Gjende

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Gjende
Lake Gjende to the left, as seen from Besseggen, looking in the direction of Memurubu and Gjendebu. Lake Bessvatnet to the right.
Location	Oppland
Coordinates	61°29′22″N, 08°40′48″ECoordinates: 61°29′22″N, 08°40′48″E
Primary sources	River Muru
Primary outflows	River Sjoa
Basin countries	Norway
Max length	18 km
Max width	1.25 km
Surface area	15.64 km²
Average depth	64 m
Max depth	149 m
Water volume	1,030 dam³
Shore length¹	40.32 km
Surface elevation	983.7 m
¹ Shore length is an imprecise measure which may not be standardized for this article.

Gjende (or Gjendin) is a lake in the Jotunheimen mountains in Norway's Jotunheim National Park. The proglacial lake shows typical characteristics of glacial formation, being long and narrow—in length 18 km and in breadth 1.5 km at the broadest point with steep walls. Gjende has a characteristic light-green color resulting from the large quantity of glacial till which is discharged into the Gjende by the Muru river. The river Sjoa provides the outlet from Gjende at Gjendesheim, and flows eastward into the Gudbrandsdalslågen river.

Gjende lies in the middle of Jotunheim National Park and both to the north and south of the lake lie peaks greater than 2,000 m. There are numerous staffed tourist cabins maintained by the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (DNT); in the west end lies Gjendebu, on the north side lies Memurubu and on the east end lies Gjendesheim. In the summer boats provide transport between these locations.

Besseggen seen from the east, with Gjende lake to the right and Bessvatnet to the left

[edit] Cultural and literary references

Lake Gjende is found in literature and travel books from the 18th century. Together, the Jotunheim lakes of Gjende and Bygdin play in many such descriptions. For example Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt took his famous wild-reindeer ride along "the Gjendin Ridge", a reference to either the narrow Besseggen Ridge - or the Knutshø ridge on the other side of lake Gjende.

The official name Gjende is taken from the Gudbrandsdal traditional district dialect used in Lom og Vågå. In the Vang dialect the lake is called Gjendin, which is the form you find in Henrik Ibsen's name for what is now called Besseggen, formerly Gjendineggen, or Gendineggen in the older orthography.