2018 Week 35

Afternoon hikes and good moments…

Peaks visited:

Peak	Height	PF	Location	WCP
Togga	1205m	15m	Sogndal, Norway
Svanshornet	552m	50m	Sula, Norway	WCP
Mosvarden	552m	50m	Hareid, Norway	WCP
Signalen	231m	231m	Giske, Norway	WCP
Helgehornet	626m	545m	Volda, Norway	WCP
Klovetinden	949m	159m	Ørsta, Norway	WCP

Togga (1205m), Aug 27 2018

Monday: After working from Anne’s place in Sogndal, I drove back home to Sunnmøre in the afternoon. I stopped in Sogndalsdalen to walk the dog on Togga. Ok – it was dual purpose. I needed to walk myself too.

I decided to walk as fast as I could without jogging. This is a “killer hill“, so incredible kudos to the ones that can jog up here. Like the guy I met on our way down.

It took us 43 minutes to reach the top (2,5km, 775 vertical meters). I reckon 35 minutes would be an honest result if I ever decide to be serious about this hillside. I can dream, can’t I?

The weather wasn’t too nice up there, so I just wanted to get off the mountain and get on with my journey back home.

Trip statistics: 5km, 775 vertical meters, 1h:23m

Pictures from the hike:

Svanshornet (550m),  Aug 28 2018

Tuesday: Ålesund day. After work, I drove to the island Sula to visit Svanshornet. It was a nice temperature outside, so I decided to put on a shorts and do a mixed jog and walk.

I chose a trailhead (by lake Raudåvatnet) where I’d never been before, and got a chance to get warm on the flats by the lake, before going up the forest ridge towards the Fiskarstrandhyttane cabins. The forest path is well worn and easy to jog.

From Fiskarstrandhyttane, the path runs across boggy ground, draining the energy out of most runners.

Reaching lake Purkjetjønna was a delight, as then there would only be 0,5km to go. Karma and I reached the top in 40m:54s, after 4km and 530 vertical meters.

Now it was time to enjoy the views and a short rest.

On the way down, we took a different route down to Fiskarstrandhyttene, hoping I would discover another path that would give me a nice round trip. But I didn’t. It’s OK, though. The normal route to Svanshornet is quite nice.

Trip statistics: 8,2km, 550 vertical meters, 1h:45m

Pictures from the hike:

Mosvarden (553m), Aug 29 2018

Wednesday: This was clearly a week that I was actually able to do mountain running. Once well past 50, you can never take these things for granted. All of a sudden, inflammation here, inflammation there…

I think the concept of mountain running involves some degree of restitution. I’m not really sure if doing more than 200,000 vertical meters on an annual basis is compatible with mountain running. Not sure at all…

Anyway, today I drove up to Bugardsmyrane above Ulsteinvik, warmed up slightly (I really hate that part) and then got ready for a 5km run up to Mosvarden.

The “Morderbakken” hill (“Killer hill”) really lives up to its name, but I was able to prevent falling into walking mode. The reward is 1km of relatively flat terrain before you take on Mosvarden itself.

Unfortunately, we ran into really, really bad weather on the mountain, resulting in a cold body and a slippery slope. I reached the top in 38m:47s, which was roughly 2 minute slower than my run in 2017. I’ll blame the weather before I admit that my 2017 shape is something I’ll never experience again. Not that it was a good year, compared to 2016, 2015, 2014, etc. On the contrary. It’s a vicious trend, it seems…

Karma and I ran all the way down too. It was just too cold not to…

Trip statistics: 10,6km 550 vertical meters, 1h:17m

Signalen (231), Aug 30 2018

Thursday:  Another day in Ålesund, and as I realized that it’s been *years* since I last visited Signalen on Valderøya. Today was a perfect day to do something about that.

I parked at Valdervoll, but due to construction work, I couldn’t figure out how to get to the couloir I had planned to ascend. So then I headed northbound along the normal path between the road and the mountain.

