2019 Week 11

Sunny start, windy end…

Peaks visited (Click on the Peak name link to go directly to the chapter):

Peak	Height	PF	Location	WCP
Melshornet	807m	564m	Ørsta, Norway	WCP
Høgkubben	450m	62m	Ålesund, Norway	WCP
Saursegga	516m	93m	Sande, Norway	WCP
Gjøna	531m	163m	Sande, Norway	WCP
Rjåhornet	598m	105m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP
Melshornet	807m	564m	Ørsta, Norway	WCP
Garnestua	653m	415m	Ulstein, Norway	WCP
Årvikveten	458m	205m	Sande, Norway	WCP
Storebøra	785m	702m	Vanylven, Norway	WCP

Melshornet (807m), Mar 11 2019

Monday: The weather was just stunning, and there was no doubt that I would go skiing after work. Without a dog, the options would have been plentiful. But there’s no fun in watching the dog struggle all the way up and all the way down, so it’s easy to go for Melshornet – where you can count on a perfect trail.

It’s easy to “dismiss” Melshornet as a way too easy trip. The ascent is easy, the elevation is fairly low. But on the other hand, the views are *awesome* and the descent is ALWAYS fun! So I admit it – I like this mountain.

It was beautiful to reach the top and watch the sun set. The colors on the nearby mountains were beautiful.

And when the sun left, we left…

Trip statistics: 6,5km, 560m vertical meters, 1h:20m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:

Høgkubben (450m), Mar 12 2019

Tuesday: Back in Ålesund, and when I left work, a) the weather was no longer stunning and b) I was dead tired. But I could always find the necessary energy to walk across Høgkubben above Blindheim outside Ålesund.

There was surprisingly lots of snow on the forest trail and I wondered if I should have brought skis. Then, all of a sudden Karma just sat down. Which doesn’t happen very often. But I’ve noticed that she’s not thrilled about this particular route. Why, I guess I’ll never find out. But there was no way I would turn around after just 0,5km and just left her – well knowing that waterdogs’ bond to their owners are stronger than any boredom and fatigue together. And soon after, she came running along…

When we reached the top of the mountain, it was quite windy…

I always try to go for a round trip hike when up here, and today was no exception. But the other forest trail was completely covered with snow transported by the wind and we had to “plod” through some deep snow before conditions got better.

It was nice to get back to the car and head home, being “done with it“. It sounds worse than it is. But sometimes it takes a lot of mental effort to go on a hike when you just want to head back home and rest.

Trip statistics: 5,1km, 420 vertical meters, 1h:13m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:

Saursegga (516m) , Gjøna (531m), Mar 13 2019

Wednesday: I wanted a nice hike this afternoon. No stomping through deep snow. Just an easy and nice hike up a mountain. But everywhere I looked, the mountains had nothing to offer, except too much snow for hiking and too little for skiing. But then it helps to know the local region. The coastal tops Saursegga and Gjøna has always much less snow than the other tops on Gurskøya island. So, I sat the course for Haugsbygda by the Gursken fjord. And sure enough, there was hardly any snow…

Once up on the ridge, we came across some snow, but just a tiny layer.

I always enjoy coming to this mountain. The ridge walk across Saursegga is ALWAYS awesome. And when you get Gjøna (aka Nipa) in view, things are just swell…

It was just a most excellent afternoon…

And the Saursegga ridge viewed from Gjøna is quite picturesque…

And not to forget the other views…

On our way down, we were accompanied by an eagle that lifted off just a few meters away from us. Unfortunately, I was too slow in getting the camera ready. Too bad, that could have been an awesome picture…

Trip statistics: 7,6km, 730 vertical meters, 2h:05m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:

Rjåhornet (600m) , Mar 14 2019

Thursday: This afternoon, Louis Anda came to Gurskøya. He’s an old friend of Anne in Sogndal and had business in Volda on Thursday and Friday. It was only natural to invite him to stay the night. As he arrived in the afternoon, I invited him to join Karma and me for a hike up to Rjåhornet.

Louis is an active guy, with background from diving, kayaking, climbing and paragliding. But still knows to enjoy a nice hike. Especially when it begins at sea level and climbs 600m straight up on the coastline.

The route from Leikong wasn’t free of snow, and as Louis only had brought clothes and equipment for skiing, he lent hiking pants and boots from me.

It’s been many years since Louis did mountaineering in the Sunnmøre alps, so it was a pleasure to point out the tops we could see in the horizon. Some of them brought back memories for him.

In the evening, I was happy to serve my “base-camp special“, fried salmon with a huge vegetable pot. I think he enjoyed it.

Trip statistics: 6,5km, 600 vertical meters, 2h:15m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:

Melshornet (807m) , Mar 15 2019

Friday: Louis’ business in Volda was finished around 11:30, and if I had opportunity, I would take an extended lunch break to go skiing with him. As such, it couldn’t be a high mountain, and it couldn’t be too far to drive. In other words – Melshornet was the perfect candidate, even if I already had been there earlier in the week.

It was a beautiful day, and I really looked forward to the ski-trip. I had my work under control, and could take a few hours off with a good conscience. We drove up to Helgatun and got ready for the ski-trip.

There was some fresh snow on the mountain, but the general snowmelt the past weeks was easy to see. The snow quality was perfect, although caution obviously had to be applied upon descent.

There was supposed to be a huge event on this mountain the next day – Rando Highway 2019 – but it got cancelled. We met one of the organizers on top and he advised caution on our way down. A guy had recently broken his leg, after an unscheduled meeting with a rock.

Clearly, Louis enjoyed the view. After all, it’s pretty darned nice…

Louis had Telemark equipment (I had Randonee) and I imagined that his ride down the mountain wouldn’t be all that nice. But I was wrong. He skied Telemark like I never could have. Very impressive!

