A typical week – good weather and bad weather
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Sylvkallen | 1310m | 180m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| Holmevatnet | 572m | – | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Øyrahornet | 417m | 42m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Garnestua | 653m | 415m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Rivjehornet | 426m | 383m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Kjeringa (Vestkapp) | 497m | 334m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
Sylvkallen (1310m), Aug 26 2019
Monday: The weather was stunning when I finished work today, and the temperature was 27-28 deg. C. Not normal for the end of August! I quickly thought of 3-4 higher mountains where I wanted to go, but as I started driving towards the Ørsta/Volda region, I begun thinking about what kind of views I wanted to have. A nice fjord came out on top of my list, and considering where the sun would be in the afternoon, my choice fell on Sylvkallen.
This is a mountain I know fairly well, although I hadn’t been there since 2010 – when I “guided” a students from the Police Academy up. Plan A was to take them up Langenestinden (just on the other side of the valley), but a Police Chief concluded that it was too risky, in terms of rock fall and asked for a safer alternative. Which Sylvkallen definitely is – in summer. In winter, it’s a different ballgame. There has been at least one fatal accident (avalanche) that I know of.
At the trailhead in Standalsdalen, we were facing a 1050 vertical meter ascent. I was a bit too optimistic and assumed I would do this in 1h:15m. But I hadn’t taken an extremely wet and boggy path into consideration, and I had underestimated time spent of crossing Nøvedalen.
But more importantly, I ran out of steam after a short while. My intake of food earlier in the day hadn’t been aligned with this type of activity. But fortunately, even if the gas tank is empty, I am able to keep on going and things got better after a while. I guess that’s when the body has realized there are no more calories to burn and start working on the fat. It takes a little time to readjust, it seems…
Nothing would prevent me from reaching the top on this gorgeous afternoon, that was for certain. And, finally, we stood on top of Sylvkallen and it took us exactly 1,5 hours to get there.
But who cares – what an extraordinary view!
I spent 5 more minutes on the top, taking pictures before I announced that it was time for descent.
Needless to say, the descent was much more enjoyable than the ascent…
Almost down in Nøvedalen, I met two guys on the way up. I was quite surprised to see people this late in the afternoon. We were passing each other, nodding and saying “hello” when one of them said “westcoastpeaks!”. Again, the dog had given me away…
If I remember correctly, one was from the Czech Republic and the other one from Slovakia. But they now lived in Ålesund. According to them, this web site had been their “number one source for information“. They concluded that I “write a lot” and wondered if I was a pilot? As I seemed to be traveling a lot. Nope, just a daytime programmer trying to maximize the afternoons and weekends…
I took an off-trail short-cut down in Nøvedalen and was back at the car by 7:46pm. An afternoon well spent!
Trip statistics: 9,3km, 1050 vertical meters, 2h:42m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Trail maintenance, Lake Holmevatnet, Aug 27 2019
Tuesday: This afternoon, Aina, Johnny, Jørn Hugo, Arne and Hans from the “Turstiprosjektet Myrvåg/Tjørvåg” project headed out from Leikongsætra to put up two of the very last signposts that we had still hadn’t gotten to the field.
This project is a group of volunteers that have marked approx. 50km on paths on the northern side of Gurskøy island. This is an activity that has for the most part been very well received by the community, and people clearly seem to get out more. Grumpy people are everywhere. But as we make sure we don’t put any further pressure on the local bird- and wildlife, they don’t really have any valid arguments.
These two signposts were related to the latest marked path – on the east side of lake Holmevatnet.
The spirit is good on gatherings like this one. Or “Dugnad” – as we call it in Norway.
We also tried out repainting sticks, using a small brush and paint in a ketchup bottle. That worked perfectly and will save me from carrying new sticks up the mountain and worn ones down.
And then the first signpost was in place. This one was just hammered into the ground.
We then moved over to the northeast end of the lake and concluded that we had to drill here.
Arne and Hans went to Nonshornet to replace an existing sign that had wrong info, while the rest of us finished the last signpost.
It was late when we returned to Leikongsætra, but it had been a very nice evening!
Trip statistics: 10,1km, 500 vertical meters, 4 hours
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Rjåhornet (600m), Aug 28 2019
Wednesday: After exploring an efficient way of repainting sticks the day before, I took the dog, a paintbrush and a ketchup bottle with red paint – and headed up to Rjåhornet. The sticks in the upper area were in desperate need for maintenance.
