Ásmundarstakkur

Ásmundarstakkur is a 97-meter-high sea stack that serves as a monument to the extreme Atlantic erosion shaping the Faroe Islands. The stack is a sanctuary for thousands of puffins and fulmars, though March is too early for puffins we saw plenty of fulmers performing aerial acrobatics on the wild wind currents coming off the cliffs.

There are plenty of great viewpoints to see the sea stack but the most impressive involves crossing one of the most vertigo-inducing structures in the archipelago.

The bridge is a narrow, wooden-planked structure reinforced with steel cables, spanning a deep, vertical chasm that separates the main island from a smaller coastal plateau. Historically, this wasn't built for hikers or photographers; it was a utilitarian tool for Faroese farmers.

For centuries, sheep were manually hauled across this gap or lowered down the cliffs to graze on the isolated, lush ledges of the sea stacks. The bridge allowed farmers to access these precarious "satellite" pastures without performing a full-scale climb every time they needed to check their livestock.

The bridge is all about sheer exposure. It is only about a meter wide, with simple wire railings, suspended over a void where the ocean surges hundreds of feet below. In the Faroe Islands' unpredictable winds, the bridge can vibrate or sway and the wind can gusty suddenly and violently enough to push you around. This is "unfiltered" Faroese hiking.

Crossing the bridge leads you to the Rituskor cliffs. From this vantage point, you get a profile view of Ásmundarstakkur and the surrounding basalt columns. The history here is tied to fleyging (traditional bird catching). Men would be lowered down these exact cliffs on ropes to catch seabirds with long-handled nets, a vital food source in the centuries before the islands were connected by modern supply chains.Read more