Húsafell Stone

The Húsafell Stone

The Húsafell Stone is a legendary lifting stone located in Húsafell, Iceland.[1] The stone weighs 186 kg (409 lbs)[2] and is kept near a goat pen built by pastor Snorri Björnsson over two hundred years ago.[1]

The stone has been used as a test of strength by either simply lifting the stone, or by lifting and carrying the stone around the goat pen where it is located. The Húsafell Stone is also named Kviahellan ("pen slab") by pastor Snorri, who used the stone as a door to his sheep pen. The test to achieve fullsterkur ("full-strong") status is to lift the stone up and carry it the 50 metres around the perimeter of the goat pen.[3] Successfully walking the full distance around the pen is considered a widely recognized feat of strength in the field of stone carrying, and is referred to as achieving fullsterkur status.[1]

Fullsterkur status refers to the weight of the actual stone; for this status the stone must weigh a minimum of 155 kg (341 lbs). Hálfsterkur ("half strength") stones weigh up to 104 kg (228.8 lbs), hálfdrættingur ("weakling") stone up to 49 kg (107.8 lbs), and amlóði ("useless") stone up to 23 kg (50.6 lbs).

An athlete carries the Husafell Stone at Brodick Highland Games

Men have lifted the Húsafell Stone to different heights and attempted to carry the stone as a test of strength for hundreds of years.[4] When the event was featured at the 1992 World's Strongest Man competition held in Iceland and using the actual Húsafell Stone, it proved to be a very popular and influential event in the sport of strongman.[4] Canadian strongman Gregg Ernst set a world record at the 1992 WSM by carrying the Húsafell Stone 70 metres.[5] The record was broken during Icelands strongest man 2017, where the 2018 World's Strongest Man[6] Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson carried the stone for 90 metres.[7]

In recent years, replicas are created (of varying weights and sizes) and used in events at strongman competitions all over the world.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "whyis it called the Husafell Stone?". Elitefitness.com. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  2. ↑ https://s21.postimg.org/gwanc8c6v/Husaffel_stone_inscription.jpg
  3. ↑ Shetler, Scott (23 November 2006). "The Art of Stone Lifting: Nature's Gym". Halfsquare.net. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 The Husafell Stone Challenge (16 September 2010). "Diesel Crew – Muscle Building, Athletic Development, Strength Training, Grip Strength » Blog Archive » The Husafell Stone Challenge". Dieselcrew.com. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  5. ↑ "Canadian Gregg Ernst World Record back lift & Hussefelt Stone". Getbig.com. 2 December 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  6. ↑ "NY Times: The Mountain from Game of Thrones Wins World's Strongest Man Title - World's Strongest Man". World's Strongest Man. 2018-05-08. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  7. ↑ Strength Tree (2018-01-17), Iceland's Strongest Man 2017, retrieved 2018-05-15
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