Voss

Voss municipality has approximately 14.000 inhabitants and covers a area of 1.805,8 km2. Voss is the largest rural municipality in the Conty of Hordaland. Agricultural Voss has cultural traditions stretching back centuries and continues, today, to be an important centre for folk music.

Voss is also an excellent base. You can hire a boat and water skis, go sailing on a fishing boat or up in the sky in a seaplane. The possibilities are almost limitless. Paragliding, rafting, gliding, hanggliding, mountain climbing, fly-fishing, parachute jumping, riding, windsurfing and hiking and plenty of other possibilities we haven´t even thought of. The village has more than 100 shops, and cafés, pubs, piano bars and nightclubs ensure a great afterski. At the restaurants you can try exotic local specialties. Voss can offer accommodation for 2.500 visitors.

WINTER SPORTS

The varied mountain terrain around Voss could have been made for winter sports. It is not without reason that Voss has fostered more Olympic participants than aqy other place in the world. Voss offers excellent nursery slopes as well as demanding terrain for the most experienced. Voss has also excellent facilities for powdersnow sports. The alpine slopes as Voss lie between Hanguren and Bavallen, with a fantastic view. The area is easily accessible with a cable car running from Voss centre and excellent parking facilities in Bavallen. Voss has more than 40 km prepared slopes, divided among 14 runs from green to black. A total of 10 lifts carry you safely up to almost 1.000 metres above sea-level.

On Slettafjellet you will find snow board park with Big Jump, Fun Box, Half Pipe and Boardcross. An eldorado for snow board users. A children´s play area with a separate children´s lift. When the ski lifts close for the day it´s after ski time and you can choose between many pubs, bars and restaurants. Voss centre is full of life. We can offer our guests a variety of swimming pools and a active centre with bowling, squash and a health studio. The cinema in Voss gets all the latest films. We can offer ice fishing or skaiting on frozen lakes, or how about a ride on a horsedrawn sleigh ?

KNUTE ROCKNE

In front of Voss Railwaystation there is a memorial stone. Knute Rockne revolutionised American football with his expertise in tactics and strategy. Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and is regarded by many as the greatest coach in college football history. His biography at the College Football Hall of Fame calls him, "American football's most-renowned coach".

Rockne was not the first coach to use the forward pass, but he helped popularize it, especially on the East Coast. Most football historians agree that a few schools, notably Saint Louis University, Michigan, and Minnesota, had passing attacks in place well before Rockne arrived at Notre Dame (Notre Dame Fighting Irish Head Football Coaches). Few of the major Eastern teams used the pass, however. In the summer of 1913, while he was a life guard on the beach at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, Rockne and his college teammate and roommate Gus Dorais worked on passing techniques. That fall, Notre Dame upset heavily favored Army, 35-13, at West Point thanks to a barrage of Dorais-to-Rockne passes. The game played an important role in displaying the potency of the forward pass and "open offense" and convinced many coaches to consider adding a few pass plays to their play books. The game is dramatized in the movie, "The Long Gray Line".

Achievements

In 13 years as the head of Notre Dame, Rockne lost just 12 games.

Notre Dame won the national championship in 1919, 1920, 1924, 1929 and 1930.

Was posthumously inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1951.

Best known for his "Win one for the Gipper" speech at Notre Dame in 1928.

In 1999 he was named one of the greatest coaches on "ESPN SportCentury."

Rockne, who was inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1951 - the first year of inductions - revolutionized the game of football with his wide-ranging ideas and innovations. Rockne was the first football coach to take his team all over the country and initiate intersectional rivalries.

The Irish competed in a national arena. He challenged the best football teams in the land and almost always won. Using his medical and anatomical knowledge, Rockne designed his own equipment and uniforms. He reduced the amount of bulk and weight of the equipment, while increasing its protectiveness. He also introduced the gold satin and silk pants that cut down on wind resistance.

Rockne foresaw the day of the two-platoon system and often used his "shock troops" a full team of second stringers, at the start of most games. Inspired by the precision and timing of a chorus line, Rockne added the Notre Dame shift to his playbook. In the shift, all four backs were still in motion at the snap. Opponents were so dumbfounded by the shift that they couldn´t find a consistent way to handle it. The rules board finally enacted a law against the shift.

