Trollstigen

Heading for Trollstigen, literally Troll Climb (but they call it the Troll Ladder), we crawled up a webbing of roads that include 11 hairpin curves snaking across the face of two mountains. I couldn't believe my eyes. But we have pictures!

The tops of the mountains along the Trollstigen have fraces. I see a jutting warty nose and bumpy brow pointing to the sky. Next is a Troll's profile with bulbous lips and misshapen nose. No doubt these craggy faces lent their name to this area.

But if the Norwegians ever had trolls intheir ancestry they've been bred out. Today, Virtually every one we've seen could have stepped right out of a magazine.

The Base of the Trollstigen is flanked left and right by huge pounding waterfalls. I stand and listen andhope their thunderous pounding isnæt secretly mining away the road on which we stand.

It's a 10% grade going uphill where another waterfall disappears under a bridge. From here there's an amaing view down the curved valley through which we came. The TS is so high we're into the clouds but from our aerie we see the 11 hairpin curves 700 metres below us. An utterly stunning view. I can only imagine the disbelief on the engineer's face who was told, "Let's build a road up here so everyone can enjoy this view." I bet he quit.

From the very top you can clearly see how narrow the road is. ther is NO WAY for 2 vehicles if one is a bus! There are pullouts where the landscape permits and you'd better find one quick if there's a bus coming your way.

For a long moment I stared at the road beneath me, faintly incredulous at the sight of it.

Comments

Anonymous said…
fabulous picture .better have a full tank of gas ,looks pretty desolute
Anonymous said…
That is just crazy! Do they have a tribute at the top for the people who died trying to get up there?

FD
Haloranch said…
They should! Maybe those are the faces immortallized in rock in the mountains.

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