TREKKINGDemo

Trolltunga Hike, Norway

Trolltunga, Odda, Hardanger · Norway

Moderate2 daysEurope~£200 est.

Overview

Trolltunga — the Troll's Tongue — is a horizontal rock ledge jutting 700m above Lake Ringedalsvatnet in the Hardangerfjord region. It is the most dramatic viewpoint in Norway, and the photograph of someone standing on the ledge over that void has become one of the defining images of adventure travel. The hike is 22km and 1,100m of elevation gain, which makes it a serious day hike or a civilised two-day trip with a night at the top. The trail begins at Skjeggedal, climbs steeply through the birch forest above the Ringedalen valley, and crosses a long alpine plateau before the final approach to the Tongue. The plateau is genuinely exposed — in cloud it reduces to compass navigation between cairns — and the climate changes fast. In June the final kilometre involves crampons on consolidated snow. By late August the plateau is bare rock and crowberries. The two-day version camps on the plateau at the lake below Trolltunga, giving access to the ledge at sunrise before the day-hikers arrive. In summer the queue for the ledge photograph can be 90 minutes long; at 7am it is empty. The overnight also means you witness the plateau in the extraordinary light of the Norwegian summer evening — still bright at 11pm, turning amber and gold. Book the trail bus from Odda or Tyssedal in July and August — the trailhead car park fills before 7am.