It was Monday during the Easter holidays. The artificial grass at Dale in Vaksdal municipality had finally become snow-free. The girls’ team finally got their first outdoor training session after the winter.
– I had been looking forward to that for a very long time. Much nicer than training inside, says 3rd grader Olivia Birkeland Johansen.
The next day, the senior team had planned a training session, but they canceled because so few turned up. It was in the middle of Easter.
The soccer team of Alexandra Espeland Ulveseth (from left), Mia Skarsbø Knutsen, Olivia Espeland Ulveseth and Olivia Birkeland Johansen were the last to train on the field before the boulders crushed the artificial grass in the dark.
Photo: Leif Rune Løland / NRK
– Thought it was Putin
After that, it was quiet on the football field at Dale IL.
Until 03.40 on the night of Wednesday 27 March, the day before Maundy Thursday.
– I woke up in the middle of the night. My whole bed started shaking, because I live quite close to the football field. And I just thought: “what the hell is going on?”
That’s what Alexandra Espeland Ulveseth, Olivia’s classmate and teammate, says.
– I woke up and thought it was Putin who came, adds Olivia Espeland Ulveseth, who is Alexandra’s twin sister.
The landslide risk was mapped in 2018. Six years later, the landslide occurred. Photo: Nese Media
The next day, on Maundy Thursday, the new stones tumbled down the same ura.
– I saw some smaller rocks that fell, says Mia Skarsbø Knutsen.
A month after the collapse, I meet the 3rd graders in the ball pit at Dale Children’s and Youth School.
It is where the youngest teams train now. The artificial grass pitch, and the clubhouse, which was completed last year, have been blocked off since the collapse.
The older teams now train in the neighboring villages of Stanghelle and Vaksdal.
– Unthinkable
June Espeland is back at the artificial grass track for the first time since the collapse.
– I’m insanely happy that it happened at night and that no one was here.
Two weeks before the crash, June Espeland was elected leader of the sports team. And she is the mother of the twins who trained there a day and a half before.
Photo: Leif Rune Løland / NRK
– It is unthinkable and absolutely terrible. I think most people know that. Sending their kids down in…, yes…
Brutal sight
The two boulders that lie inside the football pitch of Dale IL are a brutal sight.
Both are around three meters high and even wider.
Each stone is 60-70 cubic meters and up to 150-200 tonnes, says geologist Asbjørn Øystese, who has investigated the landslide site.
The one stone block stopped on the line on the long side, between two goals that were lined up there.
The other is in the middle of the field.
The stone block rolled in outside the 16 meters before it stopped.
Several other giant stones stuck in the ground above the lawn.
The geologist has estimated that there was between 30,000 and 50,000 cubic meters of rock, and recommends that the artificial turf be moved.
Olivia Birkeland Johansen and Mia Skarsbø Knutsen play in the ball pit at Dale school.
Photo: Leif Rune Løland / NRK
– It’s stupid that I can’t play there. But it was good that the new clubhouse was not destroyed, because they spent a long time on it, says Olivia Birkeland Johansen.
The girls think that the two boulders on the track “are probably a hundred kilos”.
Some of them think the stones must be blown away.
Others are afraid the explosion will shake loose a new race.
The landslide broke loose below the mountain Drivanakken, around 500 meters above the football pitch, and formed the white ura just above the pitch.
Photo: Nese Media
– But why did they build a football field where huge rocks can fall?
– I do not know. There was probably a large space to build there, and so they used it, says Alexandra.
Rasfare known for six years
In 2018, Norway’s Directorate of Water Resources and Energy (NVE) prepared a danger zone map showing the risk of rockfalls, among other things in this area.
The danger zone map from 2018 shows that half of the artificial grass pitch (on the left), the old clubhouse and much of the grass pitch (on the right) are in the yellow danger zone. The new clubhouse (in the middle of the picture) is outside.
Since that time, it has been known that much of the artificial grass pitch and the grass pitch, and the entire old clubhouse, have a yellow slide hazard.
This means a risk of a so-called 5,000-year race.
A small part of the artificial grass pitch also has an orange landslide hazard, which is a risk of so-called 1,000-year landslides.
But it was already in 2010 that artificial grass was laid on the old gravel track at Dale IL.
