Bleie in Ullensvang and Bondhus in Kvinnherad were the setting for an untraditional industry in the 1800s: sale of glacial ice for export. Most ice was shipped out from Skiparvik at Bleie. The ice here was most easily available: from Fonna ice raced down, at least 100 metres, and gathered in an ice field. From there, the terrain sloped evenly down to the sea.
Loads of ice left from Bleie to England from 1825 until 1875, but the harvest was irregular. The transport work was hard, since much of the ice was carried by backpack. In 1852 the ship "Countess" from Warwick collected 300 tonnes in one load, with 276 local women and men engaged in the transport work.
Even though some loads gave a good income, it was never a big industry. Effort was made to breathe new life into the industry with the construction of an ice track, mainly of wood, in 1874. It was a fiasco: the construction was too weak, and the track was dismantled a short time after. There are still iron remains from the ice track.
