Trolltunga

Trolltunga, "the troll's tongue", is a slab of ancient bedrock that juts horizontally from a mountainside in Ullensvang municipality in western Norway, about 1,100 m above sea level and some 700 m above the lake Ringedalsvatnet. The rock is gneiss of Precambrian age; its shape was cut during the last glaciation, when water froze in the cracks at the edge of the ice, prised off large angular blocks and left this ledge standing free over the void. Across the valley lie the plateaus and snowfields of the Hardanger mountains, with glimpses of the Folgefonna glacier on clear days.

For most of its history this was a place for a few hundred determined walkers a year: fewer than 800 people made the trip before 2010. Social media changed that. By 2016 an estimated 80,000 people were hiking out to stand on the tongue, and it became one of the most photographed natural sites in Norway. There is deliberately no railing at the edge. One fatal fall, in 2015, is recorded, but the real danger lies in the hike itself: rescue teams have been called out dozens of times in a season, mostly for walkers who underestimated the distance, got lost in fog or ran out of strength on the way back. Mountain hosts at the trailhead now give advice on preparation and have cut the number of rescues, though they cannot stop anyone from starting.

The standard route begins at Skjeggedal near the Ringedalsvatnet dam and is waymarked with red T's. It is about 27 km there and back with roughly 800 m of ascent, and takes 8 to 12 hours; the first steep climb up to Mågelitopp is the hardest part. A toll road with a small car park at Mågelitopp, shortens the round trip to about 20 km and 7 to 10 hours. The official summer season for independent hikers runs from 1 June to 30 September; outside it the route is under snow and ice, and trips are only advised with a guide. There are no shops or shelters on the plateau apart from emergency cabins, so hikers carry all their food, water and warm clothing, and start early to beat both the afternoon weather and the queue for photographs on the rock.

Getting there

The nearest town is Odda on the Sørfjorden, about 17 km away; the village of Tyssedal, about 6 km north of Odda, is where the road turns up to the trailheads. By straight line the nearest sizeable place is Nesttun, a southern district of Bergen about 80 km away, and the nearest airport is the small Stord Airport, Sørstokken (SRP), about 88 km away. Most visitors, however, fly into Bergen Airport, Flesland (BGO) and drive about 190 km by road via the Hardanger region.