Evenings turning magical…
Peaks visited:
tr>Høgkubben450m62mÅlesund, NorwayWCP
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Rjåhornet | 598m | 105m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Haukåsen | 158m | 18mm | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Laupsnipa | 558m | 380m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Geitnausa | 456m | 102m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Saudehornet | 1303m | 825m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| Sulafjellet | 776m | 776m | Sula, M&R, Norway | WCP |
Rjåhornet (600m), Nov 19 2018
Monday: Rjåhornet, of course. What else on a Monday? And OK, there was not a magical evening on Monday…
We started out from Djupvika. It was a grey day, no doubt about that. And windy too. That goes without saying. It’s always windy here on the coastline. And I’m SO fed up with the wind.
As we gained some altitude on the mountain, the fog came in from the east. That’s quite seldom!
We reached the top and performed the usual rituals…
Back on the meadow between Rjåhornet and Huldrehornet, I decided to follow the path I’ve been working on for the past month(s). It’s so nice to see the reflective sticks in the dark.
Trip statistics: 6,5km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:53m
Pictures (Iphone) from the hike:
Haukåsen (158m), Nov 20 2018
Tuesday: Ålesund day, and one week after hiking Myklebusthornet and Rørene on Ellingsøya island, I was back at the soccer field by Legene. This time to visit the forest top Haukåsen.
I had brought the bike and started out by biking 2,1km along the tractor road on the south side of lake 51m.
In the northeast corner of the loop I parked the bike and we headed off-trail into the forest, in the direction of Haukåsen.
The first part of the forest was quite cumbersome, due to fallen trees. But we eventually found the trigonometric point, also fallen (of course) and could claim a brand new forest top.
This hike was the first in the series of hikes where I had some amazing afternoon views and colors.
Back on the tractor road, I biked on the north side of the lake and returned to the car 1,9km later. Very nice trip!
Trip statistics: 5,6km, 200 vertical meters, 1h:02m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the hike:
Laupsnipa (558) , Nov 21 2018
Wednesday: Oh, this was such a nice hike. Most hikes up Laupsnipa are.
We started out by Voldnes and went up the tractor road before starting on the mountain path.
The mountain path is awesome, and even more spectacular in winter, when you can ski close to the steep drop down to the fjord.
As every afternoon these days, I was in a rush after work to get a little daylight before it got dark. And we were able to reach the top and begin the descent towards lake Voldnesvatnet before the headlamp had to come on.
And during the descent, I got those 10 magic minutes from when the moon becomes something for the camera and until it’s glowing too bright to take pictures of it.
Trip statistics: 5km, 550 vertical meters, 1h:15m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the hike:
Høgkubben (450m), Geitnausa (456m), Nov 22 2018
Thursday: Ålesund day, and return to Spjelkavik/Blindheimsfjellet.
I parked at Turheisa – the parking below the slalom hill at Spjelkavika, and Karma and I header up the slalom hill. From the top, we had a great view towards the greater Ålesund region.
We continued towards Høgkubben as the sun was setting. There were some really nice colors on the sky!
At Høgkubben, I decided to return to the trailhead via Geitnausa. It would be dark along the way, but now was just as good time as any to get used to hiking in the dark. It always takes getting used to, every year.
On the way to Geitnausa, we had those 10 magic minutes when it’s possible to take a picture of the moon, which includes details and isn’t all yellow cheese…
From Geitnausa, we had a nice evening view towards Ålesund…
The north view wasn’t too bad, either…
From Geitnause, we took the normal route back to the trailhead.
Trip statistics: 9,6km, 500 vertical meters, 2h:08m
Pictures (Iphone) from the bike trip/hike:
Garnestua (653m), Nov 23 2018
Friday: Another great afternoon, and I picked one of the nearest tops, hoping to get as much daylight (and sunshine) as possible before the day started to fade to dark.
Garnestua is one of the nearest tops, and a route Karma really loves. Most likely because of hare observations a couple of years ago. There are things a dog just doesn’t forget.
We started out from Ytre Haddal and rushed up the forest, stopping only once for pictures.
We reached the top while it still was a fair amount of daylight.
After a round of pictures, we headed down the same way and it got pretty dark down in the forest. I had to turn on the headlamp 500 meters from the main road…
Trip statistics: 6,8km, 720 vertical meters, 1h:52m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip/hike:
Saudehornet (1303m), Nov 24 2018
Saturday: The day started great already on the morning walk with Karma. The moon was just stunning!
After breakfast, and working a few hours from my home office, I decided to go to Saudehornet – the pride and joy of the village Ørsta. We hadn’t gotten any snow yet, just a thin layer of frost.
I drove to Vallabøen and parked the car. I like this route way more than the route from the waterworks. Today, I decided to do the forest road part on a bike.
On our way up the forest road, I met a person from the Red Cross. I asked what they were doing, and she told me they were looking for a missing person.
Oh yes! Maya from Poland, gone missing on Nov 21, believed to have gone hiking on Saudehornet. Thus, I decided to pay extra attention to the terrain alongside the path.
We reached the top of Vallahornet and stopped for a little while to enjoy the gorgeous weather and the stunning view. Then we moved on in the direction of Saudehornet.
On our way up the mountain, I met 3 guys from Poland, volunteers looking for Maja. They didn’t know her. But they decided to spend their weekend (I presume all Polish workers in Norway are HARD working people) to look for a fellow countrywoman gone missing. They asked me questions about what I thought had happened. It was of course impossible to give any reasonable answer, and it was altogether heartbreaking.
Karma and I moved on up the steep section of the mountains, and in every direction I looked, I could see people searching…
When we reached the top, I could see a lot of people on the west top. I couldn’t imagine that Maja would have reached the top of Saudehornet with only 1-1,5 hours of remaining daylight, given that her assumed start time was correct. Nevertheless, no stone should remain unturned. Literally.
I didn’t quite enjoy the views from the top, as I normally do. I kept thinking about her family. She had only been in Norway for a very short while. And Norway is supposed to be one of the safest countries in the world. What were THEY thinking?
We returned down to Vallahornet, from where I headed for steep, off-trail terrain. The only logic I was able to apply was that if she were ever here, she must have followed the path and if she had stumbled, she wouldn’t be far from the trail. But I didn’t see anything and neither had anyone else. Which makes you wonder if she’s up there at all…
Trip statistics: 6,3km, 1260m vertical meters, 3h:37m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip/hike:
Sulafjellet (776m), Nov 25 2018
Sunday: Another gorgeous day, and I went to Sula island to ride my bike up to Rollonhytta and then hike Vardane on Sulafjellet.
I had been biking for more than a week now, and my rear had slowly, but gradually turned accustomed to the hard seat. And the overall biking form was improving.
When we got to Rollonhytta, I left the bike behind the cabin and we proceeded on foot.
Like the day before, there was frost on the mountain, but no snow. Oh, such a wonderful walk!
When we reached the top, we (or should I say I) had some spectacular views. I’m not sure if the dog gives a rat’s ass about the views…
After a nice stay on top, we returned to Rollonhytta, where I picked up the bike. The knee was still bad, but certainly improving. And Karma got a run for her money. She limped a little later in the evening. She’s got Shoulder Dysplasia, but it only gets visible after a hard run down a mountain. I try to keep it to a minimum, but once a year it gets a bit too much for her.
The reason for driving to Sula island on this Sunday was because I would pick Anne up at the Vigra airport in the afternoon. She returned from a vacation in Cape Town. It was really nice to have the small family reunited again!
Trip statistics: 10,9km, 750m vertical meters, 2,5 hours
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the bike trip/hike:
