Returning to life as normal…
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Levandehornet | 917m | 287m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| Røyrafjellet | 123m | 100m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Garnestua | 653m | 415m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Sandhornet | 909m | 471m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| Saudehornet | 1303m | 825m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
Sollia (661m), Aug 5 2019
Monday: The week started out by doing work for the local trail maintenance group. The sticks on the higher tops are getting a heavy beating from the weather and the paint is almost washed out.
Rather than walking around on the mountains with a paintbrush, I figured I should just bring fresh sticks and return the old ones – for repair. It sounded like a good idea at the time…
It was a tough hike from Leikonsætra – 5,5km to the top and with a heavy load. I had plenty of time to think about the paintbrush along the way.
I was a happy dude when I could unload the sticks on the summit, but I didn’t have time to start replacing them today. I decided to return along the our new route on the other side of lake Holmevatnet.
A later trip, together with the maintenance group proved that repainting the sticks was clearly the best idea. As I am writing this (Sep 14) the sticks are still on the summit, and I am wondering what to do with them…
Still, a good hike. I always enjoy hiking Sollia…
Trip statistics: 11,7km, 600 vertical meters, 2h:27m
Pictures (Canon 80D/Iphone 6) from the hike:
Levandehornet (917m), Aug 6 2019
Tuesday: On my home from work in Ålesund, I suddenly decided to take the long way home and drove to Solavågen instead of Sulesund. I didn’t know where I would end up, but had time to figure that out on the ferry to Festøya.
Once on the other side, I had decided to pay Levandehornet a visit. I hadn’t been there since 2007, and that was on skis.
At Vartdal, I drove into Årsetdalen and then followed the toll road up to Skorgedalen (Approx. 370m). When I got there, I noticed a “Stikk Ut” sign and sticks. I assumed this route would take us to the top.
But the route seemed to go in the direction of lake Litedalsvatnet, and when I found an unmarked route going up to the ridge, I decided to follow it instead.
I really, really enjoyed this route. Perfect in terms of distance and vertical gain when you don’t have too much time for hiking, but want to get some cool views.
When we reached the top, we met a mother and her daughter and we talked for a while before they headed back down. I could now devote myself to the camera and the views…
On the way down I met two girls, where one of them was on the brink of going mental from vertigo. I think that was overshooting it, because there is no place on the normal route where a fall will lead to anything dramatic. Unless you jump off the mountain or slam your head into a rock. Best avoided…
We followed the marked route in the direction of Litledalsvatnet, assuming the route would stay marked and take me back to the trailhead. But the marking disappeared and as I had no business down by the lake, I took a short-cut through the forest and rejoined the path I came up. Next time, I will find out how this path works…
Trip statistics: 4,1km, 570 vertical meters, 1h:35m
Pictures (Canon 80D/ Iphone6) from the hike:
Røyrafjellet (123m), Aug 7 2019
Wednesday: Next followed a few days that wasn’t so nice. I woke up with pain in my ears, and some weird form of headache. Not headache in the usual sense, but it was painful to touch my head. Anywhere.
And today Karma was having dental care and had to be sedated.
Later in the evening, when Karma seemed like she was her usual self, I decided to take her to Røyrafjellet. It’s an easy hike, and it was also the first hike Karma ever did. That was back in Dec 2012, and she was roughly two months old.
But when we got to the top this evening, it seemed that this was a little too much too soon. She seemed a bit dizzy and I carried her down for a little while until she wanted to walk by herself again.
Trip statistics: 2,3km, 130 vertical meters, 38 mins
Hasundhornet (533m) & Garnestua (653m), Aug 9 2019
Friday: Due my new mysterious health condition, with an aching skull and pain in the ears, I skipped hiking on Thursday. I guess Karma needed the day to fully recover from the sedation on Wednesday. At least, she was “full of fire” on Friday afternoon.
My goal for the afternoon walk was a simple one; Hasundhornet from Fjelle. This is a 1,4km hike and 200 vertical meters. Whatever was going on with my head, I didn’t want to “push it” and get worse.
But when we reached Hasundhornet, I wasn’t so sure anymore. It was a lovely afternoon and it felt wrong to just head back to the car.
So, we continued towards Flåna and Garnestua…
By the time we reached Garnestua, I didn’t feel any worse – which was a good thing.
We followed the normal path to Løsetvatnet and then the main road 2,7km back to the car. Even if my head and ears didn’t feel any better, at least I felt much better mentally.
Trip statistics: 9,5km, 570 vertical meters, 2h:08m
Pictures (Iphone6) from the hike:
Sandhornet (909m), Aug 10 2019
Saturday: My health condition was the same as the day before, and the weather forecast promised rain. Not my kind of Saturday.
But, it hadn’t started raining just set so I got in the car and drove to Ørsta. The plan was to start hiking Sandhornet and possibly turn around if the weather got nasty. To make the hike slightly more interesting than usual, I decided to start out from Brekke – which would be a new trailhead for me.
But the new part only lasted until we crossed the forest road, where we got onto a very neat forest path that I’ve done before.
Once out of the forest, I was happy to see that there was a fair chance that we could reach the top before the rain came in.
I like this mountain, I like the ridge leading to the top and I particularly enjoy the Ørsta view!
As we passed Grøthornet, I realized that we might not make it back down until the rain came. But there was definitely no turning back now.
It was nice to be back on to. According to peakbook.org, this was my 11th visit to this top. It won’t be the last.
The plan was to do a round trip hike, weather permitted, but now I was just OK with returning the way I came. We were 100 meters from the car when the rain came. I’ll give that a 5 out of 6 for timing…
Trip statistics: 9,9km, 925 vertical meters, 2,5 hours
Pictures (Canon80D/ Iphone6) from the hike:
Saudehornet (1303m), Aug 11 2019
Sunday: I won’t forget this Sunday morning for a while. I went to be the night before the same skull ache and ear pain that I’ve carried with me for the past 4 days. But I woke up in the middle of the night from sweating big time. The sheets were dripping wet, but there was no pain any more. I fell back to sleep and when I woke up a few hours later, I was honky dory fine. That whole pain thing – and the “grand finale” was just weird. But OK. Let’s celebrate with a good hike!
I immediately felt a need to hike Saudehornet in Ørsta. Mostly because it looked so tempting from Sandhornet the day before, and also because I hadn’t been to this top so far in 2019. The downside was that the weather wasn’t too great. But at least I could see the summit, driving into Ørsta. I was hoping it would stay that way.
I drove up to the waterworks, parked there and started to head up the mountain service road when Karma suddenly decided to sit down. Probably silently saying “I know where this is going, and I don’t want to go there“. But I was in not prepared to turn around and had to figure out something clever.
So I took her into the forest next to the service road, and now she was an energy bomb again. I guess she just doesn’t like gravel roads.
She was a bit reluctant when we were forced back onto the road higher up, but at least she didn’t sit down. But her spirit lifted when we got onto the mountain path. Paths are clearly OK. However, my spirit dropped when I could no longer see the mountain because of fog.
On our way upwards, the worst fog went away, but then came the rain.
But there was no turning back now. At least it wasn’t pouring down, and the fog was quite nice to look at.
Eventually, we reached the top – apparently my 17th time, according to peakbook.org. It’s so nice that someone is keeping count…
For obvious reasons, we didn’t hang around up there, and headed back down after a round of pictures and treats for Karma.
Trip statistics: 7,7km, 1160 vertical meters, 2h:37m
Pictures (Canon80D/ Iphone6) from the hike:
