Say you’re strolling along Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock, one of southern Norway’s most popular and beautiful tourist destinations. It’s a flat, rectangular rock that juts out, dropping off in a sheer, 2,000-foot cliff on three sides, over a swift and powerful fjord.
Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock, is a popular tourist attraction in Norway.
Preikestolen is an open space–there’s no fence, so tourists have to rely on common sense and knowledge about gravity to keep themselves safe. The argument against a fence or barrier is it would interfere with the natural beauty of the place. For the most part, visitors by the tens of thousands come to take in the scenery, snap pictures, and leave without incident. There was one death at Preikestolen last October, which may have been a suicide, but other than that, there’s nothing to worry about.
Then this happened:
Chris Kitching tweeted this picture of the couple while Fred Sirevåg warned them of the danger.
Yes, that is a baby on the edge of the cliff. Hiker Fred Sirevåg spotted a couple who placed their baby near to the cliff’s edge to take a picture, prompting some alarm from those nearby. “You’d pretty much be dead if you fall down,” he told them, although in this case “pretty much” seems optimistic. ‘I think it was very irresponsible,” Sirevåg told The Local Norway.
Sirevåg himself was sitting at a respectful distance from the edge, photographing the mountains, when he saw this strange sight. While some choose to stay away from it, there are plenty of tourists who approach the edge for photo ops. Of course, these tend to be grown adults with full motor control and an understanding of what they’re getting into. Luckily, the baby was soon scooped up by its parents and the family went on their merry way.
The cliff has a sheer 2,000-foot drop into a fjord.
(Via The Local Norway|Mashable)
Suggestions say that including a fence might not be such a bad idea, but Preben Falck, general manager of the Stavanger Turistforening, the local tourist board, doesn’t like the idea of fences or warning signs. “That would spoil the experience,” he says, though he adds that when he brings his children to Preikestolen, he keeps them at a safe distance from the edge. Besides, adds former hiking guide Kjell Helle Olsen, a fence might not even make a difference, as people would just climb over it.
Maybe people should avoid placing their babies at the edge of cliffs?
