Fog on top, but the rest was really nice…
Peaks visited:
Peak | Height | PF | Municipality | Location |
Solvornnipa | 1031m | 81m | Sogndal/ Luster | GPX |

Today, Anne, Karma and I went to Barsnes to hike Solvornnipa. This was the only top in the region near Sogndal that I hadn’t been to yet. The weather seemed stable, and we had reason to believe it would improve to the better.
The first part of the walk was 2,2km along Barnesfjorden. This is a nice walk, but after having done it a number of times, it’s more of a transport leg…

The forest path then climbs from sea level and up to Dal (approx. 400m). It’s a nice path, but can be quite slippery after rain. Like today…

Something was different when I woke up today. My throat was – I don’t know – it was more difficult to swallow than usual and I didn’t really look forward to getting out of bed. And something was different on the trail. It was just hard work. We decided to take a break at Dal and enjoy lunch. The weather was nice, although a couple of very light rain showers had passed us.

From Dal, we walked 1,4km up to Helgasete (approx. 600m). The weather was beautiful, and we could see the top of Solvornnipa – now without clouds.

From Helgasete, it is 2,3km and 430 vertical meters up to the summit. As we passed 800m, the fog moved in and it started to rain. The original plan was to descend to Solvorn and figure out a way to get back to Barsnes, most likely in a taxi. I imagined how wet one of us would be in that taxi. I say one of us, as it’s almost impossible to find taxis who allow dogs these days. So one of us would have to return from Barsnes with the car.

We arrived on Solvornnipa at 3pm – 3 hours after heading out from Barsnes. The rain had some elements of snow in it, so we dressed accordingly. When we realized that the path to Solvorn didn’t run from the summit, we lost interest in the idea and decided to return the same way we came.

Upon descent, we found the Solvorn path but we still chose to return to Barsnes. I told Anne that I would be quite grumpy if we returned to Helgasete and discover that the summit was free of fog.
Indeed, the summit was free of fog when we returned to Helgasete. But as the weather was just gorgeous, there was no reason to get grumpy. We just missed the view, that’s all.

Below Helgasete, we took a different path down to Dal and ran into a lamb that was all alone. We called a deer hunter that we met below Solvornnipa, and he promised to contact the owner. The lamb should have been back at the farm by now, and I guess the owner would appreciate the information.

Below Dal, we crossed a waterfall on a bridge. It was tempting to get more dramatic pictures by seeking closer to the waterfall, but I settled for my version of “woman on bridge”…

We returned to Barsnes 5:25pm – 5h:20m after heading out. I’m not sure if it ever took me this long to hike up and down a 1000m peak. But what of it? It was a nice hike with my family and I got myself a new mountain top…
The total hike was 15,8km and 1050 vertical meters.

Pictures from the hike: