The Troll Hole of Torghatten
A mountain in Norway has a hole shot straight through it. Geology has one explanation, the trolls have a better one - an arrow, a hat and a chase at dawn.
Illustrative image.
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On the coast of Helgeland in northern Norway stands a mountain with a hole punched clean through it: Torghatten, pierced by a natural tunnel so large you can walk through and see daylight at both ends. Geologists talk about ice ages. The locals have always known better.
An arrow fired at a girl
The legend says the troll Hestmannen, the Horseman, saw the beautiful maiden Lekamoya bathing with her sisters and gave chase across the sea. As she fled south and dawn approached, he realised he would never catch her, drew his bow and fired an arrow to kill what he could not have. The troll king of Somna saw it coming and threw his hat into the arrow's path. The hat, arrow through it, turned to stone as the sun rose, and there it stands: Torghatten, the hat with the hole. The pursuers and the maiden turned to stone where they stood, and you can still meet them along this coast; the Seven Sisters mountain range and the horseman with his cloak are all part of the same frozen chase.
Norway's troll-marked map
Torghatten is one story in a country covered in them. Norway names its most dramatic scenery after trolls the way other countries name things after saints: Trollstigen, the Troll's Ladder, hairpins up a cliff wall the trolls supposedly built; Trolltunga, the Troll's Tongue, a slab of rock stuck out over a lake by a troll who did not believe the sun could hurt him and leaned out of his cave to check. The rule of Norwegian trolls is always the same: sunlight turns them to stone, and pride gets them into the light. It is a whole national landscape explained as bad decisions by large creatures.
The duller, stranger truth
The geological account of Torghatten is that ice and frost gnawed a weakness in the rock during the ice ages, when the sea stood far higher against the mountain, and waves finished the tunnel. Which is to say: water shot the hole through the mountain, over tens of thousands of years. The trolls' version is faster and has a love story. Both end with you standing inside a mountain, looking at the sea through a hole 35 metres high.
Walking the legend
- Torghatten - the pierced mountain itself; an easy path climbs to the tunnel.
- Trollstigen - the troll-built hairpin road through a wall of waterfalls.
- Trolltunga - the tongue of rock over Ringedalsvatnet, for those who earn it with a long day's hike.
Practicalities for troll country
Torghatten's path is short and family friendly, but Trolltunga is a serious full-day mountain hike: the hiking kit is the baseline, and trekking poles plus a proper waterproof shell earn their keep in coastal weather. The hole at Torghatten frames the sea perfectly at sunset; photographers should check the low-light kit first.
The sun is the only thing a Norwegian troll fears. Time your walk for golden hour and you get the mountain, the legend and the light in one go.
