Back on the 1000m+ prominence scene…
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Daurmål | 1448m | 1225m | Jølster/ Gloppen, Norway |
| Point 1321m | 1321m | 51m | Gloppen, Norway |
Friday: Anne and I flew from Cyprus and to Bergen, landed in the afternoon and spent a long and good while, trying to find Anne’s car at the parking lot. Note to self: Next time – make a note of where we left the car!
We arrived at Sogndal at midnight and picked up Karma, who had spent the week with Ane & Jostein – her breeders. It was a warm welcome. No cold shoulder. Family reunited!
Saturday: The weather forecast for the weekend was great, so I left Sogndal in the morning – aiming to do visit Daurmål. This is a mountain I’ve driven past numerous times for the last 10 years, thinking “one day…”
And that “one day” would be today. I drove to Årdal and up to Årdalsstøylen – from where I hiked Blåfjellet in 2015. So, at least the starting point was known. Now I just had to figure out the best route to Daurmål.
I didn’t know anything about the mountain, other than that two friends came down there one dark winter’s evening. That was an epic (and not in a good way) for one of them. You can read that story here…
But today’s hike would probably be a quite normal one. I soon found a path that took me across the meadow and in the direction of Daurmål’s north ridge. The path was seemingly going to lake Botnevatnet, and so I left it after a while.
The route up the lower part of the ridge was semi-steep and I ran into a couple resting at approx. 900m. They thought the route was pretty steep already, and hoped that they could make it all the way to the top. We parted and Karma and I sat course for the top. I have to admit that there I felt some “excitement“, as when seen from a distance – the upper part didn’t look like a walk in the park. But issues like that have a tendency to sort themselves out upon closer contact.
After a while, we were standing below the summit block, and it was not apparent how I would get the dog to the top, without hassles.
But then I found a neat “corridor” that blew away all the worries…
And a few minutes later, we were on top of Daurmål.
Daurmål belongs to the “exclusive” list of 85 Norwegian tops with a prominence of 1000m or more. I don’t have an ambition to conquer them all. That’s for legends. As I am writing this, my friend Petter Bjørstad is on his way to the north of Norway to visit Skittendalstinden and Skjunkhatten – the only two tops on the top 100 Norwegian prominence list that he still hasn’t been to. May he succeed! And BTW – Daurmål is #22 on this list…
After a short, nice stay on top, we moved on – in the direction of point 1318m on the other side of lake Svartevatnet. I am referring to this top as point 1321m, as that’s the height stated on Økonomisk Kartverk.
I had some hopes about some nice views into the Våtedalen valley, and I was not disappointed.
We followed the ridge northbound down to lake Botnevatnet. I saw a couple by the lake and I didn’t want to disturb them. We nodded at each other, andI later found out (on Facebook) that we knew each other. My excuse is poor vision without glasses, and Jostein Aasen didn’t realize it was me until I was gone. Jostein is another legend – having visited Store Skagastølstind (Norway’s 3rd highest peak) 149 times. And that was in April 2013. I reckon his number is significantly up by now…
It was a nice stroll back to Årdalsstøylen, and I was super-happy about finally having visited Daurmål. And now that I “on a roll” – perhaps visit another 1000m+ prominence top tomorrow?
Trip statistics: 11,3km, 900 vertical meters, 3,5 hours
Pictures (Canon 80D/Iphone 6) from the hike:
