The last day of my summer vacation
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Fedalsnibba | 1609m | 1066m | Stryn/ Stranda, Norway |
Sunday: It was the last day of my 4-week summer vacation. It had been a quite memorable vacation, even though I worked a couple of weeks in the middle of it. I could look back on an epic expedition to Beerenberg on Jan Mayen, a very enjoyable mini-tour in eastern Norway – with Storsylen as the highlight, as well as a fun week on Cyprus – where Anne and I visited Mt. Olympos – among other tops.
Now, I was back home on Sunnmøre, after having visited Daurmål (on my way home from Sogndal) the day before. The weather was still great and since I had hiked a 1000m+ prominence top the day before, I decided to end my vacation with another 1000m+ prominence top. The choice fell on Fedalsnibba – on the Stranda/Stryn border. Which also means on the county border between Møre og Romsdal and Sogn og Fjordane. That would be at least 5 lists on peakbook.org – right there.
I drove to Frøysadalen, which is a relatively long drive (within the same county) from Gurskøya. I knew Frøysadalen from my visit to Bustegane in May. A guy I spoke to at Frøysa back then told me that he had hiked Fedalsnibba straight up from the cabins by Djupgjølet.
The hike didn’t start on a good note. There were cows everywhere. I am not afraid of cows, but I don’t want to walk straight through them with a dog. After an unpleasant detour, I had passed the cows and found myself by the cabins by Djupgjølet. Due to fog, a direct ascent was out of the question.
So, I decided to try my luck in the Botnen valley. I followed a visible path into the valley, but it ended and I faced a bush war. The fog had started to lift, and I saw no apparent route from the valley and up to the ridge above. I came to the conclusion that this was a no-go. Shit happens. Goes with the trade.
So, I decided to hike Svartefjellet instead. Which meant I had to get into the other valley – and up to lake Vatnedalsvatnet. But there was no way I would return down to the cows. I therefore decided to short-cut through the forest, below Klypfjellet and Bustegane. It would be a painful ordeal, but I decided to go through with it.
When I got to the river, I noticed a path leading into Botnen valley and after thinking about it, I decided to follow it. I would probably not make it to the top today, but at least I would know the area a whole lot better.
When I got deeper into the valley, I could actually see a potential route which I hadn’t seen before, partly due to fog, then sun against and shadows. Not only did it look potential, it looked very doable. And furthermore, there was a boulder field that would minimize the bush war.
The ascent was hard. It was a hot day and the terrain was not very friendly. But it got a whole lot better when I got to the boulder field. There wasn’t a whole lot of water up here, but Karma found a small stream of water here and there and got by.
After a while, I got a good overview of the valley below…
When I was below point 1440m, I decided it was too steep to hike straight up to it, so I maintained my southeast course and eventually topped out on the ridge – 650 meters south of point 1440m.
Reaching the ridge was a milestone. The summit was still more than 1km+ hike ahead, but that was insignificant at this point. I was on the ridge. The rest would be a bonus.
The hike up to the top went across boulder, but of the friendly sort.
When we finally reached the top, 2h:40m after heading out, I was so happy. I had been thinking about this top for years, and now it was finally “in the bag”.
I had imagined that I would be hiking this mountain from Flo (on the Stryn side). If you think you’ve heard that name before, you’re probably a soccer fan. Jostein Flo (Sheffield Utd.) and Tore Andre Flo (Chelsea). Yup…
The views from up here are stunning. I saw a number of fine peaks that I had already done, and many more that I still hadn’t been to. Those peaks give me energy and drive. Can’t wait to get to them…
After a nice stay on top, we took the same route down. On my way down the ridge I noticed that it was indeed doable to get on this ridge from Fedalen – east of Botnen. Perhaps choosing Vollset as the starting point would have been better. I guess I will know in time. It’s definitely a trailhead I will visit…
Getting back to the cabins by Djupgjølet was a real bummer. The cows seemed to have multiplied, and now they were absolutely everywhere – by the cabins, by the river and even in the woods. The detour was even more obnoxious than on our hike up. But, eventually we reached the car – 5 hours after heading out.
But all in all, it was a really good hike.
Trip statistics: 13,1km, 1300 vertical meters, 5 hours
Pictures (Canon 80D/Iphone6) from the hike:
