Afternoon hikes and ski-trips
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Tylderingen | 1104m | 214m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP |
| Rjåhornet | 598m | 105m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Geitnausa | 456m | 102m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Storehanen | 496m | 68m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Hestefjellet | 621m | 73m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Syrebakkane | 455m | 42m | Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Brandtua | 440m | 62m | Herøy/ Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Djupvikhaugen | 98m | 29m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | |
| Varden | 333m | 333m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
TYLDERINGEN, APR 30 2018
Monday; working from Sogndal and the afternoon trip went to Tylderingen. On skis, as I had fresh report from a friend that one could still ski from the Fretland (500m) trailhead. As I expected rotten snow, I didn’t bring Karma. She had a couple of very busy mountain days and deserved to relax on the grass in Anne’s backyard.
My friend (Tom) was absolutely correct – I could ski from the car (well, I had to carry the skis for 1 minute, further down the road) and it seemed that two days from now, this would no longer be possible.
Route finding (as in: finding the snow) was easy. I just followed Tom’s tracks from the day before. As it was going quite swift, I decided to try to make it up and down in one hour. I knew that would be on the border of extremely hard, but why not give it a try.
On my way up, I was glad I didn’t bring Karma, and I assumed that the rotten snow would offer anything but nice skiing on my way down. I was only partially right on that point.
It took me 54 minutes to ascend the 600 vertical meters to the top, which included several stops for pictures. Reaching that one hour goal was already out of touch, but who cares…
After some more pictures, it was time for descent. And, to my huge surprise, the descent to Stokksete was hilarious. The skis ran on rocket fuel and it just went too fast. But from Stokksete and down, the skis stuck to the snow like glue. Still, I reached the trailhead 10 minutes after leaving the top. I mighty nice way to start the week!
The trip: 6,4km 600 vertical meters.
Pictures from the trip:
MAY 1 2018
See separate trip report
RJÅHORNET, MAY 2 2018
Wednesday; back on Sunnmøre, tired after an extra long weekend (read: lots of hiking) and a hard day at work. And when I don’t have the energy to go somewhere in particular, I normally end up on Rjåhornet. The main goal today was to inspect the rope that the local hiking group (which I am part of) had put up on the new route from Stemmedalen.
I said from the beginning that a rope that would not get my vote, but it’s a democracy and I got outnumbered. It’s a difficult balance. Should we drill anchors in rock (virtually impossible to remove) just because a few doesn’t want to hike this route without the safety brought by a rope? We’ve marked two other routes up this mountain. Why not leave this one as it is? We cannot secure every single path in this country, just because one or two find it scary.
In any case, I had pictured a short rope, anchored directly with bolts only. But what I saw was something totally different. I can only criticize myself for not asking what the actual plan was. For me personally, this used to be a fun route. If I was clumsy, I could actually fall down and hurt myself seriously or fatally. It was part of the “nerve” going up here. Now it’s gone, and I’ve found myself a different route – close by. There is no nerve, but at least I don’t have to see ropes. And yes, I’ve said how I felt about it to the group.
Besides this, a hike up Rjåhornet is always nice. Every time I go up here, I try to put a few rocks across the wet parts of the trail. It can be undone. It can be reversed. If need be…
The trip: 6,2km 605 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
GEITNAUSA, MAY 3 2018
Thursday; Ålesund day, and for the 2nd day in a row, I lacked inspiration to do anything “adventurous”. Then, Geitnausa, aka Spjelkavikfjellet, is an easy choice. Karma and I headed out from the base of the new ski-jumping hill next to Turheisa.
The hike up to Geitnausa was nice, although it was quite windy above the forest. Upon descent, Karma and I hiked to Blindheimsvatnet and took a different route down the forest, and continued all the way to the waterworks by Årsetelva. A very nice round trip hike!
The trip: 7,8km 420 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
AROUND MOLTUDALEN, MAY 4 2018
Friday; for the 3rd day in a row – no inspiration for fun adventures in the mountains. I ended up driving to Moltudalen, as I really should visit Storehanen, Selsteinen and Hestefjellet at least once a year.
On my way up Storehanen, the fatigue was replaced by some kind of “mojo” and I started to look forward to a nice round trip across Storehanen, Selsteinen, Hestefjellet, Syrebakkane and Brandtua. None of them being a pf100 mountain, but who cares. It’s a nice round trip along paths, except for the west ridge down from Hestefjellet.
The “mojo” eventually got me jogging, but only on the flats and in the downhills. The highlight of the trip was when I passed two adult eagles, resting on a ridge below Syrebakkane. Either they never saw me, or they didn’t care. Both alternatives – quite strange.
The trip: 10,6km 810 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
DJUPVIKHAUGEN, MAY 5 2018
Saturday; on mission for the local hiking group (Turstiprosjektet Myrvåg/Tjørvåg) and the goal was to mark the route across Djupvikhaugen – a low threshold option for those who find hiking the local tops a challenge. The job got done, and now sticks with reflective markers will safely guide visitors across this forest top, even after dark…
The trip: 5,9km 260 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
VARDEN on RUNDE, MAY 5 2018
Still Saturday; Anne came for a weekend stay on Sunnmøre, and as she’s doing park ranger work on Runde island, the evening is prime time for her. I came along and she dropped me off by the Runde bridge. She would drive to Goksøyr and go to Lundeura and observe that people were behaving as they should and not unsettle the puffins. Karma and I would hike across Varden – the island high point and join her at Lundeura.
When we eventually got to Lundeura, we could see that the bird-watching spot was PACKED, with photographers and students from a school in Ulsteinvik. People were behaving good, and Anne had an easy watch. Karma and I was just sitting on a rock, waiting for people to leave and for Anne to call it a day…
The trip: 7,6km 580 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
DJUPVIKHAUGEN, MAY 6 2018
Sunday; Anne and I invited our friends Lena and Terje and their new Italian waterdog Jade to a walk across Djupvikhaugen. As, a) they had not been there before , b) I had marked the path the day before and c) Jade was still a puppy, this seemed like the perfect walk.
The trip: 5,7km 190 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
HULDREHORNET, MAY 6 2018
Still Sunday; I finished a somewhat uninspired (Tuesday excluded) and uneventful week of afternoon hiking with a round trip across my local mountain Huldrehornet. Karma and I headed out from Stemmedalen, hiked up to Lidafjellet before aiming for Huldrehornet.
From Huldrehornet, I took a direct off-trail route down to lake Stemmedalsvatnet, and that route will never become a favorite. It had been raining most of the weekend, and we also ended the week with rain. Better luck next week!
The trip: 4,8km 335 vertical meters.
Pictures from the hike:
