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| | | Kjerag Lasso - Lysefjord - Norway, WW | | | |
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Kjerag Lasso - Lysefjord - Norway, WW
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| Hiking | 8.54 Miles |
3,220 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.54 Miles | 4 Hrs 58 Mns | | 2.42 mph |
| 3,220 ft AEG | 1 Hour 26 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | As part of three days I spent hiking, backpacking, and car camping around the spectacular Lysefjord, I planned to follow up my overnight at Preikestolen with a morning hike to Kjerag.
For being only 15 miles down the fjord, Kjerag is like a different world. It is 1000 feet higher than Preikestolen, and it shows. Here you are above the treeline, with nothing but grass and exposed granite. No shrubs or trees at all. And there was quite a bit of snow left from the winter at this elevation too.
In fact, the night before I had driven to a spot near the trailhead that I had hoped to camp, but the road was impassable due to snow that had not been cleared. It was also only 8c/46f before sunset, so I decided to drop the 3000-feet back to sea level and sleep in warmer weather! It turned out to be a good choice.
I got a reasonably early start in the morning, driving up the amazing Lyseveien road from Lysebotn to the trailhead at Øygardsstølen. The road is only 6km/3.7mi and takes 15 minutes or so. But it gains 650m/2100ft over the course of 27 switchbacks, including one in the middle of a mile long tunnel. The road itself is worth the trip!
At the trailhead the tourist center at Øygardsstølen charges for parking. It's about $5 for under two hours, and about $18 for the day. I walked an extra 200 yards and parked just off the road at a sheep corral, leaving room for a vehicle to load sheep just in case today was the day for that! It was nice to save the money because everything in Norway is stupid expensive.
The hike starts steep and keeps going. I wasn't expecting such a popular hike to be so difficult, but it is a solid workout. Lots of steep, sheer granite. There many areas with chain rails to aid those who are not surefooted, but in all except for one spot, I had no problem with just a good pair of grippy shoes.
After the first climb, the trail drops into a big valley, before making a second steep climb. It then drops into another valley, Stordalen. This is where I would rejoin the trail after my lasso loop. On the way out however, I stuck to the main trail and made the final steep ascent to Kjerag. Once on top, the trail traverses for a while with spectacular views in all directions.
A large trail sign/cairn points the way as you near the money spots, and I took time to first go out to Nesatind. This is a hidden gem. Ok, it's not that hidden. All the BASE jumpers go from here, and I'm sure there are endless photos, but it is somehow the red-headed-stepchild to the Kjeragbolten chockstone. Nesatind is a sheer drop of 984m/3228ft directly to the fjord below. It offers great views both up and down the fjord and some of the scariest "on the edge" photos you can possibly take. It was an unanticipated surprise for me and an absolute highlight! 
I made the short hike back to the cairn and then over to Kjeragbolten, which is just a few hundred yards away. The channel leading to the stone was still full of snow, with small waterfalls draining into and under it. It was breathtaking, and everything the photos indicate and so much more.
Content to have achieved this goal, I headed up to the high point of Kjerag rather than retracing my steps back the way I came. Due to 1000 irrelevant cairns, I was unable to locate the actual trail that goes over the top (but didn't really try either ... I had a GPS track and never bothered to load it). The terrain is open and easy to traverse. But there are large crevasses or drainages that you can get cliffed out on and have to find a way around. I was enjoying the adventure though and just kept going.
At the top I had some lunch and a celebratory beer before heading down into the Stordal valley. This was another highlight. It was totally different from the exposed granite up top. This was grassy, and featured large snowfields and a stream with the clearest water I have ever seen. I passed two backpacker camps before completing the lasso and returning along the main trail I had hiked in on.
As I hiked back, the crowds were in full force. I was glad to have done this earlier in the day when I only encountered a handful of people. Either way, this is one of the best hikes I've ever been on. I could actually see myself making arrangements to travel here just to do it again (well, as part of a longer trip in the same area. Let's be honest: it's a long way to travel for a 5-hour hike!)
(Since HAZ doesn't have topo maps of Norway, I've uploaded my route to a Norwegian site that does. Full topo detail of the route can be found here: http://ut.no/tur/2.8543/ (Use Google Translate or click Stort Kart in the lower left of the map for a full-screen map.) |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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