Wonderful days in Solvorn
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Solvornnipa | 1031m | 81m | Luster |
| Raudmelen | 975m | 45m | Balestrand |
| Storehaug | 661m | 100m | Luster |
| Nonshaug (Skinarfjellet) | 886m | 108m | Luster |
| Støyvafjellet | 875m | 42m | Gloppen |
Solvorn 23 Sep 2017
Anne and I had said yes to come to Solvorn for a few days and look after the children of a couple of good friends going on a travel. Being a programmer, I can work from anywhere where I have an internet connection, and I looked forward to some good afternoon hikes in the Solvorn region.
Sep 23 was a Saturday and marked the start of the “Strandsitjardagane” days – a celebration of the Solvorn history. The main street is packed with people dressed like in the old days. Quite fun!
There was also a photo exhibition in Solvorn, where Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen and his partners in Verimedia had a number of photos on display and for sale. Vegard’s mother and Anne are colleagues, and I decided to purchase a very nice photograph of Store Vengetind in Romsdal (150x100cm). Once on my wall, it will be the incentive I need to take the trip to this majestic peak.
SOLVORNNIPA, SEP 23 2017
Finally it was time for a hike and I decided to visit Solvornnipa (1031m). Anne and I had hiked this top last year, but from the Sogndal side. The route from Solvorn was new to me.
We (Karma and I) followed the main road up from Solvorn a little bit, parked in a sharp curve and followed a rough road until I found the marked path towards Solvornnipa.
The path went in the southeast direction until we reached the Mosavikgrovi creek. We followed the path up to Fjellstølen (680m) where I had a good view of Solvornnipa’s northeast side. Perhaps I was looking for round trip options. I normally do…
The path continued up to Skaret (the pass between Solvornnipa and Nonshaug) – and then some – before the path finally took the direction of the summit.
The 5,3km ascent took 1h:20m, and it was very nice to be up here again. The views explain why…
I was now very much in the mood for different route down, but I knew that the northeast side was quite “messy” and there was a good chance that I could end up in a situation where I could spend quite some time in finding a doable route down to Fjellstølen. But there was also big fun in the challenge and we took the chance.
Luck was on our side this time and we found a route down the rough mountain side. Back at Fjellstølen, we followed the marked path back to the trailhead. The hike took us 2h:25m.
Back in Solvorn, we took the kids out on the local cafeteria for dinner. Sour creme porridge! Yum!
Pictures from Saturday:
RAUDMELEN, SEP 24 2017
Sunday morning, and we were off to Balestrand for a soccer tournament that the kids were to participate in. Even if it was a (relatively) long drive, I always enjoy going to Balestrand. My plan was to “sneak off” a little while and run up and down Raudmelen. Not as fast as I ran in 2016, but fast enough so they wouldn’t really miss me. It would be a long day anyway…
I hung around the soccer field for a few hours then I took Karma and headed for Raudmelen. Anne would be keeping an eye on the kids. Not that they would run away…
The 900 vertical meters took us exactly 60 minutes, and we did not pace it. I wasn’t really in the mood for running, so it was sort of a very-slow-jog/quick walk type of ascent. In any case, it was nice to be up here again. We didn’t waste much time. I took a few pictures and Karma got her summit-goodies and then we ran back down.
We were back at the soccer field 1h:50m after leaving it, and it didn’t seem like any of the kids had noticed that I was away.
What I will remember most from this day was the INSANE ferry queue at Dragsvik. I told Anne that the three lanes to our right would get onboard, and then our lane up to the car in front of us. GUESS what happened…
Pictures from Sunday:
STOREHAUG, SEP 25 2017
On Monday afternoon, I had the opportunity to go on a very fun hike. I had no idea that it was possible to get to Mollandsmarki from Solvorn – via the shore. I just had to try this route!
From the Solvorn ferry pier, Karma and I followed a marked path 2,2km along the shore before the route went steep up the forest and up to the road at Sie.
The forest path was easy to follow, although this route is not widely used.
I jogged until I found the tractor road going up the north ridge of Storehaug. A narrow path then led us up to the summit point.
We continued down the south side of the ridge and went to the right (north) when we ran into an intersecting tractor road. After a while, I realized that this road would not take us down to Fevoll in a easy manner.
I went back and found the correct tractor road which took us down to Fevoll. Here, I found the marked path that would take us to Solvorn.
At approx. 370m, we came to a fork, where we went left and down to Huarplassen – a stunning viewpoint high above Solvorn.
From Huarplassen, the path runs pretty steep down to Øvrabø. We jogged along the main road until we met Anne, who came to meet us.
The 11,7km and 800 vertical meter route took us 3 hours.
Pictures from Monday:
NONSHAUG, SEP 26 2017
Tuesday afternoon and today my choice for the evening hike fell on Nonshaug (Skinarfjellet). Anne and I had previously been to this top, but from the other side.
I decided to take the same route up to “Skaret“, as I did when I hiked Solvornnipa, but from a different starting point. This time, we started down in Solvorn and followed paths and tractor roads until we joined our route from Saturday at approx. 140m.
At Skaret, we went off-trail and aimed for Nonshaug. The terrain was slightly cumbersome and I decided to take a different route back down.
We only stayed for the pictures, then headed down further north of our ascent route. The terrain was wet after rain and not very pleasant. Back at Fjellstølen, we followed our ascent route until I could see the Setålen buildings. We went over there, as I knew that I could follow a different path down.
At 200m, we were back on our ascent route once again and returned to Solvorn. The 10km and 950 vertical meter route took us 2h:25m.
Pictures from Tuesday:
HUARPLASSEN, SEP 27 2017
Wednesday afternoon, and as the children’s parents would return in the afternoon, I wanted to be there when they arrived. So there was only time for a short hike. I took Karma and headed up to Huarplassen above Solvorn.
We returned via Galden – a 2,8km very nice roundtrip route.
It was too late to return to Sunnmøre, so we decided to spend the night in Anne’s house in Sogndal and drive to Sunnmøre on Thursday afternoon.
STØYVAFJELLET, SEP 28 2017
Thursday afternoon, and Anne and I were on our way from Sogndal to Sunnmøre. I decided to walk the dog on Støyvafjellet on Utvikfjellet. Due to Anne’s recovery from a fractured spine in the back, she would walk the road towards Fløtravarden on Utvikfjellet. We would meet at the Utvikfjellet parking.
I wanted to explore a new route and from Byrkjelo, we drove in the direction of Torheim. On the map, I could see a path going up to Støyvastøylen, and from there I could get to the main road via another path.
The road towards Torheim was plain torture. A truck had spilled gravel on the asphalt and it was horrible to drive on this gravel!
The next surprise was on the forest road that we turned on to. The road had collapsed approx. half way, but with only 1,1km to go to the forest path, it wasn’t too bad. I took Karma and started jogging while Anne drove back to Byrkjelo and then up to Utvikfjellet.
The forest path was surprisingly nice! I had perhaps expected a path that was barely visible, but this seemed to be a very popular route!
Just before Torheimstøylen, we left the path and headed off-trail to the top of Støyvafjellet.
From here, we continued off-trail until we met the main trail by Fløtratjønna. When we returned to the parking, Anne was not there, so we found a rock to chill on, while waiting for her.
Pictures from Thursday:
