KJERAG BOLTEN - STAVANGER, NORWAY - DAY 3

I slept a full 8 hours after my Preikestolen Hike the previous day, and woke up at 3:45AM for a 5AM pickup by Outdoor Life Norway. We were a group of 9, including the tour guide, Johansson. We had a brother, sister and mother who were Punjabi Indian from Australia, a couple and friend from Romania, myself, and one Slovenian from Luxembourg.

We began with introductions, and everyone became friends instantly. The boyfriend from Romania was particularly energetic, and kept everyone’s spirits high throughout the trip. They do hiking professionally and recreationally, and this has been a lifelong desired hike for them.

We started by taking a ferry through Lysefjord, the same fjord I was looking at from the peak at Preikestolen yesterday. We were lucky with weather and had the most spectacular view of the sun coming up on the water. Apparently, they call it, “The Fjord Of Lights”, and it’s obvious as to why when you see the sun touching the rocks and the water. It’s like you’re taking the ferry straight into Valhalla.

After this, we headed for Kjerag. We drove 27 hairpin turns up to the summit. This hike is 7-8 Miles, and 3,280ft above sea level, (1,000 meters). This climb is HARD. It has three steep ascents that take you to the top at Kjerag Bolten. I was still tired from yesterday, but I only have today to do to this hike, so here goes everything.

The first hill was actually a test to see if Johanssen had to turn anyone around. Only the 62 year old mom with asthma couldn’t make the hike. After that it was the remaining 8 of us. The first ascent was the steepest and most difficult- There’s no warm up, you just start hiking. The rock is slick without rain because so many tourists have hit this spot, and the people in charge of this site haven't changed it in YEARS. There's only a chain rope to help you up. Instead, Johanssen takes us off the path, where the foot holds are much more reliable. This helps tremendously. We stop briefly to snack at the top of the first "hill". We have to begin our ascent to get to the second hill. The ascent to the second hill is a bit nicer because we are met with large step stones that help us make the climb. Johanssen later told us that the stone steps in place were all cut and moved by hand to make a path. It’s done by Nepalese sherpas, and they get paid so well, that they make more money in Norway doing this work, than they would in an entire lifetime in Nepal. (I was wondering about these stepping stones yesterday, as there had been the same bouldered paths throughout the Preikestolen trail).

Our second ascent, isn't as bad as the first one. We're a bit warmed up now, and the rocks are surprisingly grippy. However, everything is so steep, you almost feel as thought you’re walking horizontal to a vertical cliff each time. A bit scary, but I just kept looking at my feet.

We were pretty tired at the top of the second plateau, but stopped for a photo photo break. By now, we were in a grove, and I wasn’t having as much trouble as I had yesterday. I had thicker socks, tied my boots tighter, and had under armour for extra layers.

We were moving pretty fast throughout, thanks to Johanssen. He mentioned something about it being illegal to work with us for too many hours, so we had to be done by a certain time.

We climb for the third ascent and make it to the top!

...Just kidding, it plateaus again making you think you’re at the top, but then it keeps going for a while. At this point, it was just nice to coast for a bit.

All the while, I’m chatting up the Aussie brother and sister as we make Lord Of The Rings references. The Romanian husband is cracking jokes and telling them in a multitude of different accents.

When we finally make it to the top, Johanssen tells us the history of Kjerag Mountain and of the fjord. Legend has it, that this place was known as war turf for the trolls. They’d get in a fight, pick up a boulder, throw it at the enemy, and it would smash into a million pieces, while carving out the mountain. It wasn’t until scientists later told the locals that it was actually thousands of years of ice freezing and melting that shifted the rocks. The theory of Kjerag Bolten, was that this was how the boulder got lodged between two cliffs.

We move on. I greet a few sheep along the way, and we begin to hike through a narrow pass, having to scale over boulders in our way, until we finally reach the Kjerag boulder 3280ft high. I’m nervous because I’m scared of heights, but I want to conquer this.

