Kjeragbolten is a boulder on the mountain Kjerag in Norway. The rock itself is a 5 cubic metre (180 cubic feet) glacial deposit wedged in a large crevice in the mountain. It is a popular tourist destination thanks to it being accessible without any climbing equipment.
It is suspended above a 984 metre (3,228 feet) deep abyss. It looks as if it could topple at any moment, but has in fact stood in place since 50,000 BCE.
Kjeragbolten has long provided a famous photo opportunity for tourists game enough to step onto it for their pose. It was featured in the 2006 viral video Where the Hell is Matt? where traveller Matt Harding danced atop the precarious boulder. This was during the very dawn of YouTube, and Matt’s video was just what the video-sharing doctor ordered. Watch it HERE.
Because of its enormous popularity, long lines usually form with people who want to have their photo taken at the site. Expected waiting time can be anywhere from a few minutes to over an hour, especially when there are cruise ships berthed nearby in Stavanger.
Happily no one has died while mounting or demounting Kjeragbolten itself. However, at the time of writing, 10 people have died BASE jumping off nearby cliffs in the last 20 years, including British stuntman Terry Forrestal, who fell to his death in 2000. And then, in 2015, Kristi Kafcaloudis, a 24 year old Australian student fell from near Trolltunga (English: Troll’s Tongue), another Norwegian mountain ledge that is popular with thrill-seeking tourists. (It should be noted that Kristi herself was not taking a selfie at the time, but rather slipped on some loose rocks at the entrance to the ledge.)
Kjeragbolten is not for the faint-hearted.
Story Idea: Remo Giuffré
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References
wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjeragbolten
wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Hell_is_Matt
abc.net.au/news/2015-09-09/kristi-kafcaloudis-wasnt-taking-selfie-in-norway-cliff-fall
Images
1. Tourist hiker standing on top of Kjeragbolten. Photo credit: Jana Janina, iStock by Getty Images.
2. Norway
3. Kjerag hiking trail
4. Kjeragbolten. Credit: Stavanger Aftenblad.
5. Video: Where the Hell is Matt? 2006
6. Kjeragbolten. Credit: Fjell Vandring.
7. Video: Amali thumali from the 2011 blockbuster Tamil language film Ko features the lead couple dancing on the top of the boulder at Kjeragbolten.
8. Trolltunga. The family of Kristi Kafcaloudis said this picture on a Norwegian news site showed where she fell from. Photo credit: Aftenposten: Rune Stoelaas/BT
