Trollstigen (or trollstigvegen; ) is a serpentine mountain road and pass in

Rauma Municipality Rauma is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre is the town of Åndalsnes. Other s ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is part of

Norwegian County Road 63 Norwegian County Road 63 ( or ) is a Norwegian county road in Møre og Romsdal county and a very small part in Innlandet county, Norway. It begins at Norwegian National Road 15 along the lake Langvatnet in Skjåk Municipality in Innlandet county ...

that connects the town of

Åndalsnes is a town in Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Åndalsnes is also the administrative center of Rauma Municipality. It is located along the Isfjorden, at the mouth of the river Rauma, at the north end of the Romsdalen valle ...

in Rauma and the village of

Valldal Sylte or Valldal is a village in Fjord Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is situated at the southern end of the Valldalen valley along the shore of the Norddalsfjorden near the mouth of the Valldøla river, just west ...

Fjord Municipality Fjord is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnmøre. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stordal. Other villages in the municipality include Valldal, E ...

. It is a popular tourist attraction due to its steep incline of 10% and eleven

hairpin bend A hairpin or hair pin is a long device used to hold a person's hair in place. It may be used simply to secure long hair out of the way for convenience or as part of an elaborate hairstyle or coiffure. The earliest evidence for dressing the h ...

s up a steep mountainside. During the top tourist season, about 2,500 vehicles pass daily pass this landmark. During the 2012 season, 161,421 vehicles traversed the route, compared to 155,230 vehicles during 2009.Adresseavisen, 10 November 2012. The road is narrow with many sharp bends, and although several bends were widened during 2005 to 2012, vehicles over long are prohibited from driving the road. During the 2011 and 2012 seasons, buses up to were temporarily allowed as a trial. At the plateau there is a

car park A parking lot or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most jurisdic ...

and several viewing balconies overlooking the bends and the Stigfossen waterfall. Stigfossen falls down the mountainside. The pass has an elevation of approximately . ''Trollstigen'' is closed during late autumn and winter. A normal operating season stretches from mid-May to October, but may sometimes be shorter or longer due to weather conditions.

Etymology

Trollstigen means ''the troll path'' or ''troll trail'', from the Norwegian ''stig'' (also spelled ''sti''), from Old Norse ''stigr''.

History

Trollstigen was opened on 31 July 1936, by King

Haakon VII Haakon VII (; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was King of Norway from 18 November 1905 until his death in 1957. The future Haakon VII was born in Copenhagen as Prince Carl of Denmark. He was the second son of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess ...

after eight years of construction. A major tourist facility including a restaurant was completed in 2012. Several viewing platforms have been constructed and older constructions improved upon. ''Trollstigen'' (along with County Road 63) was officially opened as a national tourist route by the Minister of Transport and Communications on 16 June 2012. ''Trollstigen'' itself (and the alpine summits to the west) lies within the ''Trollstigen landscape protection area'', while the alpine area east of Trollstigen, including the Trolltindene range, is part of

Reinheimen National Park Reinheimen National Park () is a national park in Norway that was established in 2006. The park consists of a continuous protected mountain area. It is located in Møre og Romsdal and Innlandet counties in Norway. The park includes parts of the ...

. In the summer of 2005, the road was repaired and about was spent on protection against rockfall, making the road safer to drive on. In June 2021,

Telia Norge Telia Norge AS, formerly NetCom AS, is a Norwegian Telecommunications, Telecommunications Company. Founded in 1993, it is the second largest provider in Norway. The company has about 2,379 million mobile subscribers, and about 500,000 TV and bro ...

commissioned an eco-friendly mobile base station powered entirely by solar, wind and hydrogen, therefore providing mobile phone coverage at Trollstigen for the first time ever.

Opening and closing dates

Gallery

File:2012-07 Trollstigen besøkssenter.jpg, Trollstigen Visitor Center File:2012-07 Trollstigen besøkssenter 2.jpg, Trollstigen visitor center, with souvenir shops and toilets File:Trollstigen Norwegen.jpg, Stigrøra with souvenir sale. In the background the rock formation Trollklørne. File:Riksvei 63, Border of Rauma and Norddal.JPG, Alnesreset - the highest point on the mountain pass and municipal boundary. File:Trollstigen; Wasserfall & Brücke Norwegen.JPG, Stigfossen with Stigfossbrua seen from below. File:Trollstigrennet -Tidlig på 50 tallet m Stein Eriksen.jpg, From Trollstigrennet around 1952 (

Stein Eriksen Stein Eriksen (11 December 1927 – 27 December 2015) was an alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Norway. Following his racing career, he was a ski school director and ambassador at various resorts in the United States. Background ...

with ski pole). File:Trollveggen 2002 June.jpg,

Trollryggen Trollryggen is a peak along the Trolltindene ridge along the Romsdalen valley. It is located in Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The Rauma River, the European route E136 highway and the Rauma Line railway lie just to th ...

mountains, located between

Romsdalen Romsdalen is a valley in the western part of Norway. The long valley runs from the Romsdalsfjorden through Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and into Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county. It is the valley of the Rauma (river), Rau ...

and Trollstigen. File:Overtakelsesbrev.jpg, Acception Document for Trollstigvegen in Romsdal signed by Haakon VII (31 July 1936) File:Trollstigen nybygg.JPG, The visitor center just before the official opening (16 June 2012) File:Christie Trollstigen 210808 justert (25 of 34).jpg, Works on the viewing platform (2008) File:Troll_skiltet_Trollstigen.jpg, Trollstigen road signs File:Steinst%C3%B8tte_Valldal-Trollstigen_2.jpg, Memorial stone with the text "King Håkon built this road in 1936" File:Steinst%C3%B8tte_Valldal-Trollstigen_1.jpg, Memorial stone File:TrollstigenNorway01.jpg, Viewpoint File:TrollstigenNorway02.jpg, Viewpoint File:TrollstigenNorway03.jpg, View from the platform File:TrollstigenNorway04.jpg, View from the platform File:TrollstigenNorway05.jpg, Viewpoint File:TrollstigenNorway06.jpg, Viewpoint File:TrollstigenNorway07.jpg, The river File:TrollstigenNorway08.jpg, The river File:TrollstigenNorway09.jpg, The river under the viewing platform File:TrollstigenNorway10.jpg, File:TrollstigenNorway11.jpg, The road down seen from the viewing platform File:TrollstigenNorway12.jpg, Waterfall File:TrollstigenNorway15.jpg, Traffic jam File:TrollstigenNorway16.jpg, Traffic jam File:Trollstigvegen01.jpg, Trollstiggen File:Trollstigvegen02.jpg, Stigfossen File:Trollstigvegen03.jpg, Trollstiggen File:Trollstigvegen04.jpg, Trollstiggen near Stigfossen

References

External links