Qualla: Trollstigen

Trollstigen: Introduction

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gerben Jacobs from Arnhem, Netherlands, CC BY 2.0. The name means "the troll's path," and from the air, it looks like something only a troll would attempt. Eleven hairpin bends climb a 10-percent grade up a sheer mountainside in More og Romsdal county, western Norway, each switchback tighter than the last, the road narrowing as it rises. Beside it, the Stigfossen waterfall drops 320 meters in a single plunge, close enough to mist the windshields of passing cars. Trollstigen is not the fastest way between Andalsnes and Valldal -- it is the most dramatic, and that has been the point since King Haakon VII stood at the summit on July 31, 1936, and declared the road open after eight years of construction through some of the most unforgiving terrain in Scandinavia.

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Image: Gerben Jacobs from Arnhem, Netherlands | CC BY 2.0

Trollstigen: Eight Years of Dynamite and Determination

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sundgot, CC BY-SA 4.0. Construction on Trollstigen began in 1928, during a period when Norway was aggressively building roads into its mountainous interior. The challenge here was exceptional. The route needed to climb from the valley floor to an 850-meter plateau through rock faces that offered no nat...

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Image: Sundgot | CC BY-SA 4.0

Trollstigen: The Waterfall and the Viewing Platform

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chell Hill, CC BY-SA 3.0. At the 700-meter plateau, the road levels out at a car park with several viewing balconies cantilevered over the mountainside. The view is vertiginous: the hairpin bends unfold below like a zipper, and Stigfossen crashes past in a roar of white water that seems close enough to to...

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Image: Chell Hill | CC BY-SA 3.0

Trollstigen: A Road That Closes Itself

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Younger, CC BY-SA 3.0. Trollstigen typically opens in mid-May and closes in October, though the exact dates depend entirely on the mountain's mood. Heavy snowfall, avalanche risk, and rockfall can shorten the season from either end. In the summer of 2005, 16 million Norwegian kroner was spent on rockfa...

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Image: Younger | CC BY-SA 3.0

Trollstigen: Trolls and Telecommunications

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sundgot, CC BY-SA 4.0. The etymology is straightforward: Trollstigen derives from the Norwegian stig, meaning path or trail, from Old Norse stigr. The trolls in question are the mythical giants of Norse folklore, creatures of mountain and shadow who turned to stone in sunlight. The nearby Trolltindene ...

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Image: Sundgot | CC BY-SA 4.0