Do you want to visit one of Norway’s most visited tourist attractions without all the tourists? This is the truly secret path to the Pulpit Rock.
The Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen) is visited by approximately 300 000 people every year. During peak season 6-7000 people visit in a single day. Yet, on a warm day in May, a Saturday nonetheless, we make the journey without another human in sight.
The secret to this quiet path lies just a few hundred meters from the «highway» of tourists all aiming for the same destination. Rather than using the marked path there is another one a bit further down leading towards the fjord and then towards the Pulpit Rock across the mountain.
The hike started at Preikestolen fjellstue like the regular hike. But instead of following the road upards we instead hiked down to and along Revsvatnet.
The path here was quite easy to find and the terrain was fairly flat. A bit further on the path stopped and we had to cross a river that has gotten a bit wider with the last rainfall and the meltwater after an exceptionally snowy winter. Walking back and forth a couple of times we found a place where some rocks rose above the surface of the water and decided to cross there. After our fair share of calculated luck we were standing on the other side, honestly quite surprised that we made it.
On the way up there is a wooden ladder that doesn’t really look too safe, but it makes sure that you are able to traverse the steepest parts without dying. That is according to the pictures we had seen on the Internet. But after looking for a while we realised we would never find this ladder and instead decided to find another way up the mountain. The fact that we had been walking for 1.5 hours without seeing a single soul (despite there being busloads of tourists being shipped in every hour) should have alerted us that we might be in the wrong place. But as always, Captain Hindsight graced us with his presence a bit too late. A little bit steep grew very steep and very steep grew into way too late to turn around.
It took us about an hour to move just 100 meters forward. At this point it has really dawned on us that we were in the wrong place, but there wasn’t that much we could do about it except keep going. Amazingly we were able to find some crevices in the rock face and managed to crawl ourselves to the top of the first mountain plateau.
As a reward for our struggle we got an amazing view of the Lysefjord.
We had assumed that the terrain from here on would be more or less flat. Talk about being wrong. Compared to what we had just done this was nothing, but still it was far from the usual easy path to the Pulpit Rock. A good part of the hike consisted of screes, dense forest or a combination of the two. In a couple of places there were traces of paths, but mostly we just hiked in the general direction of the Pulpit Rock wherever seemed the most accessible.
The hours passed and the mountain seemed never ending. But at last we were rewarded for our patience and saw the cairn on the top of the mountain. Finally there! The hike from the parking lot up to the Pulpit Rock usually takes us an hour to complete. Today it took us 5 hours and 15 minutes…
To end a quite unusual hike to the Pulpit Rock we decided to take a quite unusual picture of it as well. Infrared photography seemed appropriate for this. Maybe the first ever infrared picture of the Puplit Rock?
On the way down again it would really not be safe to take the same route as the one we took going up. So we ended up taking the same path down as all the others and got down in less than a fifth of the time we took going up. But it was definitely not as exciting….
Practical
The route starts from the same place as the normal hike to the Pulpit Rock, the parking lot by the Preikestolen Fjellstue cabin.
Go down to the Refsvatnet lake and follow the beach to the left. By the end of the beach there is a path. It is fairly easy to follow and will take you to the other side of the lake.
By the end of the lake it is critical not to go across the small bridge cross the river. That will lead you onto the same route that we hiked. Look instead for an old handmade wooden ladder nearby and climb up. When you reach the top you could basically follow the edge of the mountain toward Lysefjord. From there there are a couple of cairns showing the way. This blog has a couple of pictures and a map that is nice to follow.
Try to gain elevation as soon as you can. If you follow along a ridge for too long you risk the path just ending in a sheer drop. So the higher the better.
We spent over 5 hours on this hike, but a lot of that time was spent going in the wrong direction or slowly straight up the cliff face. If you go in the right direction and at a faster pace than we did you should be able to do the hike in 3 hours.
If anyone knows where to find the wooden ladder (or if it is still there!) please let us know! We do plan on going back this summer to try and find the correct path ourselves.