The lunch break got slightly longer than I planned, but no worries. I would definitely catch up during the afternoon. Louis seemed very happy about the ski-trip and headed back to Sogndal. I guess I will meet him soon in one of the Sogndal mountains…

Trip statistics: 6,7km, 560m vertical meters, 1h:55m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:

Kalveneset, Mar 15 2019

Friday: After work, I took the dog and went for a walk at Kalveneset. The main objective was to determine if there was an opportunity for a marked round trip route here. The local hiking group had asked me to explore the terrain.

I parked near Leirvika and looked for the path that was marked on the map. I could not find it, and decided to hike across the humps just to have been there.

The terrain was obnoxious. Humps and turfs. Not pleasant at all. It didn’t take long before I decided how my report to the group would be like. No-go!

But, it was nice to have finally been here. It’s so close to where I live and I had never hiked here before.

The route eventually led us to the main road, which we had to follow 1km before we could head for the car along the road to Leirvika.

Trip statistics: 3,5km, 170m vertical meters, 1 hour

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:

 

Garnestua (654m),  Mar 16 2019

Saturday: My working day started at 7:30am and continued until 11:30, where I could take a break for a few hours. The scheduled continuation of my working day was at 3pm. But from experience, I knew that it could be sooner. It was maintenance weekend, computer systems going up and down. So, I decided to do a quick hike up and down Garnestua.

It was a gorgeous day, so if was too bad that I had to be on duty today. But that’s the way it is…

We kept a good pace up the forest, with a spring feeling. Above the forest, we ran into snow, but there wasn’t a whole lot of it.

And eventually we reached the point where we had this perfect view towards the Ringstaddalen valley.

I really like the ridge walk across Ringstadhornet and towards Garnestua. With snow and the sun shining, it’s definitely one of my favorite places…

When we got to the top, I could see a couple coming up from the Løset side. We spoke for a little while before I decided to head down. A message on my phone said that maintenance was completed, which meant it was my turn do to things. If I had read the message properly, I wouldn’t have needed to rush the descent, but I didn’t and ran down the mountain. The descent went fast!

The message was about a different computer system, which I had nothing to do with. So once back home, it was just a matter of waiting for the right message. Which eventually came…

Trip statistics: 5,3km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:23m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:

Årvikveten (458m),  Mar 16 2019

Still Saturday:  I finished work around 16:30 and decided to do my second hike for the day. As I hadn’t been to Årvikveten in 2019, I decided to go there. I drove to the Drageskaret pass and parked there. My original plan was to hike Veten along the normal route and perhaps return via lakes Nyksvatnet, Morkavatnet and Svartavatnet. That would be a fairly OK round trip hike.

But it didn’t take long before this plan was scrapped. The time was already way past 17:00 and the sun was on its way down. It was so much nicer to be up here in the sunshine than down by the lakes – in the shadow. It was just a very nice afternoon, although showers were roaming around.

We could follow in the footsteps of others to Svedehornet, but from there on I had virgin fresh snow ahead of me. Not a lot, but some.

Everywhere I looked, there was something cool to watch. Like the fog clinging on to Nystøylhornet like glue…

I took a final look at the lakes where the sun didn’t shine and decided to stay high and “suck the marrow” out of the remaining rays of sunshine.

For the 2nd time this day, I forgot to take picture of Karma by the summit cairn! What IS going on?

We took the same route back and when we got back to Drageskaret, I was VERY happy about having worked (almost) a full day and been to 2 mountain tops. Now I had definitely earned to relax in the evening!

Trip statistics: 6,8km, 460 vertical meters, 1h:40m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:

Storebøra (785m),  Mar 17 2019

Sunday:  I was quite aware of the potential rugged weather, but still I decided to take the ferry over to Vanylven and see if Storebøra accepted visitors today.

I looked forward trying a new route up the mountain, and perhaps we were in for a round trip hike, if the weather up there wasn’t totally horrible.

We followed the road up to the waterworks above Fiskå and continued up on a tractor road that almost took us up to Nupen. The tractor drivers on these steep roads must have nerves of steel! Or unconditional faith in the braking system.

At Nupen, it was already windy. I had forgotten to bring any extra clothing for Karma and was prepared to turn around if she showed signs of discomfort. And every time there was a really strong gust, she went over to the edge to seek shelter. I was not too happy about that…

But once the gusts had passed, she seemed very eager and motivated again, and so we continued up to Grøtnipa.

At Grøtnipa, we had no more shelter, and if possible, we could have made a run for it. But it was absolutely not possible to move fast up here. I also questioned if it was smart to wear terrain shoes today, but I didn’t feel cold. Perhaps the icing provided insulated me from the cold?

After a strenuous crossing from Grøtnipa, we only had the final hill between us and the top. Let’s just go for it. It seemed to be less snow the higher we got.

And when we reached the top, the wind wasn’t so bad. It was possible to have a few minutes “in peace” and enjoy the views.

I decided that we might as well go for the round trip hike. It didn’t really matter which route we took from the upper mountain. We would be exposed to the wind either way.

Once we reached the flats below Litlebøra and Storebøra, the wind picked up again. But now it was possible to run, and run we did!

And finally, we were the below the worst part and could “assess the damage“…

Soon we reached the forest road that has used to be my normal route up this mountain. But I didn’t necessarily look forward to the 2,4km along roads to get back to the car. So I started thinking about a short-cut along the foot of the mountain.

So, just before reaching the main road at Årøyane, we headed west – in the outskirts of the farmers’ land. The terrain was wet and boggy and we had to deal with a number of fences. But after a while, we stumbled across a marked path which took us back to the trailhead. All in all VERY happy about this hike!

Trip statistics: 9,6km, 820 vertical meters, 2h:20m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip: