The life of a peakbagger…
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Municipality |
| Nordre Heia | 659m | 151m | Førde |
| Gjelsvikefjellet | 663m | 180m | Askvoll |
| Dokka | 756m | 301m | Askvoll |
Since 1999, I’ve have had two annual goals; 100 new peaks per year and minimum 100,000 vertical meters. The goal for vertical meters has now been adjusted to 200,000 meters, but the number of new peaks stay the same.
It gets gradually more and more difficult to achieve the goal for new peaks, for obvious reasons. I have to keep traveling longer and longer distances to find mountain tops that I haven’t been to before. While my footpring is fairly clean in the mountains, I can not claim the same when it comes to driving a car.
So, in order to reach my annual goal – and focus on my environmental footprint, I have execute this hobby in a smarter way. Like, reserve a weekend now and then, travel to a place where the peaks flourish and come home with as many as possible.
This weekend, the destination was Askvoll in Sogn og Fjordane county. I had booked a room at Askvoll Fjordhotell and had a pretty good idea about the plan for the weekend.
Nordre Heia, 659m, Førde
I drove from Sunnmøre early Saturday morning and my first stop was before Fauskevatnet west of Førde. I had previously been to Fauskevarden and Fureviknipa from this trailhead, and today I would hike Nordre Heia – on the opposite side of the road. I started out by Nordheitunnelen and more or less followed a path the 1,4km up to the top. It was a fairly uneventful hike. The important thing was to get the first top “in the bag”, which was good for the morale. The total hike was 2,6km and 210 vertical meters.
Gjelsvikefjellet, 663m, Askvoll
Next, I continued toward Askvoll and took the Skjerlia exit. I continued up to the sharp curve below Rindane and followed a tractor road upwards. I had no idea about the terrain ahead so I always took the route of “less resistance”.
After a while, I got above the tree line and could plot a steep, but straightforward route towards the summit. This was completely new terrain to me, and as I progressed I observed one interesting peak after the other.
The ascent route had a couple of steep sections where I didn’t fancy returning with the dog. So I took a different route down and thanks to the GPS – managed to end up at my starting point. The total hike was 6,4km and 570 vertical meters.
Dokka, 756m, Askvoll
After Gjelsvikefjellet, I drove to Askvoll and checked into the fjord hotel. Afterwards, I drove to Holmedal to hike Dokka. I drove up to the parking by the waterworks and followed the forest trail in the direction of Nyksvatnet. After 0,4km I noticed the “Jentevegen” signpost and turned left. I expected that this path would lead up the southeast ridge, and it did – eventually. I admit I lost the path soon after getting on it.
The hike up the ridge was fun. Good views to the south. The ridge path was marked by high sticks. Eventually, Karma and I reached the summit and I had to put a wind jacket on. There was a cold, cold wind blowing from the north.
I decided to descend via Nyksvatnet. There was a map at the trailhead which told me that there was a path in this direction. The path was marked by sticks and the descent to Nyksvatnet was easy. I considered hiking Moldurda (837m) also, but dropped the idea because of the wind. It was near gale in the gusts – which came frequent. From the lake, it was just a matter of following the main trail back to the trailhead. The total hike was 6,4km and 675 vertical meters.
Back at the hotel, it was time to relax. I had a nice dinner before sitting down in front of the computer to plan the next day – which would be all about Atløyna island.
Pictures from Nordre Heia
Pictures from Gjelsvikefjellet
Pictures from Dokka