TWA Flight 599

Rockne was only 43 when he died in a plane crash in Kansas on March 31, 1931 while en route to participate in the production of the film "The Spirit of Notre Dame". The Rockne crash dominated the news for a while and was thus a tragic catalyst in the progress of civil aviation. On the spot where the plane crashed, a memorial dedicated to the victims stands surrounded by a wire fence with wooden posts. The memorial has been kept up all these years by Easter Heathman, who, at age thirteen in 1931, was one of the first people to arrive at the site of the tragedy.

Rockne was buried in Highland Cemetery in South Bend, and a student gymnasium building on campus is named in his honor, as well as a street in South Bend, and a travel plaza on the Indiana Toll Road. The Matfield Green travel plaza on the Kansas Turnpike, near Bazaar, contains a memorial to him.

STALHEIMSKLEIVENE

If you are travelling by car, take the Stalheimskleivene road down to Sognefjord. The road which winds through 13 bends from the bottom to the mountain top - engineering at its best. Stalheim Hotel lies on the mountain top with a fantastic view over the valley.

UNESCO´s WORLD HERITAGE

The West Norwegian Fjords of Geirangefjord and Nærøyfjord was inscribed on UNESCOs World Heritage List in 2005. The two fjords are situated 120 km from each other and they are separated by the Jostedal glacier. The World Heritage Site possesses a unique combination of glacial landforms at the same time as each area is characterised by its own outstanding beauty.

Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord stretches through the municipality of Aurland, Lærdal, Norddal, Stranda, Vik and Voss.

VANGSVATNET

If you are looking for an exciting experience such as Parasailing, Water-skiing, Wakeboard, or Banana-boating it all happens in front of Park Hotel Vossevangen.

TVINDEFOSSEN

The Norwegian folk tales tells if you to drink the water which is free you will keep your eternal youth. Beside the waterfall just outside Voss centre, set in lovely surroundings, you can find a campingsite.

MØSTERTUNET

Visit the Møstertunet folk museum.

FINNESLOFTET

A wooden banqueting hall which dates from around 1250.

VOSS KYRKJE

Built between 1271 - 77, Vangschurch is still in use with service every Sunday at 11.00.

MEMORIALS

In front of Voss Railwaystation there is a memorial stone of Knut Rokne.

Olav´s Cross
Dating from 1023 when the population of Voss Christened.

The War Memorial

Commemorates those from Voss who fought in the war against Sweden in 1808- 1814.

Knut Nelson Memorial Stone

Senator of Minnesota 1895. Senator until his death in 1923. Had he been born in USA he would probably become President.

The Mossafinn Memorial, the Sivle Monument, the Sivle Memorial, Heiagjengen, the Bergslien Monument, the Tvinde Monument, Merkesmannen, Sjur Helgeland Memorial.

SMALAHOVE (smoked lamb´s head)

Smalahove is a traditional dish, usually eaten around and before Christmas time, made from a sheep´s head. The skin and fleece of the head is torched, the brain removed, and the head is salted, sometimes smoked, and dried. The head is boiled for about 3 hours and served with mashed rutabaga and potatoes.

Lamb´s meat and mutton is very popular in autumn, mainly used in fårikål (mutton stew with cabbage). Pinnekjøtt, cured and sometimes smoked mutton ribs that is steamed for several hours, is traditionally served as Christmas dinner in the western parts of Norway.

SKIING

At Voss ski resort you will find 40 km of groomed alpine slopes, from beginner areas to demanding runs for advanced skiers. There are 10 ski lifts, including a gondola from the village, a snow park and a children area. Snowmaking facilities guarantee perfect conditions all season.

EKSTREMSPORTVEKO

Ekstremsportveko is a sport and music festival that is hosting various competitions. The 2009 event Ekstremsportveko is from 21st of June - 28th of June.

GOLF

Voss Golfclub is a golf course with 6 holes and a variation of difficulties. The course lies at Norheim close to Lønahorgi (1.410 metres), approximately 9 km from Voss Center.

Innersvingen Golf is a place where you can simulate a game of golf.