Kjeragbolten

 Tuva on Kjeragbolten

[photo:  courtesy of Rune Jensen]

On a recent trip Rune Jensen and his family went to Kjeragbolten.  He sent this amazing photo of his youngest daughter on the “boulder bridge” Kjeragbolten near Stavanger in Rogaland, Norway.  I asked him if I could share it here and he generously agreed. 

Kjeragbolten is a popular hiking destination and attracts many visitors.  The big boulder caught in the crevasse between the mountainsides is thought to be a remnant of the ice age.  It is supposed to bring very good luck to climb out on the boulder but all the things I read said DO NOT look down and if you are afraid of heights you may want to take a pass on this activity altogether.  Getting safely off is apparently more difficult than climbing or crawling on to it.  If you fall off you will take a small bump about 240 meters down (just a little ledge, probably not even a tree branch to grab onto to slow or stop the rest of the fall) and keep going another 700 plus meters for a total of 984 meters before splashing into Lysefjorden.  That is over 3000 feet for those of us who cling to a non-metric system!

The hike to this spot takes about 2½ to 3 hours from the visitors center.  It has become a BASE jumping destination where people jump off and use a parachute to slow the descent.  In the years between 1994 and 2010 there were 29,000 jumps and 10 fatalities. That takes high diving or cliff diving perhaps to a whole different extreme level. 

 Kjerag is the name of the mountain Kjeragbolten is the name of the boulder.  One definition I saw said that the name might be a combination of the Norwegian words for kid “kje” (young goat) and goat’s hair “ragg” since the rough surface of the mountain has been compared with shaggy goat hair. 

I also found a couple of YouTube videos showing people getting onto the rock.  It is a bit hard to imagine climbing out on that thing (I’m terrified of heights and would definitely take a pass even if it meant giving up a little good luck) so I found the videos interesting a bit scary and a little funny (amusing) as well.

If this works here are the videos, if it does not I'm including the links to the videos.  They are short and worth watching.  Another link provides a little more information. 
 
http://www.kuriositas.com/2011/12/would-you-stand-on-kjeragbolten.html



 
http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2010/10/15/afraid-of-heights-kjeragbolten-will-make-your-knees-buckle/
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjerag

Thanks Rune & Tuva!