day 15 - kjerag (sans bolten)

Cold pizza - the breakfast of champions.

The reason I stayed overnight in this isolated village is to hike mt kjerag. I had hoped to score a ride in the BASE jumpers' van, but strong easterly winds ensured that they were spending the morning sleeping off their hangovers. Instead, I walked the famous twisty road from town to the parking area. Not a single car passed me during the entire ascent. This was bad for plan-B (hitch a ride) but at least it meant that I had the road to myself, especially during the 1100m tunnel. Once again, by reaching the parking area under my own power I felt like I had accomplished something before even starting.

The BASE jumper manual describes the hike as "wake-up hill, warm-up hill, hell hill". Hell Hill wasn't as bad as advertised, mostly slabby alpine moseying among the boulders. The weather here is generally even worse than the White Mountains, so treeline is about 800m. With vegetation limited to lichen, the views of the other bald peaks were totally unobstructed. It felt a lot like Colorado, except that the other summits were a lot closer.

kjerag
Originally uploaded by wolftone.

I had hoped to reach the "kjeragbolten", a narrow crack in the mountain with a boulder wedged in it. Thrill-seeking hikers stand on the boulder and have their photo taken. It's also where the jumpers do their thing. Unfortunately, the ferry schedule forced an early turn-around time so I didn't reach all the way. Still, I found a very nice lookout with great views down the fjord. With the sun still rising behind my back, it really showed why this is called the "light fjord". Eidfjord was steep and sondrefjord was tall, but this is probably my favorite.

The entire hike out, I didn't see anyone else. (A nice change from the carnival atmosphere of the Preikestolen.) By the time I cleared warm-up hill on the way back, the trail was a steady stream of sweating tourists asking me if they were there yet.

From the valley, I had seen a UFO-shaped building clinging to the ridgeline and assumed that it was a stavanger oil magnate's summer home. No, this is Norway. It was just the best visitor's center in the world.

A nice German couple gave me a lift in their Mercedes back to Lysebotn, so I didn't have to run down the road for more than 1k or so. On the way, I passed a team of local cyclists who were ascending the trail and yelling encouragement to each other. On a sustained 10% grade, I'm not sure I'd have enough air to do anything but mumble profanity.

When a ferry discharges its passengers, they leave first through the front vehicle ramp. Their look of benign bewilderment as they regain land-legs consistently reminds me of the last scene of "close encounters" as the abductees are returned to Earth. The effect works best when the boat is backlit by sun. If only the ferry company would construct a long-limbed alien puppet on the vehicle deck. I am now on the mothership, drifting back towards stavanger. While I napped, clouds have appeared and it's raining. Now I don't have to feel too bad about sitting indoors and not fully appreciating the fjord. My fellow passengers include a poorly supervised boys' soccer team engaging in some sort of Lord of the Flies survival/domination game on all 4 decks. The kid in the glasses should watch out.