What to wear for Preikestolen

Boots, and why above the ankle

This is the one piece of official advice I would repeat to every single person: above-ankle waterproof boots. Not because the trail is dangerous, but because of what it is made of. Hours of boulder fields means hours of your foot landing at angles it did not choose, and an ankle that is supported turns far less readily than one that is not. Waterproof because the marsh sections are marsh, the boardwalks are there for a reason, and Norwegian rock holds water in every hollow.

Trail runners get people up and down this trail every day of the summer, and I am not going to pretend nobody manages in them. What I see are the other ones: the person sitting on a rock two kilometres from the car park with a swelling ankle, in shoes with no collar, on a descent they now have to do anyway.

Layers, because you will be four different temperatures

Climbing through the forest you will be too warm within fifteen minutes. On the plateau you will be cold, because you have stopped moving, you are sweating, and there is wind. Summer here averages around 15 to 16 degrees with highs of 21 or 22, which sounds mild and is, until you add wind to a wet shirt at 604 metres. A base layer that is not cotton, a warm middle layer, and a shell that stops wind rather than merely resisting a shower. Hat and gloves in the pack in any month; I have wanted both in July.

The jeans question, honestly

People ask this constantly and the answer deserves better than a scold. Yes, plenty of visitors walk Preikestolen in jeans and come back fine. No, I would not wear them, for three specific reasons. Cotton soaks up water and then holds it against you, so one shower or one boggy step commits you to wet legs for four hours. Wet denim is genuinely cold in wind. And jeans have no give in them, which you notice on high stone steps and on boulders where your knee wants to come up further than the fabric allows. Anything stretchy and quick-drying is better, and you almost certainly already own it. More on this on the jeans page.

Winter changes the list

From roughly November to March, add crampons, which are normal equipment here rather than a precaution, and plan the clothing around standing still in cold wind rather than around walking. Winter averages about 2 degrees in this part of Norway and can fall to minus ten. This is also the season where the guided formats provide the ironmongery, which is a large part of what you are paying them for: the winter hike.

The rest of the pack

Water, food, a phone, a headlamp and the emergency number 113 are the other half of this, and they live on the what-to-bring page. What the rain does to the footing is on hiking in the rain.

Booking a guided day

Availability below; every format is on the bookings page.

A reminder about what that widget is. It books the ride out of Stavanger and, on most of these, a guide. It does not book Preikestolen. Nobody sells a ticket to the trail: it is free, open and unguided, and you can walk up it without paying anyone a thing.

Frequently asked questions