Fjellheisen is an aerial tramway located in the city of Tromsø, Norway.
The lower station is located near sea-level in Tromsdalen, a suburb on the mainland. The upper station is located at Storsteinen, a mountain ledge about 420 m above sea-level. The four-minute trip to the upper station is a popular destination in itself, offering visitors a commanding view of the city and the surrounding islands and fjords from an outdoor viewing deck. Food and drink is served in Fjellstua restaurant. Many passengers use the tramway as a launching point for hikes to various mountains in the area, including Tromsdalstinden, the iconic 1,238 m high peak that is easily visible from the city.
The tramway is particularly busy in the summer months, when it is popular with cruise-ship passengers wishing to get a good view of the midnight sun. In winter, the cable car operates from 10 am to 10 pm if weather conditions are not too rough for comfort. It is an excellent vantage point for viewing the Northern Lights.
Construction of Fjellheisen was started in 1960. The builder was Brødrene Jakobsens Rederi, a shipping company. The tramway officially opened on February 22, 1961.
You've probably already heard about the cable car and seen pictures of the mountain Storsteinen. Basically every picture you've seen so far on my blog that shows you a mountain in Tromsø that's covered in snow was taken on top of that mountain and I got there by taking the cable car.
It's called Fjellheisen and although most people equal the mountain with the cable car, it's not exactly the same. Fjellheisen means "mountain elevator" and Storsteinen means "big mountain" so no, the mountain itself is not called Fjellheisen. The storsteinen however is about 400 metres high and although that doesn't sound very high, I can assure you, it is - especially if you're afraid of heights.
The cable car ride only takes 4 minutes and the whole time I looked at my camera display, filming the ride, unable to look away from the display as that would have meant to actually see the distance to the ground. It was a little shaky and I was glad that every car was escorted by a staff member, as I was the only one going up at noon on a sunny November day.
The views however definitely made up for my fear and as you've already seen the pictures of Tromsø from above, I wanted to focus on pictures from the cable car itself in this post.
Like us and Join us at Xtreme Collections for more fun and knowledge.
