledalen, not the lake.

The lake

Bondhusbrea in Store norske leksikon, Geir Thorsnæs, last updated 23 March 2026: the Fonnelva runs north to Bondhusvatnet, 187 metres above sea level. The destination page, UT.no and fjords.com print 190. Wikipedia's infobox prints 188. This piece does not pick one number. Since 1900 the front has retreated about 1,000 metres. In 2015–2025 the retreat was over 300 metres. That is the encyclopaedia, not a figure we measured.

The same article calls Bondhusbrea an arm of Folgefonna, a little over four kilometres long. The drawing above is the view over Sørfjord toward that plateau. It is not the lake.

The lake and the river are drinking water. That is in the body of the Wikipedia article. The destination page and UT.no forbid swimming. A tent must stand at least 50 metres from the water on those two pages. The encyclopaedia does not give that line. The encyclopaedia does not give the year 1863. The year is on the visitor centre's page.

There is no Bondhus design. What there is of the ice is Folgefonna. The price is on the product page.

We have no physical shop in Odda. What we make is printed to order and sent by post.

Sources

Checked 29 September 2026, unless a line says otherwise. The research note read the pages on 28 September 2026:

Kvinnherad kommune, 24 June 2026, last updated 3 July. A ban until 1 September 2026. The page does not say the ban was later lifted.
NRK Vestland, 24 June 2026, 11:48. Brufosselva and the sandbank, until 1 September.
Kvinnherad kommune, 26 June 2026, last updated 1 July. The tape inside Holgersneset. The valley from Sunndal to the lake is open. Bakke's estimate: five centimetres.
NRK Vestland, 10 July 2026, 11:42. The ban lifted. The glacial lake has drained.
Kvinnherad kommune, 10 July 2026, last updated 12 August. Lifted. It can return. The camera watches the glacial lake.
Bondhusdalen, the visitor centre. The ice road from the quay in Sundal, 1863. A stroller and a wheelchair on the gravel road. Two, three and four hours for the lake, the far end and the moraine.
Bondhusbrea, Geir Thorsnæs, 23 March 2026. An arm of Folgefonna, a little over four kilometres. 187 metres above sea level. About 1,000 metres of retreat since 1900, over 300 metres in 2015–2025. No year 1863.
Bondhusvatnet, the Norwegian destination page. Two methods, both 125 kroner. No “stengd”. 4.6 kilometres and 135 metres of ascent, 190 metres above sea level, in the FAQ.
Lake Bondhusvatnet, the English page, read 28 September 2026. The inner part closed for summer 2026. Gravel road 2.3 kilometres. 190 metres.
UT.no. Gravel road 2.3 kilometres. 190 metres. The header's 8.8 kilometres is the moraine. Parking with no amount. No swimming. A tent 50 metres from the water.
Rhuan Barreto, #363, 28 September 2026. Has not walked in. The car park was full every time he tried.