How Many People Have Died at Kjerag?
The question underneath the question
When somebody asks me this at the counter, they are almost never asking about statistics. They are asking whether they are about to do something stupid by walking out to a rock with their family. So I answer that instead: no, the boulder has not killed anybody, and the walk that gets you there is a long mountain hike that deserves respect. Both halves are true and people usually only hear one of them.
Why I will not give you a number
Three reasons. The first is that the deaths at Kjerag are overwhelmingly BASE jumping deaths, and counts of those vary depending on who is counting, over what period, and whether a jump that ended in hospital rather than a funeral is included. The second is that the same total then gets republished as though it were a hiking statistic, which is how a mountain with no recorded fall from its famous boulder ends up on lists of the deadliest hikes in the world. The third is simpler: I would be making it up. There is no register I can point you at, and a fabricated number is worse than no number.
What I will say is what is reported and not disputed. Kjerag is one of the best known BASE jumping cliffs anywhere. Jumpers have died there. Accidents are reported most years. The people this happens to have travelled here specifically to jump off a cliff with a parachute, and they are on a different part of the mountain from you. The BASE jumping page explains what they are doing and why here.
What does happen to hikers
Injuries, not deaths, as far as anything public shows. Broken bones, turned ankles, bad landings on wet rock. The trail is about 11 kilometres with roughly 760 to 800 metres of climbing spread over three ascents and two descents, and the second half of the day is walked on legs that have already done the first. Visit Norway’s own advice is to turn back in strong wind, heavy rain or fog, and that advice is not decoration.
The related question of whether anyone has fallen from the rock is answered on its own page, and the full safety picture, split properly between boulder, trail and jumpers, is on how safe is it.
If you want one number that actually helps you, it is not a death toll. It is the time: 6 to 10 hours on the trail, plus about two and a half hours of road each way from Stavanger. Almost every bad evening I saw at Øygardstøl started with somebody ignoring that arithmetic.
What there is to book
Not the trail. Nobody sells a ticket to Kjerag and nobody could, because there is no gate and nobody standing at one. What you pay for is the ride out of Stavanger and the guide who walks it with you, and the road up is open for about five months a year. The options are laid out on the bookings page and compared on the decision page.
Frequently asked questions
How many hikers have died at Kjeragbolten?
None on record from falling off the boulder. There is no published count of hiker deaths on the trail either, and I will not invent one.
Have BASE jumpers died at Kjerag?
Yes. Jumpers have been killed there and accidents are reported most years. They are not hikers and they are doing a different sport.
Is Kjerag one of the deadliest hikes in the world?
No. That reputation comes from counting BASE jumping accidents as hiking accidents. See the riskiest treks page.