Afternoon hikes
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Meknakken | 592m | 34m | Volda, Norway | |
| Sætrehornet | 559m | 56m | Volda, Norway | |
| Krumsvikhornet | 540m | 32m | Volda, Norway | |
| Ulsettua | 389m | 261m | Hareid, Norway | |
| Myklebusthornet | 329m | 329m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Grøtshornet | 663m | 581m | Haram, Norway | WCP |
| Haddalshornet | 611m | 103m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
MEKNAKKEN & SÆTREHORNET, APR 23 2018
Monday; The weather wasn’t great, in fact it was raining. But the urge to visit new paths and tops was greater than the fear of getting wet. So, after work, I drove to Volda, took the ferry to Folkestad and drove to the place Mek – to hike Meknakken and Sætrehornet.
The GPS guided me to the forest path, and the hike up the birch forest was quite nice. When I got closer to Meksætra, the hike wasn’t so nice any more. There were pitches of deep, rotten snow and I had no longer the forest to shelter me from the rain.
The terrain was different than I had pictured it, from looking at the map. I had planned to start with Sætrehornet, but I found myself en route to Meknakken, and soon I could “clock in” a new top. To be fair, it wasn’t on my A-list (tops with a primary factor >= 100m), but I was just happy to be a place I hadn’t been before.
To get to Sætrehornet, I had to cross a whole lot of rotten snow, and worse – cross a river on a snow bridge that I didn’t trust. But we (Karma and I) made it across, safe and sound. Once we reached the top of Sætrehornet, it was only natural to also visit Krumsvikhornet – a less prominent top further along the ridge.
I didn’t want to go back the way I came, and I knew I wasn’t able to cross the river at any other point, so I just had to find a way down the forest from Krumsvikhornet. Part of the forest was quite steep, and if it hadn’t been for deer tracks, we would have been in trouble. But the descent went far better than I could possibly hope for, and we touched the main road only 0,5km away from the car…
The trip: 6,6km, 680 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
ULSETTUA, APR 24 2018
Tuesday; it was still raining, and I had no interest in any higher mountains. “Low” was they key word for the day. Ulsettua came up as a good candidate, as it was a) a local mountain and b) a place that I hadn’t been to in 2018. I drove to Alskleiva and headed out from there.
I do the same mistake every single time I visit Ulsettua – I reckon it’s a short hike. Well, fair enough, it’s only a 2km+ hike from Alskleiva, but I never end up going back the way I came. Today was no exception, as I figured that a hike across the top, down to Engjaskaret, and along the road back to Alskleiva wouldn’t be such a long hike. But when you reach Engjaskaret after 5,5km, soaking wet, and you realize it’s still 5,5km back to the trailhead – then you’ve done that good ol’ mistake one more time…
To be fair – I had good clothes. State of the art Gore-Tex jacket and trousers. And as long as the feet don’t get cold, they can be somewhat wet. I was only cold on my fingers. The only thing that really works, are woolen gloves, and those I had left behind.
All that aside, reaching the car after 2 hours (+) of hiking in rain, gave me a satisfaction that I can’t get without this level of effort. And Karma was happy too. So much to smell in the forest…
The trip: 11,2km, 650 vertical meters.
Pictures from the trip:
MYKLEBUSTORNET, APR 25 2018
Wednesday; Ålesund day – and I didn’t have too much time after work for hiking. As I still hadn’t been to Myklebusthornet on Ellingsøya since 2008, it was high time. More importantly – it would be a quick walk.
On the way up the forest, I didn’t remember anything from the route, even if only 10 years had gone by. I did however remember the summit ridge route, which felt like some kind of comfort.
I really wanted a round trip hike, and was prepared to go to the pass between Myklebusthornet and Rørane, and find a way down to the main road. But then I noticed a fork just west of the summit, and I decided to follow this path. As I suspected, it took me back down to the lake that I (almost) passed on the way up.
Then I went over to a small forest top that the locals call Hovden, and tried to find a route back down to the car. That proved to be impossible, so I had to get back on the forest road. Nice to be back on Ellingsøya!
The trip: 6,0km, 400 vertical meters.
Pictures from the trip:
GRØTSHORNET, APR 26 2018
Thursday; another working day in Ålesund, and on this afternoon, I had more spare time on my hands. I decided to pay Grøtshornet in Haram a visit, but this time along the south ridge – a route I hadn’t done in at least 10 years, as the north ridge has become a favorite.
I remembered the starting point, near Ravn Stadion. But that was it. After following a tractor road for 0,9km, I arrived at a fork. The signpost mentioned two passes, neither of them familiar to me. My hunch told me to go left. 0,5km later, I saw the Grøtshornet signpost and figured I was on the right track. But it turned out that this was a new route to me.
In any case, the path took me up to the Hagesætra ruins, and soon after, I was on the south ridge. And when I thought the summit was close, I still had 1km to go!
Good to be back, though. The top offers some pretty nice views. Like most of the Haram tops, coastal tops as they all are.
I resisted the temptation of taking a direct south off-trail route down the mountain and instead followed the path back to Hagesætra. On my way up, I had noticed another marked path going east. So, I decided to follow this route and see where it led me. After a while, I realized that this was the path I had followed 10 years (or so) earlier.
Eventually, I returned to the fork that confused me on the way up, and Karma picked up her own scent and accelerated. We returned to the trailhead 2h:40m after leaving it. Another nice afternoon in Haram!
The trip: 10,5km, 690 vertical meters.
Pictures from the trip:
HADDALSHORNET, APR 27 2018
Friday; the plan was to locate a trailhead marked “Nissevegen, Haddalshornet & Blåtind“, as I had seen the signpost on a picture on Facebook. This starting point was new to me, but I was able to figure out where it had to be, given the distances on the signposts. I drove to Britahaugen near Havåg, and located the trailhead.
I soon realized that I was going in the wrong direction, and ended up on the ridge west of Havågsdalen, which I know all too well. In order to get to the mountain, I had to get down into the valley, and then continue up the ridge on the other side. Not pleasant terrain!
As Karma and I got closer to the mountain, it started to rain. But we were in the outskirts of the rain shower, and as long as we avoided the ridge, we (almost) stayed in the clear. It had stopped raining by the time we reached the top, but the mountain was fogged in.
We took the Havåg route on the way down. But instead of following the route back to the main road, I tried to do a clever short-cut in the forest and ended up in steep and unfriendly terrain. This hike will NOT go down in the memory lane…
The trip: 6,9km, 650 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
APR 28-29 2018
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