On the west side of the Aurlandsfjord, about 360 metres above the water, you can see a farm that looks like it was glued to the cliff face. That is Stigen. The name comes from Old Norse: stígr means path, stigi means ladder. Both describe how you get there. The climb from the fjord is nearly vertical.
The farm was settled sometime after the Black Death and operated continuously until the early 1960s, when the last farming families gave up. In 1845, two families with 19 people lived here. They harvested 28 barrels of grain and 60 barrels of potatoes, kept 36 cattle, 34 sheep and goats, and somehow maintained a horse each on a mountainside farm you needed a ladder to reach.
In 1992, an American named Dee Cunningham bought one of the holdings. He restored the old buildings, added new ones, and turned Stigen into a summer destination with meals and overnight stays. Getting there is still an effort, which is the point. The trail up from the fjord is steep but safe, and it connects to the hiking route up Beitelen, the 675-metre peak that marks the entrance to the Nærøyfjord. From the boat, Stigen is one of the most photographed spots on the Aurlandsfjord. A tiny farm on a ledge that has no business existing, but does.
The farm was settled sometime after the Black Death and operated continuously until the early 1960s, when the last farming families gave up. In 1845, two families with 19 people lived here. They harvested 28 barrels of grain and 60 barrels of potatoes, kept 36 cattle, 34 sheep and goats, and somehow maintained a horse each on a mountainside farm you needed a ladder to reach.
In 1992, an American named Dee Cunningham bought one of the holdings. He restored the old buildings, added new ones, and turned Stigen into a summer destination with meals and overnight stays. Getting there is still an effort, which is the point. The trail up from the fjord is steep but safe, and it connects to the hiking route up Beitelen, the 675-metre peak that marks the entrance to the Nærøyfjord. From the boat, Stigen is one of the most photographed spots on the Aurlandsfjord. A tiny farm on a ledge that has no business existing, but does.