I line up with a million other tourists, and Johanssen gives us a brief demonstration on how to safely stand on the boulder. You're supposed to use one hand on a hook that sticking out from the side wall with very little ledge, hug the wall to make it around and face the boulder, sit, put your feet out, and press yourself onto the boulder into a standing position. Repeat these steps in reverse order to get back to the cliff safely- Under NO circumstances should you jump from the boulder to the cliff. After the briefing, I feel a bit more ready. Peer pressure sets in, and I stupidly feel at ease knowing everyone else is doing it, *(even though Johanssen stressed that if anyone feels too nervous, it's cooler to say "no", than put yourself in harms way). A few tourists go before me, and they make it look easy. This helps ease my mind more. I'm actually not feeling too giddy or nervous, but I wonder how I'll feel once I'm standing on the rock. Even though we’re early, it was suddenly my turn. As instructed, I cling to the boulder wall and hang on to a small hook, only big enough to fit my two fingers through. This is more nerve racking because there's hardly a ledge to the wall you're clinging to. On my toes, and literally hanging on for dear life, I shift around and over to the boulder wedged between the two cliffs. I sit on the ledge and with one foot, push myself onto the boulder, and slowly stand up. I can't think, or fear will take over. Knowing perfectly well there's nothing beneath the boulder that I'm standing on other than the 3,280ft. drop, I only look straight. I can see other tourists with their cameras, and Johanssen with his. I smile big, and stretch my arms out into the air. Still not daring to look down, I slowly turn around on the boulder, looking out to the fjord. Even though I’m not looking down, I’m so high up, that I can see a small ferry pass between the two cliffs. I wanted to pull out my phone and take some shots of my feet on the boulder, but I was starting to get nervous, and didn't want to get stuck... Or worse.

Fear began to seep in, and I could start to feel my muscles tense, and my legs buckle. I know you're not supposed to jump from the boulder to the wall, but with fear gripping me tighter, Instagram can suck my uncle's hairy nut sack! With a rush of adrenaline, I jumped off the boulder and onto the ledge, clinging to the rock wall. I put my fingers back in the hook and scaled across the side, carefully stepping down onto solid land. The Romanian husband has a video of me doing this, and I have to buy the photos of my standing on it in my SVENSSON jersey, so that media will come later. *A newspaper in Norway recently published an article of idiot tourists coming to Kjerag to risk their lives for social media. Although I joke about it, I didn't do this for the 'gram. This was on my bucket list, and like bungy jumping, I wanted to conquer my fear of heights...Even if my victory was briefly held. Worth it!

We have no time to try and drone or take any other photos, as we rush around the side of the cliff to have lunch away from the tourists. The drone wouldn’t have worked here anyway- There was a line of people, and tourists were everywhere as early as we were.

At our lunch spot, we hit a perfect droning place, but as I’m setting mine up, a Russian tourist a few rocks above me starts his drone, and Johanssen yells at him to take it down. There's my answer- No drones. No exceptions. A few base jumpers are flying off the cliff next to us with a large, professional drone. The Russian gives Johanssen a look, and Johanssen simply says, “He has a permit”. I ask about this permit and I guess it’s quite difficult to acquire. My only conclusion to this, is to hike and camp the night before, wake up and drone before the earliest tour even gets there...Like 3AM. You need to go it alone, be super discreet, and hope not to get caught like the Russian guy. Preikestolen would have been fine yesterday, but the weather stopped me. No drone photographs or footage for me unfortunately. I’ll just have to try another country, or Norway again, another time.

At lunch, we overlook the fjord, watch the base jumpers soar off the cliff, take more photos, share food, and drink warm Korran? juice, fresh from a local farm that Johanssen has brought us. It was delicious and tasted of berry, but not too sweet.

After this, we make our way down. The whole trek, the weather had been moving in, but we’d been very lucky, and only experienced some clouds and wind until our last two descents.

