Written by Haakon Erdahl, Karly Hermanson, Kathryn Looney, & Lance Nemecek
The decision to wake up before 7:00 am on a Saturday morning is not one that most college students take lightly. When faced with the beauty of Preikestolen, however, it is hard to say no. And so this past weekend a group of us made the decision to take the trip. We began our morning with a series of unfortunate travel snafus, but ultimately made it through the longest underwater tunnel in Norway (15km) and to the welcome center to begin our journey.
The hike to Preikestolen involved three large uphill climbs, with flatter terrain in between each. As we hiked, our guide Pål (who works as a school teacher during the week) didn’t hold back on educating us on everything from the flora and fauna of the Norwegian countryside to the geological processes that had led to the formations we walked on. As we continued to progress up the mountain, the path became steeper and more slippery, but fortunately we had been provided with crampons to prevent any major falls.
After climbing and hiking for about two hours, our group finally spilled out onto Preikestolen: sweaty, hungry, and breathless. We then took our time soaking in the sunny view, and of course had to take lots of pictures as well! I was standing with a group of fellow students when a man approached us. Due to a language barrier, he began to gesture to himself and his phone. We thought he wanted us to take a picture of him, but he did not move to get ready for a picture. We ended up awkwardly standing in silence for a solid five minutes until Matt suggested that we move towards the picture spot to see what happens. The man followed and motioned for the six of us to move together, demonstrating his desired poses as he readied his camera. We could not stop laughing and were so confused. He then gestured for us to give him one of our phones so we could have the picture as well. This was such a fun and unusual experience, that I definitely will not forget.
The picture that the man took
Left to Right: Otelia, Kyle, Matt, Karly, Lena, Maren
After taking all our pictures, we gathered around and pulled out our various lunches. Some had sandwiches, others fish, and some brought the Norwegian staple Kvikk Lunsj (like a KitKat). I had made myself a matpakke (lunchbox) of two cheese and salami sandwiches, a granola bar, and a chocolate muffin from breakfast. It was one of the best lunches of my life. Sure, the MagerOst tasted slightly strange and my fingers were freezing, but nothing can beat a satisfying lunch after a hearty tramp through the snow overlooking the first fjord you’ve ever seen.
Pictured: Kathryn’s matpakke with the fjord in the distance
When we’d all had our fill of food and the view, we began to make the journey in reverse, sliding more than hiking back down the mountain. After reaching the bottom, we got in our vans and took some well deserved naps on the way back to the hotel!
View of Preikestolen from above (photo taken by Haakon)
