A quick visit to Dale, on my way home
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Jøtelshaugen | 582m | 112m | Fjaler, Norway |
| Høgefjellet | 591m | 105m | Fjaler, Norway |
| Jarstadheia | 582m | 430m | Fjaler, Norway |
JØTELSHAUGEN & HØGEFJELLET, May 01 2018
On my from Sogndal to Sunnmøre, I took a long detour via Dale in Sunnfjord. The plan was to get 3 new tops before returning home.
I decided to start with Jøtelshaugen and Høgefjellet above Dale. Located close to each other, this looked like a fairly easy round trip hike.
At Yksnebjør, I followed a forest road up to Einehaug, where I parked the car. Here, I found a nice and well worn path up the forest. After 0,2km, I was briefly back on the forest road before again heading into the forest.
After a little while, we (Karma and I) came out of the forest and could see the summit ridge ahead. A family was also out hiking and we had a quick chat. They were heading for the Jøtelshaugen signpost (574m), which is not the high point.
We moved on to the high point and enjoyed a nice view from the summit. I have previously been to Blægja and Kvamshesten, but the rest of the tops will get my attention this year or the next.
From the high point, we could see over to Høgefjellet. There was quite a lot of snow on the north side. That was not a worry. The worry was the rugged terrain between the ridge and the valley below. I guess I was in luck, as I made it down on the first attempt.
Shortly after, we were on top of Høgefjellet. I have a feeling that the locals call it something else, like Havreheia. We continued along the ridge towards the west and passed the Høgefjellet signpost (591m) 0,5km west of the high point.
Looking down the forest, in the direction I planned to go, I could only see snow, snow and snow. But after a few minutes, I met three ladies on their way up. That meant – tracks! Very useful for someone who had never been up here before.
I’ll be honest. I have a general dislike against signposts that state the name of the mountain, and are located FAR away from the high point. Very confusing for non-locals. I might have mentioned this to the ladies – in a good tone! “Are you Arnt Flatmo“, one of them asked. A few thoughts rushed through my mind; 1) “OK, Karma could get recognized in my home county, but NOT here” (I rarely post pictures of myself), 2) “my reputation of this dislike precedes me?” Hardly. So what, then?
It turned out to be a friend of Anne (my girlfriend), who had seen pictures of me on FB. Aha… Anne had actually mentioned her to me this morning, when I told her that I would be going to Dale to hike mountains. I just didn’t make that connection. What a coincidence!
Anyway, the tracks in the snow helped me a lot in finding the route down the mountain. And 2h:20m after leaving the car, we returned to it.
Trip statistics: 7,5km, 640 vertical meters
Pictures from the hike:
JARSTADHEIA, May 01 2018
The goal was to “bag” 3 tops before returning to Sunnmøre, and I wanted #3 to be an easy hike. Like Storåsen (306m). I planned to drive the road in the direction of Stigvika, but when I got to Bortneim, the road was closed.
Walking 2,5km to the trailhead, instead of driving was no-go. I guess I’m just lazy. So I looked for other options. Jarstadheia was just above me. I rang the doorbell at the Bortneim farm and asked if it was possible to get to Jarstadheia through Bortneimskardet. It was.
It was actually quite a good route. An OK path took me into Botneimskardet and from there on, it was fairly easy off-trail hiking straight up to the top. Just the way I like it.
It took us 55 minutes to get to the top, including a photo stop at Nontuva.
We followed the same route back down and 1,5 hours after leaving the car, we were on our way back to Sunnmøre.
Trip statistics: 4,7km, 580 vertical meters, 1h:25m.
Pictures from the hike:
It looks like a great location! Very nice photos too!
Norway has so many stunning vistas. I am now following you so I can see these fantastic views that I have only seen from the roads before.