Road 63 between Valldal and Trollstigen is now part of the National Tourist Route. But this road has not been here very long.
For centuries, there was only a packhorse trail connecting Valldal to Åndalsnes on the other side of the mountain. The main reason people wanted a proper road was a large annual market at a farm called Devoll, near Åndalsnes. This Romsdal market had been running since at least 1533. Farmers from Valldal would haul horses, butter and cheese over the mountain to trade. It was an important event, but getting there was miserable.
Building started in 1916, and through the 1920s, bridge by bridge, the road crept up the valley. Gudbrands bridge in 1919, Hoel bridge in 1921, Uri bridge in 1924, Krike bridge in 1927. Each one brought the road a few kilometres further north. But the real challenge was getting over the mountain itself.
That took eight more years. At its peak, around 60 men worked from four construction barracks scattered along the route. They carved the road by hand — crowbars, sledgehammers, and wheelbarrows. Two men could drill three metres of rock in a full day's work. Eventually they laid down rail tracks so stone and gravel could be moved by wagon instead. Workers on the Romsdal side built upward from the valley floor. Workers from Sunnmøre built downward from above the waterfall. To get past Stigfossen — a 180-metre waterfall right in the middle of the construction site — they used a cable car. Remarkably, there were no serious accidents during the entire project.
Each hairpin bend was built by a separate team, and the bends still carry the names of the foremen who built them. For over 80 years, every single name was a man's. That changed in 2020, when a bend was finally named after Nikka Myren Grønning. She had been the cook who fed the construction crews in the 1930s. Nikka was there for the unveiling. She was 103 years old.
Trollstigen finally opened on the 31st of July 1936, when King Haakon the Seventh drove up. For the first time, Valldal had a road connection to the outside world.
For centuries, there was only a packhorse trail connecting Valldal to Åndalsnes on the other side of the mountain. The main reason people wanted a proper road was a large annual market at a farm called Devoll, near Åndalsnes. This Romsdal market had been running since at least 1533. Farmers from Valldal would haul horses, butter and cheese over the mountain to trade. It was an important event, but getting there was miserable.
Building started in 1916, and through the 1920s, bridge by bridge, the road crept up the valley. Gudbrands bridge in 1919, Hoel bridge in 1921, Uri bridge in 1924, Krike bridge in 1927. Each one brought the road a few kilometres further north. But the real challenge was getting over the mountain itself.
That took eight more years. At its peak, around 60 men worked from four construction barracks scattered along the route. They carved the road by hand — crowbars, sledgehammers, and wheelbarrows. Two men could drill three metres of rock in a full day's work. Eventually they laid down rail tracks so stone and gravel could be moved by wagon instead. Workers on the Romsdal side built upward from the valley floor. Workers from Sunnmøre built downward from above the waterfall. To get past Stigfossen — a 180-metre waterfall right in the middle of the construction site — they used a cable car. Remarkably, there were no serious accidents during the entire project.
Each hairpin bend was built by a separate team, and the bends still carry the names of the foremen who built them. For over 80 years, every single name was a man's. That changed in 2020, when a bend was finally named after Nikka Myren Grønning. She had been the cook who fed the construction crews in the 1930s. Nikka was there for the unveiling. She was 103 years old.
Trollstigen finally opened on the 31st of July 1936, when King Haakon the Seventh drove up. For the first time, Valldal had a road connection to the outside world.