It’s always nice to be back on this top! Probably the top (of the higher local ones) I’ve visited most times. A quick check on peakbook.org stated that this was my 269th visit (since 2008).
So, as we had finished off the “summit rituals“, it was time to start repainting. The only question was – will it start to rain?
The painting went well. For a little while. I think I got 10 sticks done when I felt the first raindrops. Then I called it a day and hoped that the paint would dry up really fast…
Trip statistics: 6,1km, 600 vertical meters, 2h:13m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Øyrahornet (417m), Aug 29 2019
Thursday: It was a gorgeous day. Too bad I hardly had time to do any hikeing. But, I found the time to do a quick hike up and down Øyrahornet.
It’s been a while since I walked our “new” route alongside the river, and was shocked how overgrown it was. The path was in need of serious maintenance, but I didn’t have any tools with me today.
Up by the bench, it was time for the usual posing picture of Karma…
All in all a quite uneventful hike, but at least the dog got its walk.
On the way down, we stopped by the river to take some pictures I thought ended up quite cool…
Trip statistics: 3,9km, 400 vertical meters, 1h:04m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Garnestua (653m), Hasundhornet (533m), Aug 31 2019
Saturday: A friend of us had turned 50 years old, and the celebration took place on Friday evening. Anne came up from Sogndal, and I didn’t find any time for hiking on Friday. So, on Saturday I proposed that we had a good walk, both for our- (it got pretty late) and Karma’s sake – having had a really boring Friday. No hiking and then left alone in the evening…
As my car was parked at Strandabøen (the day before), we took Anne’s car up to Løset. We would hike across Garnestua, Flåna and Hasundhornet, before descending towards Hasund or Strandabøen – wherever the paths would take us.
The weather was quite nice, we had all the time in the world and really enjoyed the day.
After visiting Garnestua, we continued across Flåna.
There was some cool fog “banging” on Garneshornet…
I looked forward to get to Hasundhornet, as I enjoy the views from this top more than from Garnestua. Especially towards Dimna island and Ulsteinvik.
Hasundhornet was our last top and now we could start thinking about the descent. I knew where the path began, but I didn’t quite remember where we would end up. Time would tell.
We were soon en route to Alvehaugen, but when we came across a “Hasund” signpost, we turned left onto a marked, but not visible path. Wet and boggy, it was. Not enjoyable at all.
But after a while we found a much wider path that was actually more a river. This path took us down to Hasund and my car was only a 5-minute walk away. But before we got that far, Anne wanted to pick mushrooms for dinner …
Trip statistics: 10,1km, 600 vertical meters, 2h:50m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Rivjehornet (426m), Hoddevika, Ervika, Vestkapp, Sep 1 2019
Sunday: The weather this Sunday was not good, by any measure or standard. The most sensible thing to do, was to stay indoors. So, we got into the car and drove towards Stadlandet – one of the roughest places in western Norway, in terms of wind and weather. Because, that’s just … who we are…
Rivjehornet
We started out by driving to Leikanger and then to Borgund, from where we would hike Rivjehornet. This was a top that neither Anne nor Karma had been to earlier. Too bad about the weather, though…
The route runs straight up. My kind of route…
The reward is the view, and a dramatic coast line.
And when the rain stopped, it was just nice being up here…
Back at the car, we decided to drive to Hoddevika and check out the beach…
Trip statistics: 3km, 450 vertical meters, 1h:10m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike
Hoddevika
Hoddevika is a surfer’s paradise – at least by Norwegian standards. We’ve both been there before, and it’s a nice place to visit.
Not sure if Karma quite understood what this place was all about…
Ervika
After a while, we got back in the car and continued to Ervika – a place I hadn’t been to earlier. The waves were much bigger here. And no surfers were seen. Perhaps the sea was just too rough to surf in…
Karma got gradually acclimated to being by the ocean front, and we were slightly worried about her being too bold and brave…
Vestkapp
We were both quite wet and hungry by now, but didn’t expect that we would find any place to eat on the entire Stadlandet. So, we decided to just drive up to Vestkapp, take a few pictures and return back home.
To our big and pleasant surprise, we found an open cafe on top!
And afterwards, everything was so much better. Except for the weather. Still, we were very happy about taking the long trip out here. We had some pretty good views and beaches are always fun to play around on…
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the beaches and Vestkapp:
