Trolltunga

Rock FormationsVestland,Norway

A flat sliver of rock jutting out over a 700-metre drop to a Norwegian lake, with no railing and no way up but walking.

September·Edge of season

Sep

The window for walking without a guide, and the shuttle, both run to 30 September. Daylight shortens fast and the overnight camps close on 15 September. Fresh snow can settle on the plateau from mid-October, so go early in September.

Year-round The tongue of pale gneiss juts 700 m over Lake Ringedalsvatnet every day of the year; only the hike out is seasonal — self-guided from June to September, and guided-only once snow buries the plateau.

Trolltunga is a flat tongue of rock that juts out of a Norwegian mountainside and stops in mid-air, seven hundred metres above Lake Ringedalsvatnet. There is no railing, no platform and no barrier of any kind. You walk out along the slab, and at the end the rock simply runs out. That is what people come for, and no road, cable car or lift will take you to it. The only way in is on foot, and it takes a full day: about 27 kilometres there and back, with 800 metres of climbing across open mountain that offers no shelter at all. What waits at the end is more than the rock itself. From the tip you look straight down onto the long blue lake, while bare ridges stand on the far side holding their snow into July. Behind them lies the broad white cap of the Folgefonna glacier. Norway has three rock formations that made its hiking famous — Preikestolen, Kjeragbolten and Trolltunga — and this is the hardest of the three to reach. It is also busier than it has ever been: fewer than a thousand people walked out here in 2009, and tens of thousands do it every summer now. A queue forms at the base of the tongue, where you wait your turn and then get a few minutes on the rock. That wait is worth more than it sounds. A stranger walks out ahead of you and shrinks to a dark figure against the lake, and only then do you understand how far down the water is. The season is short. Snow covers the plateau for most of the year, and the crossing is safe without a guide only from about mid-June to mid-September. In winter the tongue is reached on guided snowshoe trips or not at all. Norway allows camping anywhere in open country, and walkers who carry a tent up have the rock to themselves at first light.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The hike is the only way in — about 28 km and 10–12 hours round trip from Skjeggedal, though parking higher at Mågelitopp or riding the shuttle up cuts several kilometres each way.
The plateau is safe to cross unguided only from about mid-June to mid-September — outside that window snow and ice bury the route, and it should be attempted only with a guide.
Start early and fix a turn-around time — the weather can change fast on the exposed plateau, and most rescues here involve hikers caught out by darkness or exhaustion, not the cliff edge.
A queue builds for the photo on the tongue — come near opening or late in the day to step onto the edge without a long wait for your turn.

Things to do

1
Stand on the tongue's edge
Walk out along the narrow slab until the rock runs out beneath your feet and there is only air on three sides. The last few metres to the tip are the part no photograph prepares you for — flat, solid stone, and a 700-metre drop with no barrier of any kind. From out there the land falls straight to Ringedalsvatnet, its water cold blue against dark rock, with snow lingering on the ridges opposite even in July.
2
Walk the full plateau crossing
Reaching Trolltunga is itself the main event: a long day over open rock, past meltwater streams, boulder fields and washed-out slopes, climbing steadily from Skjeggedal. The tongue stays hidden almost the whole way, then appears without warning as the plateau drops off at the end. Most people are on their feet for eight to twelve hours, and the weather up there changes faster than the forecast does.
3
Camp on the plateau for a crowd-free dawn
Norway's right to roam lets you pitch a tent up on the plateau and reach the tongue at first light, hours before the day-hikers arrive. You trade a heavy pack and a cold night for the rock almost to yourself and low sun raking across the ridges. There is no shelter and no water source you can count on near the top, so you carry everything.

Watch

Nearby

132 km