Within a minute, I discovered a path going up towards the steep cliffs. Was there a path I didn’t know about? Interesting! But it turned out to be a dead end, as it led me to a cave which I had no intention of climbing into.

I returned to the main path and passed Skjonghelleren – the famous cave – that I’ve been to many times before. It was part of my plan today.

The main path took me to the north side and into Sætredalen valley. I thought I had been here before, but couldn’t say for sure. In any case, it was not particularly interesting terrain.

Eventually, Karma and I reached the summit cairn. As I moved around to take pictures, I slipped on the rock and I remember while falling that I had to protect the camera. So I slammed my whole body into the rock and afterwards I kept staring at the rock for minutes, trying to figure out *how* I got away with that without even a bruise. Sometimes, you just get lucky, I suppose…

From the top, we followed the main path southbound until I found another path that took us down to the starting point. Altogether a nice round trip hike!

Trip statistics: 6,2km, 280 vertical meters, 1h:27m

Pictures from the hike:

Helgehornet (626m) , Aug 31 2018

 

Friday:  Anne came up from Sogndal, and we agreed to meet by Helgehorntunnelen and hike Helgehornet.

We drove up to the shooting range and headed out from there.

We took the path leading up to Helgehornet’s east ridge – which seems to be the de facto route for ascent. Fortunately, there were no shooters at the time. It’s not that Karma gets scared, but I can see that she is a bit … uneasy about it.

What a strange thing, to put a shooting range at the foot of this immensely popular mountain. Because, I bet the paths were there first. You finish a hard day at work and seek to the mountains for some peace and tranquility, and then all you hear is bam, bam, bambam, bam, bambambam, … Stressful! It’s OK for me though, I won’t be coming back here very often. The neighbour Lidaveten is just as nice and it’s very quiet…

In any case, Helgehornet offers pretty nice views. I’m not going to take that away from the mountain.

We took the south ridge route down and then headed into Sollidalen. There was a small unnamed forest hill that I hadn’t been to yet, so Karma and I took the ridge route while Anne followed the valley path. And then we drove home to my place to enjoy Friday evening with something nice to eat…

Trip statistics: 4,7km, 420 vertical meters, 1h:37m

Pictures from the hike:

Klovtinden (1274m), Sep 1 2018

Saturday: What a way to start September! Today I climbed Klovtinden with friends – the hardest peak in Ørsta and possibly in Sunnmørsalpene altogether. Many thanks to Anne who looked after Karma. If you want to read the trip report, you’ll find it here.

Klovetinden (949m), Sep 2 2018

Sunday: It was actually a coincidence that I climbed Klovtinden on Saturday and ended up on Klovetinden on Sunday. They’re two quite different mountains. While the first is a monster, the latter is quite a gentle top.

Anne and I joined our friend Terje and his son Sondre for this hike. We met them at the Barstadsætra trailhead in Erdalen. I had been to Klovetinden once before – in 2006, and I thought I remembered the hike until I checked my trip report. I would never in a million years have remembered that I *skied* this mountain.

No skiing today, though. It was a really nice autumn day, albeit windy higher up. We followed the path along Barstadelva and then got on the path towards Klovetinden before reaching lake Storevatnet.

Terje’s family has got a new member – Jade. Karma had met her when she was a really small puppy, and we were curious as to how they would get along together. It went as expected. Fun in the beginning, then Karma turned into the grumpy grandma. But once Jade understood the “order of things”, it was all good.

Sondre decided to wait for us by a small lake before reaching lake Klovvatnet. Terje and Anne decided to follow the normal path up to the plateau, while I wanted to hike straight up, off-trail. But then I noticed that there is actually a path going straight up.

The mountain ridge was really, really windy and as we approached the summit, it was difficult to stand upright. After posing for the summit picture, we immediately went for shelter. Taking a summit panorama was SO out of the question…

We took the same route down to the lakes, picked up Sondre and took a different path back to Barstadsætra. A beautiful day in the Sunnmøre alps!

Trip statistics: 8,8km, 780 vertical meters, 3,5h

Pictures from the hike: