What to bring to Preikestolen
The official list
Tell somebody your plan before you go. Check the forecast. Wear above-ankle waterproof boots. Carry warm and windproof layers. Take a phone. Take a headlamp. Carry crampons if there is ice. Turn back without embarrassment if it is going badly, and call 113 in an emergency. Do not take children under five up in winter conditions. That is the advice as it is given, and I have nothing to add to it except the reasons.
Why each of those, on this trail
Boots above the ankle because of the boulder fields. The trail is not slippery mud so much as edges: blocks, steps and slabs where your foot lands at an angle, and the ankle is what pays for it on the way down. Windproof layers because 604 metres up on an exposed edge is not the temperature the car park is. A headlamp because the descent takes longer than people plan for, and a late finish in September is a dark one. A phone for 113, and I will not tell you what the signal is like up there because I have not seen that documented and neither has anybody else.
What I add to the list myself
What works
- Water for four to five hours, more in warm weather, carried rather than hoped for
- Food you will actually eat halfway up, not just at the top
- A dry pair of socks left in the car for the drive home
- A small bag for your own rubbish, because there are no bins on the mountain
- Sunglasses and something for your head, because the rock reflects
Worth knowing
- Jeans and cotton, which stay wet all day: why not jeans
- Smooth-soled trainers on wet granite
- An umbrella, in wind, which is a comedy on the plateau
- A drone, unless you have checked the current rules yourself
- Anything you would mind dropping while taking a photograph near an edge
Winter changes the list
From November to March, crampons are normal kit rather than an optional extra, and both Visit Norway and the trail’s own operators say to go with a guide, or at least not alone. Snow hides the cracks and the streams, the rock ices, and the daylight is short enough that the headlamp stops being a precaution and becomes equipment. The winter picture is on the winter hike and the clothing side on what to wear.
If you are walking with children, the list grows rather than shrinks: more food, more layers, and more time. Going with children sets it out.
Pack as though you will be an hour and a half slower than you think on the descent, because plenty of people are. That single assumption fixes the water, the food and the headlamp in one go.
What there is to book
Not the trail. Nobody sells a ticket to Preikestolen and nobody can, so anything you pay for is something else: the ride out of Stavanger, the guide who walks it with you, or the boat that shows you the cliff from the water. Which of the three you actually need is set out on the bookings page and in the comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need hiking boots for Preikestolen?
The official advice is above-ankle waterproof boots, and the boulder fields are why. People manage in trainers in dry summer conditions.
Is there water on the trail?
Carry your own for four to five hours. Do not plan around finding it.
Do I need a headlamp in summer?
Take one. Descents run long, and a late start in August or September finishes in poor light.