It was really difficult to go down, because like yesterday, everything was really steep. You know how the Pro skiers in the Olympics do that run where it looks like their knees are bouncing up and down, taking all the impact? That’s how my knees felt, and I still feel it as I write this to you.

I’m sure I’ll feel it again in my late 30s, but right now, this was ROUGH, and painful. My thighs burned and so did my feet, but they got used to it. My knees however, felt like overstretched rubber bands.

The Romanian husband made friends with a group of women from China, and they wanted their picture with all of us, as a group and individually. Johanssen was stressing over the time and weather, but all we could do was laugh. The husband asked for their Facebook but forgot they live in a Communist country with no freedom, and therefore no Internet. He felt sorry for asking. All the same, the ladies were very nice, and worshipped this man simply for showing kindness. Something we as humanity can all learn from.

At the final descent on our last hill, we hear the loudest BOOM that echoed throughout the fjord and the mountains. I thought an enemy had dropped a bomb or fired the world’s largest canon. No, it was THOR. He showed up, and showed off by giving us a full Viking thunder and rainstorm. I loved the experience, but now the steepest and already slippery slope became like going downhill on wet glass. We had to hurry, but physically couldn’t, or we’d tumble all the way down. Everyone had slipped at least once, and others outside of our group, fell down completely.

Plus through the thunder and lightening, we had to hold on to the archaic metal chain. This worried me a lot because...Ya know...Lighting and metal rods in high places...In theory, it would be the coolest experience to be graced by Thor, but I don't fancy becoming a barbecued viking. We found mud spots, and went sideways with our hiking poles to eventually get to the bottom. We made it with only a few slips and falls, but needless to say, it was pretty scary.

We did it! I did it! I was afraid of this hike for the physical endurance, the droning and standing on a boulder over 3,000ft high, held together between two cliffs. But I did it all minus the drone. I felt amazing. Everyone was high fiveing and hugging. We all swapped Facebooks, and we’ll share all of our photos. On the ride home, I ride shotgun again, and ask Johanssen if anyone has fallen off of Kjerag yet. He said it hasn't happened thankfully, but he's certain that it will happen one day. This sends a shiver down my spine, and I thoroughly pity the poor soul who's doomed to die such a horrific death.

On our way, we take the scenic route, and it is, of course, beautiful. We pass rock landscape that reminded me of Croatia, cloud-blanketed mountainous landscape that resembled New Zealand, and houses scattered throughout what looked like Switzerland life in the Alps. All incredible, and all very Nordic. We even passed a golf course, Mom and Nano- Grandpa giving us a wave. Johanssen tells me something funny...You know how all of those hippies have made it popular to build stacks of rocks and balance them because it's a notion of zen and peace? Well, it's bullshit. It's getting hikers lost and confused, thinking they're markers on a trail. *If you're one of those people, stop stacking rocks all over nature. If you're not, then have good time knocking them down, and helping your fellow hiker.

I get dropped off first and hug Johanssen and thank him in Swedish. I say my goodbyes to everyone else. The Romanians come inside with me to call a cab, and we double cheek kiss before we part ways.

I get up to my room and am so tired, it takes me hours to get anything done. I’m even writing this email at 10PM, and I got home 5 hours ago. I shower, eat, drink tea, dry my soaking clothes on the heater, repack my remaining food for tomorrow, and pack the rest of my clothes and gear for a 4AM wake up call to make my bus to the ferry at 6AM.

I meet Ove and the family tomorrow for the very first time! I can't believe it!

Between us three, I hope I’m feeling better, but I'm still kind of sick. I'll keep you posted.

Until tomorrow!

Love you all!

-eM

***There was a Norwegian newspaper article that came out, roughly a month after I traveled here, and stood on the Kjerag rock. In English, the headline read, "Stupid tourists are risking their lives for an Instagram photo by standing on Kjerag's Rock". Thankfully, I was not the one who made it on the cover page.