Slowing down before Easter…
Peaks visited (Click on the Peak name link to go directly to the chapter):
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Snøfjellet | 1006m | 239m | Gloppen, Norway | WCP |
| Rørene | 295m | 72m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Myklebusthornet | 329m | 329m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Blåtind | 697m | 697m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Aksla | 188m | 188m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Kongaberget | 150m | 0m | Sogndal, Norway |
Snøfjellet (1006m), Apr 8 2019
Monday: I was on my way from Sogndal after work, on a gorgeous afternoon. I decided to walk the dog on Utvikfjellet. Or should I say: SKI the dog. There wasn’t much snow left, but enough to warrant a ski-trip.
I decided to take my Randonee skis, and the plan was just to ski Fløtravarden (869m). After a little while I left the forest road and just aimed for the highest point I could see, assuming that would be Fløtravarden. I had been there before, but several years ago. Enough years to make this a totally new experience.
After a while, could see a string of tops. I assumed the closest one (and it did look close) was Fløtravarden, although I couldn’t remember that it was THAT prominent. Hence, I assumed the top to the left would be Snøfjellet. That seemed to be a way too long trip for this afternoon. After all, I had some hours left of my drive back home.
On my way up the closest hill, it just didn’t seem close anymore and never seemed to end. I looked at my GPS and realized I was on my way to Snøfjellet. And as I was now looking DOWN on Fløtravarden, I decided to continue to the top. Big bonus. Although the snow conditions were terrible. The snow was hard as ice (without exception) and then there were the sastrugis…
And after a while, we reached the top and had some pretty awesome views…
I love the spring. The animals are grassing on the farmlands, and skiers like me still have plenty of playing room in the mountains.
Time to get home. I took the same route down (more or less), survived the evil snow (I should have brought a helmet) and counted my teeth when I returned to the car. They were all there.
I stopped once for a picture on my way home…
Trip statistics: 11,9km, 450 vertical meters, 1h:55m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:
Rørene (295m), Myklebusthornet (329m), Apr 9 2019
Tuesday: Working day in Ålesund, and I left work at a time where I would spend way too much time in the traffic if I were to head for some of the higher mountains in the region. The weather was quite OK, so it felt like a “loss” to settle for a top as low as Myklebusthornet. But I was just not in the mood for a traffic jam, and taking the Ellingsøytunnelen out of Ålesund is always a smooth ride.
As I approached Ellingsøya, I noticed a ridge leading up to Rørene that I hadn’t noticed before. So, I decided to try it and see what would happen and where I would end up. I parked the car down by Straumane, ready for an off-trail ascent up the forest.
Instead, I found a pretty nice path above Grimstadvegen road (which I had to cross). It’s fair to say that without this path, an off-trail ascent would have been a no-go.
The path took us up to Nøringen (233m), which was a cool little top that I hadn’t been to before. From here, I had a good view towards the ridge we came up.
Next, we continued up to Rørene, where we had a good view towards Kverveaksla and the westernmost part of Ellingsøya island.
Now that I was here, I decided to continue towards Myklebusthornet, and worry about my descent route when I got there.
On our way to Myklebusthornet, I got the Skulen (188m) forest ridge in view. As I hadn’t been there either, I decided to return via that ridge. Come what may…
But first, we had to get to Myklebusthornet…
We descended down to lake Liamyra on a little used path and then headed for lake Skuledalsdemma and Skulen.
The ridge to Skulen was a genuine nightmare, and if it hadn’t been for a tiny deer track, this would have been quite impossible…
But we reached the top, headed across and aimed for the closest house on the other side. I was now “worried” about a long hike along the main road, but once the we reached the main road, we only had to follow it for 0,2km before we reached Grimstadvegen.
It was a nice round trip, but it would have been NICER without the Skulen part. On the upside – we didn’t have any rain. More than what could be said for those in the Vatne region…
Trip statistics: 8,8km, 600 vertical meters, 2h:16m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:
Blåtind (697m), Apr 10 2019
Wednesday: The weather was still gorgeous, but the will to go hiking after work was non-existing. When I got home, I laid down on the hallway floor, just to make a statement towards the dog: No hiking today!
The dog just sat there and stared at me. Eventually, the staring paid off and I was able to pull myself together. But inventive, I was not. So, it had to be one of the local mountains. I figured that the steepest route up the highest mountain would be a proper penalty for even considering a good nap on the floor…
I drove to Haddal, with the intention to head straight up the rocky gully. It’s very off-trail, but I’m not the only one who likes this route. I see footprints here and there…
Karma is nuts about this route, because we see the local hare almost every time we go here, and today was no exception. I normally give Karma a little leeway, because I can read her like an open book. And when her tail goes swaying back and forth, I pull her in. By now, she’s almost stopping when it happens. She knows the drill. So when we got the hare in view, she was by my side (unleashed), well knowing she would be in a world of trouble if she had decided to make a run for it…
And then we reached the top…
Upon descent, we took one of my usual routes into Klungsdalen valley, ending up with a nice round trip hike.
Trip statistics: 5,7km, 660 vertical meters, 1h:35m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:
Aksla (188m), Apr 11 2019
Thursday: After finishing work in Ålesund, I went on a hike across Aksla with my colleague Vidar and his (other) dog Sjakk. Unfortunately his other dog is not named Matt (Check Mate), but Ludo. But he wasn’t joining us today.
The goal was basically to get Vidar acquainted with the Aksla mountain. We headed out from Gangstøvika and followed Borgarnes Vei towards Ålesund. He didn’t have time to do the complete round trip via the town, so we took the path up to Kråmyra.
Rundskue was of course the main goal of the hike…
Then we followed the forest path, via Kråkeskar, on our way back to Gangstøvika. Nice hike! Vidar was quite clear on that he would return here and do more hiking.
Trip statistics: 6,9km, 200 vertical meters, 1h:15m
Pictures (Canon 80D/Iphone) from the trip:
Kongaberget (150m), Apr 12 2019
Friday: After work I drove to Sogndal. Easter break coming up! I was pretty tired when I got there, and Anne wasn’t in any hiking mood either. So we settled for a nice and short round trip hike across Røvhaugane, Kongaberget and Åberge.
Trip statistics: 2km, 130 vertical meters, 40 minutes
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:
Synnevaskjer (1543m), Apr 13 2019
Saturday: See separate trip report…
