The Trollstigen is best understood from below. Coming up from Åndalsnes, the road leaves the broad floor of the Isterdalen and rises through birch woods into a narrow valley, where a wall of rock closes in, and then begins to climb in earnest. Eleven hairpins, each with a name or a number painted on the stone, carry it up the slope, and the Stigfossen waterfall, which falls over three hundred metres, crashes beside the road and under a stone bridge, spraying anyone who stops. It is one of the great Alpine-style roads of Scandinavia, and it was a wild feat of engineering for its time.
Construction began in 1916 and went on for twenty years, with workers building retaining walls by hand and blasting a route through the rock. Hairpin after hairpin is supported by dry stone walls, many of which still stand, and the road opened in 1936. Åndalsnes, at the head of the Romsdalsfjord, is the starting point, a small town of two thousand people with a railway, a harbour, shops and fuel. Just beyond it is Trollveggen, the Troll Wall, the tallest vertical mountain face in Europe, a sheer cliff of about a thousand metres that draws climbers and base jumpers from around the world.
The riding is steep and tight, with a gradient of up to ten percent and sharp hairpin bends where larger vehicles must swing wide. The surface is smooth, but the road is narrow and the drops are real, so it demands care and a calm attitude, especially in rain, when the stone walls are wet and the cloud closes in. Meeting a coach on a hairpin is common, and it is wise to give way early. Summer weekends are crowded, so aim for early morning or the evening. The road closes for winter, usually reopening in May.
This stop is the finish of the climb, and there is a small viewpoint above the hairpins with a long view over the valley. The last bends are the steepest, and as you leave them the wide plateau opens before you. Fuel is not available on the road, so fill up in Åndalsnes before starting, and bring a warm layer, because the weather at the top can be cold even in July.
Stop in the evening, if you can. The long Norwegian summer light turns the rock gold, and the waterfalls glitter as they plunge into shadow. It is hard to look at it without feeling very small.