2019 Week 1

Nice start of the week, then dowhill..

 

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For sure…

Peaks visited:

Peak Height PF Location WCP
Skriverhaugen 663m 90m Søndre Land, Norway
Huldrehornet 271m 113m Herøy, M&R, Norway WCP
Aksla 188m 188m Ålesund, Norway WCP
Husafjellet 69m 41m Ålesund, Norway
Rjåhornet 598m 105m Herøy, M&R, Norway WCP
Lidaveten 592m 439m Volda, Norway WCP
Blåtind 697m 697m Ulstein, Norway WCP

Skriverhaugen (663m), Jan 1 2019

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A nice start to 2019!

Tuesday: 2019 started in Scheeskroken, Søndre Land, at our friends Eva & Bjørn’s place. Egypt was history, new year’s eve was history and the new year was already *here*. At it again…

This should have been a travel day, as we were supposed to be back at work on the next day. But due to a storm in the mountains, we decided to postpone traveling home until the next day. Which meant that we had to figure out how to spend the day.

I decided to start the new year with a new top, although the prominence was below 100m, and as such, doesn’t count in my quest for 100 new pf100 tops. But as I hadn’t been to Skriverhaugen yet, I wanted to go there and Anne also looked forward to a ski-trip in the gorgeous weather.

We drove the Tyskervegen road – fortunately open in winter – to the parking 600m southeast of Dølsætra.

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Ready for forest skiing!

We decided to follow snow scooter tracks to the south, and when we realized that they didn’t go in the right direction, we headed into the forest, breaking our own trail.

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Into the forest

I think Karma found the snow to be fairly deep, if she had stopped for a minute to think about it. But she was just too busy…

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Dogs…

It was nice to reach the top. The new year was definitely on!

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On top of Skriverhaugen

My GPS map said there was another forest top, 480m to the NE that was higher (669m), so we had to go there to check it out. I later learned that it is lower. The actual elevation is 558m.

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Me and Karma on the 558m top

Anne suggested that we continued down to Tverrmyra, where she was confident we would find a track. The wind was getting stronger and stronger by the minute, but it wasn’t a problem just yet.

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Looking for tracks

She was right. We picked up a track and after a while we found a prepared track, which we followed back to the trailhead.

We drove back to Scheeskroken in a beautiful light, to spend the last evening with our good friends. I really enjoy this “base-camp”…

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Nice. But it wouldn’t stay this way…

Trip statistics: 4,6km, 110 vertical meters, 1h:38m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the ski-trip:

Huldrehornet (271m) , Jan 2 2018

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A decent round trip, under the circumstances…

Wednesday: After a 480km transport leg from Randsfjorden to Gurskøya, through ALL sorts of weather, I was pretty beat up when I arrived at home. But what about the dog, who had suffered a long and at times, bumpy trip for hours? Moreover, it was dark and it was raining. But, the answer was given. She had definitely deserved a walk.

We started the hike at our front door, went up to Dyrkyrkja, across Lidafjellet and over to Huldrehornet.

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My neighbourhood, seen from Dyrkyrkja

Now that I was all wet and warm, I figured I could take a different route down the forest and hiked across Djupvikhaugen before following the roads back home. 7,4km felt like a huge victory, and I really, really, really enjoyed myself once home, after a shower and into warm (and dry) clothes.

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Karma on Huldrehornet

Trip statistics: 7,4km, 350 vertical meters, 1h:43m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the hike:

Aksla (188m), Husafjellet (69m) , Jan 3 2019

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The route

Thursday: Finally, back at work. In Ålesund. I felt a bit tired of all the traveling lately, Egypt included. But, it was nice to get back to work. As our company was about to be sold to another company, the number of tasks on hand were plenty. Absolutely no time to sit about and wonder what to do…

After work, I decided to do my normal route across the Aksla ridge, but with a variation. I had never been to Husafjellet (Larsgården) before, I decided to extend the hike to include this forest top. And, Ørnetua (66m).

It was raining, so I decided to jog the route. Hence, not many pictures. But I had to stop at Fjellstua for the usual Ålesund panorama.

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Ålesund seen from Fjellstua

It was nice to get a couple of new forest tops, even if it meant some walking along car roads. But, been there, done that!

Trip statistics: 10,7km, 370m vertical meters, 1h:48m

Rjåhornet (600m),  Jan 4 2019

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The route

Friday:  Not a good weather day, by any measure! Still, it was impossible to enter the weekend without a Friday hike. The choice fell on my local mountain Rjåhornet.

I chose to head out from Leikong, to be in shelter from the wind as long as it was possible. It’s kind of weird – it’s not too bad to ascend this mountain in rough weather, but once you reach the top, all hell breaks loose. Fortunately, there is always shelter to find behind the buildings on top.

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Karma on Rjåhornet

The combination of heavy rain, strong wind, darkness and headlamp makes it hard to see much in front of you. Not that I would ever be worried about getting lost on this mountain, but the reflective stickers made the descent much easier than it could have been. It’s also good to know that I put them up there. I also realize that I will be the one that has to repair them when the rough coastal weather has torn the reflective tape off the stick.

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Thank you, reflective stickers…

Trip statistics: 6,6km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:36m

Lidaveten (592m) , Jan 5 2019

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The route

Saturday: The bad weather continued into the weekend, and I decided that today, 600 meters above sea level would be my limit. And Lidaveten was the perfect candidate.

I chose to start out from Berkneset – my favorite route. I really wanted a round trip route on this mountain, but hadn’t found any. Well, I could of course descend to Steinnes and follow the main road back to Berkneset, but I don’t like the Steinnes path and I don’t like walking along main roads.

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On the way to Lidaveten

Still, the desire for a round trip hike is strong, and once we reached the top I decided to hike down the path towards Eidem and follow the main road back. Which meant 2,4km along car roads, but OK.

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On top of Lidaveten

But just before I reached Eidem, I noticed a forest trail heading down in the direction of Bøen. I decided to follow it and see where it would lead me.

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On a totally new route

It was an excellent forest trail and it took me to Bøen, from where I could follow the old road back to the main road – leaving me with only 400 meters along the main road before I could cross the ridge and return to the car. This would definitely be my new favorite round trip route on this mountain!

Trip statistics: 6,6km, 610 vertical meters, 1h:41m

Bike trip, Leikong , Jan 5 2019

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The bike trip route

Saturday: Later in the evening, I drove to Leikong to do a short bike-trip.

It was still raining, but it was just nice to let off some steam on the bike.

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Along the lit trail on Leikong

Trip statistics: 8,7 km, 250 vertical meters, 42 minutes

 

Blåtind (697m), Jan 6 2019

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The route

Sunday: Guess what – it was still raining. But – I still had to walk the dog, and there’s no better way than walking the dog than to hike to a top!

I decided to hike Blåtind – the highest top on Hareidlandet island – from Havåg. Even on a rainy day, this path is fairly dry.

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On the way to Blåtind

The wind got stronger and stronger on our way up the mountain. The summit was not a place you want to stay for long in this kind of weather!

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Karma – quite wet on the top of Blåtind

I thought I had dressed properly, but got really cold on top and decided to run back down, just to stay warm. On the way down, I realized that if I had an injury, like twisting the ankle, I could find myself with a big problem. I was carrying a runner’s backpack, with nothing in it and this was a turning point. From now on, I would hike with enough gear to survive an injury on the mountain. One tends to get sloppy, but at least the flaw was addressed and corrected!

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Cold and wet on Blåtind

Trip statistics: 7,5km, 690m vertical meters, 1h:41m

 

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