A Norwegian tour guide says he had been expecting tragedy to strike at the tourist spot where a Melbourne student fell hundreds of metres to her death.

Kristi Kafcaloudis, 24, is understood to have lost her balance while preparing to pose for a photograph at Trolltunga or “troll’s tongue” on Saturday [see footnote].

She and two friends had hiked 1,100 metres above sea level to the scenic cliff, which juts out about 700m above Lake Ringedalsvatnet.

After the Monash University student fell, her friends tried to contact emergency services, but were hampered by poor mobile coverage. An alpine rescue team hiked several hours to recover her body on Sunday.

Thomas Ruud, the owner of Trolltunga Adventures, which specialises in guided treks around the area, said he had been dreading such an incident.

“This is a pretty ‘new’ attraction spread by the social media,” he said.

“It has become a huge favourite for travellers around the world and there are a lot of inexperienced people doing the trek – both in physical form and some clothing/shoes you wouldn’t believe.”

Ruud said it was a difficult trek and there had been numerous rescues over the last couple of years.

“Everything from broken bones, people not getting down before it is too dark and also tiredness. But this is the first fatal incident,” he said. “Last couple of years, people have started to bring tents because they want the sunset and rise, and people drinking and getting out on the cliff.

“This is why we have been waiting for something like this to happen.”

Ruud said it would be impossible to install fences, because the whole valley was a 700-metre drop.

“But I think more needs to be done about this, or I am sure it is going to happen again.”

• This footnote was added on 30 December 2015. Kristi Kafcaloudis’s family subsequently said she was not preparing to pose for a photograph, but was trying to move past other people who were doing so.