A very, very fun ascent route!
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Municipality | Location |
| Hidsegga (Veten) | 556m | 320m | Sande | GPX |
| Brandhornet (Fjellsenden) | 380m | 87m | Sande |
The massive rain shower this morning, plus the fact that we were late to bed after a nice evening with friends, made us go for a local hike on this Saturday. Both Anne and I are quite fond of Hidsegga on Gurskøya island, and I am particularly fond of the steep route up from Hidsneset. The weather forecast said the weather would be stable after noon, and we waited until then.
We discussed options for a round trip hike and agreed that, whatever route we took after Hidsegga, we would end up in Gjerdsvika. As such, we drove to Gjerdsvika first and left my bike there.
Back at Hidsneset, we parked the car and headed up towards the steep couloir below the west ridge. We had done this route before, Karma included, and while steep, it’s a quite easy route up the mountain. When you get to 400m elevation, we were only 600m away from the car!
Once on the ridge, we joined the marked route from Hide and followed it up to the top.
The summit is called Veten – a very common name for mountain tops in Norway. From the viking age, and all the way up to the end of the 20th century, “vardebrenning” has been an important part of a.o. the national defense system. “Vardebrenning” means lighting beacons. The beacons were built from wood and called “Vetter“, and this is where the name “Veten” originates from. In other words, this mountain was among the coastal hills and mountains that served as the defense communication system.
After a short stay on top (it was quite windy), we moved on towards Grøthornet. Here, we agreed to follow the marked path towards Gjerdsvika, instead of going straight down to the mountain road in Sædalen.
When we got to Gjerdseidet, we deciced to hike across Brandhornet (380m) – also known as Fjellsenden (the end of the mountain).
From Brandhornet, we followed the marked path down to the Sædalen – Gjerdsvika road and then down to the bike in Gjerdsvika.
The 4km bike trip back to Hidsegga took exactly 10 minutes, and a few minutes later, I was back in Gjerdsvika to pick up Anne and Karma.
Pictures from the hike:
