Trolltunga

13.05. – 15.05.2021 in Odda, Hrdangerfjord

Trolltunga is a horizontal rock outcrop located about ten kilometres northeast of Odda on the Sørfjord. This rock is a nose about 10 metres long, with a height of five metres at its beginning, tapering to a few centimetres at the top. The rocky outcrop is about 700 metres above the man-made Ringedalsvatnet reservoir (Wikipedia).

We had a few free days from our course after our oral exam, which we (Anna, Elena, Toni, Roman and I) wanted to take advantage of to visit the rocky outcrop Trolltunge. The weather in the region around Odda looked very good, so we spontaneously set off towards Odda at 2am on Thursday. After a five-hour drive, we reached the car park for the 28km hike. We looked for a place to sleep for the night and walked a bit along the reservoir and found a small green area quite close to the car park.

We went to bed relatively early to get enough sleep for the long hike the next day. I didn’t get to sleep too well though, as it was still light for a really long time and I had some worries and concerns about whether my knee would hold out for the hike.

Group Picture at Trolltunga

The next morning the alarm clock rang at 6am, we had breakfast together, packed the tents, drove a few metres back to the car park and started our hike at 8am. For the first 4 km, the trail went uphill, which is where most of the altitude difference of the whole hike is covered. After about 6-7km, the trail crossed snow fields, some of which still had about 70-90cm of snow. We hiked relatively relaxed and had a lot of fun the whole way. When a hiker with climbing equipment approached us, we asked him about the via ferrata, which is another way to get to the Trolltunga Rock. It turned out that he was a German, we Germans are everywhere. After about 13km and 4.5h we reached our destination, the famous rocky outcrop Trolltunga. First, of course, we took the usual pictures and had our lunch break here. Actually, we wanted to stay here for a while, just enjoy the view and relax. As it was quite windy and the wind was really cold, we left relatively early to make our way back. As the wind died down on the way back and the sun came out from time to time, we hiked very comfortably and allowed ourselves one or two longer breaks. It was quite funny that on the way back we also met Claire, Antje, Luca and Wydse, who were on their way back. After about 13 km and almost 6 hours we were back at the car park and were happy to take off our wet hiking boots.

After the hike

Jordalselvi river

After the hike we drove for our second night to the Buabreen Glacier Valley, which is part of Folgefonna National Park. Here we found a really nice place for our tent next to the glacier river and the glacier in the background. As we were all quite tired from the hike, we went back to our sleeping bag quite early and slept in the next morning. We actually relaxed by the river all day, enjoying the sun’s rays and laughing a lot. Before we went back to Kristiansand by car, we went to a restaurant in Odda for our finale and enjoyed ourselves.