Mannefjellet, Holtafjellet, May 26 2018

Back in Honndalen…

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Ascending Holtafjellet

Peaks visited:

Peak Height PF Location
Mannefjellet N 1287m 57m Hornindal, Norway
Mannefjellet S 1300m 100m Hornindal, Norway
Holtafjellet 1479m 529m Hornindal/ Stranda/ Stryn, Norway

Saturday (Week 21): the day after I started on completing the pf100 tops along Honndalen – by hiking Kyrkjenibba (1400m), I was back in the area. This time to hike Mannefjellet‘s south top and Holtafjellet. In gorgeous weather, just like the day before. After Kyrkjenibba, I was lacking 7 tops. After this hike, it would be 5.

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The route

I drove to Strynesætra – a first time visit for me – and a long and somewhat bumpy mountain road. But it saved me the bike trip I thought I had to do in order to get there (I didn’t know if the road was open or closed until I got there).

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Strynesætra

Strynesætra provided easy access to the LangerusthornetMannefjellet ridge. Well … “easy” is a matter of opinion. At least the distance was OK. But we (Karma and I) still had to negotiate some bush on our way up from the valley…

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Heading for the ridge up to the left

The ascent up to the ridge was somewhat steep, but still gentle. No ugly parts. Once on the ridge, we proceeded up to what the map calls Mannefjellet (1287m). This is however not a pf100 top (pf = “primary factor”) as there is not 100m of contours completely encircling the top – which is the normal minimum definition of a top – at least outside the Europe Alps and the Himalayas).

811m to the southeast is an unnamed top, which I refer to as Mannefjellet S – the south top. Using normal contour interpolation between 20m contours, you descend to 1210m before rising towards a higher mountain (Holtafjellet). Which should give a pf of 90m (1300 – 1210m). My GPS track indicates a pf of 97m, but as peakbook.org is using pf 100m for this top, I do too. OK. enough of this nerd stuff…

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Mannefjellet’s south top in center. Holtafjellet to the left.

Mannefjellet‘s south top was just a “hurdle” on my way to the real peak – Holtafjellet. With a pf of 529m, this an undisputed top, and it’s also a top where 3 municipalities (Hornindal, Stryn, Stranda) and 2 counties (Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal) meet. In other words – a real “treat” for peakbaggers that follow municipality and county lists…

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Holtafjellet

Holtafjellet also offered a quite steep ascent, but no difficulties – other than it’s worth while remembering where you came up, if you plan to go down the same way.

The summit is a rocky plateau, and if you want proper views, you should take a walk along the edges of the plateau.

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Karma on top of Holtafjellet

After a short stay on top, it was time to get back home. We followed our ascent route across both Mannefjellet tops, but descended to the valley along a steeper route than we came up. Back at the car (3h:45m after leaving), I had a 4,5km bumpy road ahead of me before I reached the paved road near Seljeset.

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Nonsteinsfjellet – locally called “Bjørnen” – “The bear”. I can understand why…

Trip statistics: 11,6 km, 1200  vertical meters, 3h:45m.

Pictures from the hike:

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