Ørnefjellet, Ramusfjellet, June 3 2018

The Honndalen project continues…

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Ramusfjellet

Peaks visited:

Peak Height PF Location
Ørnefjellet West Top 1334m 44m Stranda, Norway
Ørnefjellet East Top 1431m 174m Stranda, Norway
Brudeholegga 1365m 35m Stranda, Norway
Ramusfjellet 1484m 234m Stranda/ Stryn, Norway

Sunday (week 22): Yet another trip to the Honndalen region and the goals for the day were Ørnefjellet (1431m) and Ramusfjellet (1487m). On the maps, you will see Rasmusfjellet, but according to trustable sources, it should read “Ramusfjellet”.

Needless to say, the weather was gorgeous. Like it has been for the last month (and continued to stay that way throughout June and July…)

A week ago, I drove to Strynesætra for the first time. Today, I drove to Røyrhussætra for the first time. It is a toll road, but today it was free. There were no money envelopes at the gate. Got a feeling that this was aligned with when the cows were let out…

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Røyrhussætra

The plan was as follows; head straight up to the Fossenibba – Ørnefjellet ridge and continue on the ridge across Ørnefjellet and Ramusfjellet. If feeling up to it, I could possibly include Botnenibba also, but chances were good that I would come back for Botnenibba. More on that later. The time was 12:18pm when Karma and I headed out from Røyrhussætra. I don’t know if I parked “legally”, but there was no one (close) around to ask.

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Where I parked

After 70 meters, we left the road and entered the path to Skihelledalen. The path up the forest was really nice and I think I will go back to have a closer look at the river.

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The river – looking cool…

After 1,2km, I decided to leave the path and head up to the high ridge. I found a fairly good route up the hillside. Not too much bush. It was tempting to aim for Fossenibba (1267m) first, but decided it could wait if there was ever was a second “wave” of peakbagging in my life. Right now, I would focus on the tops with a primary factor >= 100 meters. There are plenty of them around. 1161 in this county alone…

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Aiming between the two tops to the left. Botnenibba to the right.
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Botnenibba and Holtafjellet (center) on the other side of Skihelledalen

We passed point 1334m, which I have referred to as Ørnefjellet’s west top. From here, I had a good overview of the route ahead. It was considerably longer than what I had imagined, but in addition to being willing and able, we also had endless daylight.

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View from 1334m. Ørnefjellet in center. Ramusfjellet to the right.

Ørnefjellet was a pile of rock. Clearly best in winter, but then you also get the avalanche danger in the hillsides.

We reached the top of Ørnefjellet 2pm. New pf100 top #49 in 2018. Only 51 to go before I have reached my annual goal. This was good progress, as I started May with only 17 new tops. In 2017 I reached #100 on Dec 25. That was a close call. I hoped I could finish earlier this year. Little did I know that I would reach #100 in less than two months from now.

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Karma on Ørnefjellet. Ramusfjellet in the background.

It was time to bag #50 and we sat course for Ramusfjellet. We followed a rocky ridge down and across Brudeholegga. The terrain up Ramusfjellet was more interesting. The east side of the ridge had snow and cornices so had to follow the west side of the ridge. That was easy enough.

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Ready to ascend Ramusfjellet

Just before 3pm, I stood on top of Ramusfjellet, with one foot in Møre og Romsdal and the other in Sogn og Fjordane (counties).

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Karma and me, on top of Ramusfjellet

Tempting as it was, to continue towards Botnenibba, I decided to call it a day. The amount of hiking lately had left me with somewhat sore feet. And as I was about to have an upcoming and busy week on Rhodes, I’d better keep them in order.

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Erdalen (Oppstryn) seen from Ramusfjellet

We headed back down to the Ramusfjellet – Brudeholegga saddle (Hattegga) and traversed the hillside until I found a grassy route that was not too steep. The descent was OK and down in the valley, I came across a cabin that I hadn’t noticed earlier. 0,5km later we rejoined our ascent route and followed it back to Røyrhussætra. The time was 4:23pm. It was kind of a shame to end a good hiking day this early, but right now, the well being of my feet took priority.

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The cabin in Skihelledalen

But my “Honndalen project” was progressing. On May 25, I was lacking 8 pf100 tops to complete my “tops surrounding Honndalen” list. Now, I was just lacking 3: Steindalsegga, Botnenibba and Rokkekjerringa.

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The route

Trip statistics: 14,2 km, 1260 vertical meters, 4h:05m.

Pictures from the hike:

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