Aurlandsfjellet Cycling — The Snow Road & Stegastein Viewpoint

Aurlandsfjellet — Snoevegen, the Snow Road — is one of Norway's 18 designated National Scenic Routes and one of the most relentless climbs I have ridden in this country. From Aurland at 5 metres above sea level, the road starts climbing almost immediately and simply does not stop for 16.5 kilometres. The first 8 kilometres wind through tight hairpin bends carved into the mountainside, the Aurlandsfjord visible far below between the turns. Tourist traffic can be heavy up to Stegastein in summer — the day I was here I started early and had the lower hairpins largely to myself, which made a real difference.

Stegastein viewpoint arrives around km 8 at 650 metres — a 30-metre cantilevered wooden platform jutting out over nothing. I would save the stop for the descent, though. On the way up you are too deep in the effort to appreciate it properly, and on the way down you can stand there and take in the full panorama of the fjord and Aurland far below without the clock ticking. Above Stegastein the road quietens significantly and the landscape transforms completely. The tree line disappears, the gradient eases slightly but remains demanding, and the terrain opens into a vast high-mountain plateau of rock and lingering snow. The summit at 1,286 metres feels genuinely remote — hard to believe the fjord is only 16 kilometres behind you. The descent returns the same way: fast, technical, spectacular. Test your brakes at the top.