The municipality: – Did not do enough
Municipal director Atle Fasteland admits that race risk was not an issue at the time.
– When the track was built at the time, there was probably not that much focus on the risk of landslides at all, he says to NRK.
– Of course I can be criticized afterwards, but that helps so little, says municipal director Atle Fasteland.
Photo: Leif Rune Løland / NRK
In contrast, the race hazard was mapped and known when the municipality gave the sports team permission to build a new clubhouse in autumn 2022.
The house, which was completed last year, is outside the risk zones on the NVE map.
But the map had then shown for four years that much of the sports facility is in a dangerous condition.
– The clubhouse was investigated a bit, but in hindsight you can say that not enough was done, Fasteland admits.
– We were not careless
The municipal director says that both Vaksdal and the rest of Norway have a different focus on race danger now than a few years ago.
– Because I have seen that there are several crashes. There are several natural disasters. Both in Western Norway and elsewhere in the country.
– With the knowledge I had then and there, I was not careless. Of course, I can be criticized afterwards, but it helps so little.
– Have children and adults played with life as a stake up until now?
– It is impossible for me to answer, but at least we were lucky that no one was killed or injured.
The track can no longer be used. The geologist’s report after the landslide recommends that the track be moved.
Photo: Leif Rune Løland / NRK
“No race hazard”
In the building application, the sports team answered “no” to the standard question about the risk of landslides where the building was to be located.
In the framework permit for a new clubhouse, the municipality wrote in August 2022:
“The project owner (i.e. the sports team) has declared that the project must not be located in an area where there is a risk of flash floods, landslides or other natural and environmental conditions that require special investigations or measures. The municipality uses this assessment as the basis for the decision.”
The newly built clubhouse was opened last year. Now it cannot be used, even if it lies outside the mapped danger zone. The old clubhouse (behind to the right) is located in the racial zone.
Photo: Leif Rune Løland / NRK
– In the geologist’s report, it is stated that the slide that destroyed the football field was a so-called 5,000-year slide. But the question is whether ten days or 5,000 years pass between two such races. I don’t know, says municipal director Fasteland.
Many buildings are at risk of collapsing
The dilemma at Dale is that the sports facility is not the only one that is dangerously located.
In this village, many houses and other buildings stand in hazardous areas:
- Risk of a “5,000-year landslide”: around 100 addresses are in the yellow landslide danger zone
- Risk of “1,000-year landslide”: about 10 are in the orange zone
- Risk of “100-year race”: about 5 are in the red zone
In addition, many garages and roads are in these danger zones.
Almost a hundred addresses in Dale are in the yellow racial danger zone, and around 15 are in the orange or red zone.
Photo: Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy (NVE)
– Are you at the mercy of living with race risk when you live in Dale?
– We are perhaps privy to this in the entire country. With all the good things about living in Western Norway, there are also some disadvantages. One of them is a race, believes the municipal director.
– Then it is our job to find good solutions, both for the future, and here and now, so that we can get activity going again on our sports field.
But he reckons that the sports facility will be permanently closed for at least a year.
The grass pitch on the left, the old clubhouse (behind) and the artificial grass pitch on the right are in the erosion zone under the mountain Drivanakken, while the new clubhouse is outside.
Vaksdal municipality has not decided what can or should be done with the sports facility after the spectacular rasulukka.
The collapse swept away the home-made grandstand up on the hill on the long side.
Will move the track
The leader of the sports team believes the artificial grass pitch should be moved:
– We have to find out how we can secure the area, and whether an alternative location for the track is possible.
– Do you want the track where it is located?
– No! says Espeland.
The sports team leader hopes that a new location can be found for the artificial grass pitch, but that the new clubhouse can remain standing.
Photo: Leif Rune Løland / NRK
The girls’ team also believes that the pitch must be moved, as the geologist recommends.
– I hope they can build a new football field a little further away from the mountains. But we are looking forward to the cup in any case, says twin Olivia.
– Who are they going to beat then?
– Stanghelle! And Voss. And Vaksdal, say the girls in unison.
– And then I’ll try to beat the boys in class. They play tricks on the girls all the time, says Mia.
Whether it’s a racially dangerous football field or sign-climbing boys: At Dale, they gamble with their lives.
Photo: Leif Rune Løland / NRK
