trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Every hiker has seen photos of the boulder wedged into a Kjerag mountain crevasse above a Norwegian fjord.
That’s 984m (3,228ft) high. It’s a popular site for BASE jumping.
A Russian BASE jumper was walking up at the same time as myself — some like to jump close to sunset — but he kept climbing past this spot to something more exciting.
I’d never heard it was a tough hike to get there.
Here’s the start of the easiest ascent from Øygardsstølen visitors center.
It’s 4-6 hour return over beautiful rocky terrain. Some scrambling. Very slippery. There are plenty of chain assists. I used many of them even in dry weather.
By comparison I would say this is much more challenging than Half Dome in Yosemite. And there are all kinds of inexperienced tourists with poor footwear.
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Surprisingly, it sounds like nobody has ever fallen to their death from Kjeragbolten. (Not counting BASE jumpers.)
The boulder is not as death defying as the photos make it look.
In fact, the scramble down a rocky creek to get there is as difficult as climbing out on to that boulder.
Kjeragbolten itself is a 5-cubic-metre (180 cu ft) glacial deposit …
It is a popular tourist destination and is accessible without any climbing equipment. …
Yes, I was pretty happy to finally get here.
If you have a fear of heights, this might not be the best hike for you.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
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