Glaciers carved Lysefjord during successive ice ages, gouging a narrow trench through the bedrock and leaving walls so sheer they seem architectural rather than geological. The fjord's profile is deceptive: where it meets the sea near the village of Forsand, the water is only 13 meters deep. Head inland, and the floor drops away -- beneath Preikestolen, it reaches over 400 meters. The symmetry is striking: in places, the fjord is as deep as the mountains flanking it are tall. Professor Bjorn G. Andersen documented this geology in his 1954 master's thesis, tracing the glacial retreat between Lysefjord and neighboring Josenfjord, reading in the rock a record of ice that advanced and withdrew over millennia.

Two landmarks have made Lysefjord one of Norway's most visited natural attractions. Preikestolen -- the Pulpit Rock -- is a flat-topped cliff jutting out over the fjord with a vertical drop of 604 meters. Seen from below on a cruise ship, it is a pale ledge against the sky; seen from above, it is a platform that seems to float over empty space. At the fjord's eastern end, Kjerag mountain rises 1,110 meters, offering hikers views even more dramatic. Wedged between two rock faces near Kjerag's summit, the Kjeragbolten -- a boulder suspended over a thousand-meter drop -- has become one of the most photographed spots in Scandinavia. BASE jumping is legally permitted along the fjord's cliffs, and jumpers launch themselves into the void between the granite walls with the water far below.

The tiny village of Lysebotn, at the fjord's far eastern end, exists largely because of what lies hidden inside the surrounding mountains. Two hydroelectric plants -- Lyse and Tjodan -- generate electricity for more than 100,000 people by channeling water through enormous drops inside the rock. At Lyse, water falls 620 meters to reach the turbines, producing up to 210,000 kilowatts. At Tjodan, the fall is even more dramatic: 896 meters, yielding 110,000 kilowatts. Norway's geography, which makes surface travel so difficult, turns out to be ideally suited for generating clean power. The same vertical terrain that prevents roads along the fjord's walls drives the turbines that light the region.

Reaching Lysebotn by land requires commitment. The only road climbs nearly 900 meters through a series of 27 hairpin bends, including a long switchback tunnel bored through the mountain itself. There are no roads along the fjord -- the walls are simply too steep. A few scattered settlements cling to the shoreline, accessible only by boat. On the north shore, roughly halfway along the fjord, a small farming area connects by road to the village of Ardal over the mountains, but everything else is water access only. The Lysefjord Bridge, near the western end at Forsand, provides the fjord's only crossing. This isolation is part of the appeal. Victor Hugo visited in 1866 and was so moved by the scenery that he wove it into his novel Toilers of the Sea, adding literary mythology to a place that already felt mythic.