Gålå is a village in

Sør-Fron Municipality Sør-Fron is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hundorp. Other villages in the municipality include Gålå, Ha ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The village is located in the

Gudbrandsdal Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending toward ...

valley, about to the southwest of the village of

Hundorp Hundorp is the administrative centre of Sør-Fron Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located in the Gudbrandsdal valley along the north shore of the Gudbrandsdalslågen river, about west of the village of Ringebu. The Europ ...

. Gålå is located on the eastern shore of the lake Gålåvatnet. Gålå is located on a mountain plateau that sits about above sea level. There are two main roads that connect Gålå to the rest of Sør-Fron. The main road is a fully maintained road that heads north to Harpefoss. The other road is the Peer Gynt Road (''Peer Gyntveien''). That mountain road is only open in the summer months. The village also has a small airport, Wadahl flyplass. Gålå is the site of the hotels ''Wadahl Høgfjellshotel'' and ''Gålå Høgfjellshotell''. It is also the location of ''Gålå Fjellgrend'', a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

catering for both winter and summer leisure activities. Gålå is the location of a ten-day summer cultural festival known as the Peer Gynt Festival (''Peer Gynt Stemnet'') set against the background of Lake Gålå (''Gålåvatnet''). The festival includes performances of '' Peer Gynt'', a five-act play by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen.

Etymology

The village is named after the old ''Gålå'' mountain farm. The mountain farm is named after the nearby lake Gålåvatnet. The lake is named after the river ''Golo''. The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

form of the river name was probably ''Gola'' and is then derived from the verb ''gola'' meaning "howl", "yell", or "scream". The river has a steep fall, and makes a lot of noise.

References

External links

Gålå Hotel websiteWadahl Høgfjellshotel websiteGålå Fjellgrend websitePeer Gynt stemnet website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaalaa Sør-Fron Villages in Innlandet Ski areas and resorts in Norway