A great hike and a stressful ending…
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | GPX | WCP |
| Liahornet | 1035m | 245m | Ørsta | GPX | WCP |
| Øst for Vasskoppen | 804m | 34m | Ørsta | ||
| Sør for Vasskoppen | 649m | 39m | Ørsta | ||
| Rjåneskamben (Øvsteberga) | 324m | 6m | Ørsta |
For a long time, I’ve wanted to hike up from Rjånes and up to Rjåneskamben. I knew that there was a path, but I didn’t know exactly where it was. Once up there, I could possibly find a good route to Liahornet?
Liahornet – I’ve been up there once before – in 2006 – when I hiked from Vartdal, across Bergehornet, Grøthornet and Liahornet, and paid NOK 500,- for a taxi from Liadal back to Vartdal. I’ve been to the neighbour peak Grøthornet – from Liadal. So this would be a completely new route up to these peaks.
I drove to Rjånes, stopped by the last house before Vartdalsfjorden and asked a woman who was out in the backyard where the path was. The answer was “right there”, she pointed to a forest path next to her house.
There was a map at the trailhead, and I could see that the path went towards Liadal. I went back to the woman and asked if she knew if the path would take me to Rjåneskamben. She wasn’t sure, but assumed it would. “Me not go to mountain“. Not a local woman. Eastern Europe. I thanked her and took my chances with the path.
After 2 minutes, I saw “Kamben” painted on a rock. I had found my mountain path. Marked too.
The path up to Kamben was a NBR – no bullshit route. It went straight up. No needless switchbacks. My kind of path!
It took me 20 minutes up to Rjåneskamben. Karma seemed to be on the border of overheating (17 deg. at the trailhead – a tropic temperature in western Norway…) The cairn was quite impressive. Two young girls were busy with selfies. Karma seeked rest and shelter behind the cairn. I just waved her on…
Next stop: point 649m (“Sør for Vasskoppen”). I had two options and chose the western route up. Mistake. Cumbersome scrambling up a steep section. I kept a good pace. I wanted to be back in Ørsta before 6pm so I could get some beer. Fridge empty. Saturday. Not a good combination.
We reached point 649m at 2:20pm. Time plan looking good. Next stop was the 804m top 0,9km to the northeast. Easy terrain. Well – boulder fields, but boulder fields work to my advantage. Feeling home there.
Point 804m at 2:38pm. I looked up at Liahornet and found that a direct approach would be too steep. I decided to aim for the snow fields, pass below them and then gain the south ridge (top picture).
The south ridge was VERY rocky. But again, I like rock. No energy lost – compared to grass. Fog came and went. It seemed that I would reach the top without fog.
The time was 3:04pm when we reached Liahornet. Still 3 hours until the stores closed. It only took us 1,5 hours to get up here, so we were good.
I could see Grøthornet’s north ridge. Dramatic terrain. Ropes probably needed. I should invite Anne for a ridge traverse.
We headed back down, took a direct course towards point 649m, found a different route back to Rjåneskamben and could see a vague path plus occasional small cairns.
On the way down from Rjåneskamben, we passed the “Rønneberghola” signpost. Rønneberghola is a WWII memorial, but I decided to come back for that one later on. After all, it was Saturday and my fridge was …
Back at the car 4:08pm. I drove back to my local store on Gurskøya, and felt a chill rush through my body when I saw the parking lot. Empty. Then it dawned on me. The day before Whit Sunday (“Pinse” in Norwegian, stores close at 4pm. As my girlfriend is always visiting friends during Pinse, there are no one to watch my back. I’ve probably missed the stores for 10 years in a row. I need to check if there is a SMS alert service for thw Whit weekend.
Fortunately, there was an open store in Ulsteinvik. It’s called a “Sunday-open” store, with very limited offerings, and definitely not including beer. Unfortunately, the queue started at the entrance. I drove to the local gas station to buy a frozen pizza instead…
Pictures from the hike:
