Nice sunsets, pain and Celebration…
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Grøthornet | 1045m | 557m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| Storebroren | 620m | 177m | Hareid/Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Sarshornet | 543m | 50m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Løkeberget | 579m | 300m | Hareid, Norway | WCP |
| Lågehornet | 920m | 30m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| Heidskredhornet | 958m | 14m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| Nivane | 1000m | 50m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| Frisvollfjellet | 466m | 358m | Rauma, Norway | |
| Kolåsen (Benningsholten) | 372m | 114m | Rauma, Norway | |
| Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
Grøthornet (1045m), Oct 14 2019
Monday: I was still on a 10-day sick leave, and begun the day with a visit to my chiropractor in Volda. I felt so much better already that I planned to go back to work the very next day, having missed only 3 working days in total.
In the afternoon, I drove to Ørsta to get a great start to my hiking week, by visiting Grøthornet. I drove all the way to the end of the road in Liadalsdalen, and that’s the last time I do this. The road is terrible! My advice is to park by the Halse farm and walk from there. It’s only 1,4km of extra walking – each way.
Then we followed the path to Liadalssætra, where I knew that the ascent would get really strenuous.
First, we had to find our way through a bush section. That went well. Then we found a good route through the birch forest.
From Skåla – the valley between Liahornet and Grøthornet – you have to pick a route and your options are boulder or grass. For me, that was an easy choice. Boulder up and grass down.
It was a tough hike up. I had not had one good night of sleep for the past 14 days, and although I felt OK, there was no petrol on the tank. Each step had a cost.
But, step by step does the trick and finally we could set foot on top of Grøthornet – 1h:11m after a 2,7km and 800 vertical meter hike. There was a thin layer of snow on top, which made the rocks slippery. I had to be extra careful when guiding Karma up to the cairn.
I took in the views for a couple of minutes. They are grand, pretty much wherever you are in this region.
Eventually, it was time to get off the mountain. We didn’t have tons of daylight left. I found a different route down from the cairn, which was much safer for the dog. After following the same route back down, we were back at the car 6:05pm – a little more than 2 hours after leaving it.
Trip statistics: 5,4km, 800 vertical meters, 2h:8m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
Storebroren (620m), Sarshornet (543m), Oct 15 2019
Tuesday: Finally, back at work, feeling just fine. I had 3 days of work to catch up with, but was very focused on a positive mindset, to avoid this neck-Troll coming back to bite me.
After work, I drove to Ulsteinvik and parked at Bugarden. My goal was Storebroren, which I hadn’t been to so far this year. But the daylight was not on my side, and I’d better hurry.
It would clearly help to bring the bike, as there was a 5,5km road from Bugarden up to lake Mosvatnet. I only biked part of “Mørdarbakken” (killer hill) as my back was quite stiff. But from the top of the hill, I biked all the way to the lake and Karma followed (above picture).
I was really annoyed that the GPS was unable to receive proper signals. I was pretty sure that it was the military, jamming again.
I left the bike by lake Mosvatnet and hurried along the south side until I reached the path that went up to the top.
The time was 5:50pm when we reached the top. It would be quite dark at 6:30pm, and we were a long way from the trailhead.
But oh, how nice it was to be up here, watching the sun set.
The Sunnmøre alps still had some light shining on them.
I then jogged over to Sarshornet and the time was now 6:02pm. We seemed to be in good shape in respect to getting back before dark.
I jogged down to lake Mosvatnet and picked up the bike. I took it nice and slow down the gravel road, as I didn’t want Karma to have to run. She has a shoulder dysplasia that is under control as long as she doesn’t run down roads. The sunset got more and more spectacular.
By the time we reached killer hill, the sky was on fire. Magic moment!
Trip statistics: 5,0km (foot), 11km (bike), 600 vertical meters
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
Løkeberget (579m), Oct 17 2019
Thursday: Today, I had my last day with my chiropractor. He was happy about the progress and so was I. We shook hands and parted, not knowing that we would see each other again quite soon…
After work, I decided to hike Løkeberget on Hareidlandet island. The route from Løset to Løkeberget is almost “too easy” for an afternoon hike, so I decided to add a variation to this route. From Løkeberget, we would descend down to lake Svartevatnet and hike along lake Hammarstøylsvatnet to the road across Fjelle. That meant a 4km walk along the road, but a round trip was a much more inspiring option than just going up and down.
I tried to keep a good pace from Løset, not stopping for pictures until we reached the top. I wanted to be back at the car before it got dark.
But taking a couple of minutes for pictures from the top was quite in order…
As mentioned – from the top we descended the ridge towards Storenakken, aiming for lake Svartevatnet and then lake Hammarstøylsvatnet.
On our way towards the Fjelle road, we finally got some nice colors in the sky.
The 4km walk along the road was utterly boring, but it was OK. I really enjoyed this round trip.
Trip statistics: 11,5, 500 vertical meters, 1h:20m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
Lågehornet (920m), Heidskredhornet (958m), Nivane (1000m), Oct 18 2019
Friday: There was just no end to the great weather, and as I worked from home today, I took Karma to Osnessanden in Ulsteinvik during my lunch break.
Friday afternoon: I’ve been to Saudehornet and Nivane above Ørsta many times. But I’ve never visited the satellite tops Lågehornet and Heidskredhornet before. After work on this Friday afternoon – I figured I had just enough daylight left to make it happen.
I drove to Ørsta and parked by the waterworks building. Karma really hates this trailhead, as she thinks we’re going to Saudehornet. So, I had to be a bit persuasive to get her rolling…
The gravel road is very popular, but I find it utterly boring. It’s JUST a transport leg to the start of the mountain paths. But today, stunning weather made it a bit more bearable.
Once we passed the Saudehornet exit, Karma found new inspiration, realizing that we would NOT go to Saudehornet today. After a hard push up the mountain, we arrived on the Nivane plateau. And we were slightly ahead of schedule.
First, we headed towards Lågehornet. It was really nice to hike towards the setting sun.
There wasn’t any time to hang around, so from Lågehornet, we continued towards Heidskredhornet. None of these tops are very prominent, but they ARE named tops. Hence, worth the visit…
Saudehornet looked brilliant this afternoon. But, there wasn’t enough daylight for that hike.
We then headed up to the Nivane high point, where Karma got her 3rd round of treats. A top is a top, and she knows what is what…
And then we headed down into the sunset and were back at the car just before dark.
Trip statistics: 8,9km, 945 vertical meters, 2h:10m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8):
Frisvollfjellet (466m), Oct 19 2019
Saturday: This was not a Saturday like the others. The weather was beautiful, my neck was OK again, and today I would reach my annual goal by visiting my new top (in 2019) #100 with a prominence of 100m or more. Somewhere in Rauma. I would just drive to Isfjorden (near Åndalsnes) and see where I would end up.
As I was getting ready to leave the house, something happened in my lower back. Normally, I would have assumed it was a kink, but after visiting chiropractors throughout October, I was a bit paranoid. Please – don’t let it be a prolapse…
However, I didn’t want a bad back to ruin the day. Either it got better (bonus) or it got worse, and could be fixed later. So I got in the car, heading for Rauma.
The lowest peaks on my list of candidates were Frisvollfjellet and Kolåsen on the Rødvenhalvøya peninsula. With this new condition in my back, these tops went straight up to the top of my list. It wasn’t the grand finale I had imagined, but a top is a top…
It took me 2,5 hours to get to Åndalsnes, and half an hour later, I got onto the Rødvenhalvøya peninsula, aiming for the trailhead by lake Oravatnet.
When I realized that I couldn’t drive any closer to the mountain, I had to figure out what to do with the 1,7km along the gravel road leading to the mountain. As I had a bike in the back of my car, I decided to use it. The back was now worse than it was this morning, and the bike trip would either make things better or worse. It got worse. The observant reader may see repeating pattern of poor decision-making.
Anyway, we got to the start of the mountain path and I left the bike there. The hike up the forest was quite pleasant.
The path led us all the way to the top of the forest, but not directly to the high point. Which, I actively had to look for. And I’m not really sure I found it, but we had covered all the possibilities for sure. It was time to celebrate!
We took the same route back down and returned to the car close to 1,5 hours after leaving. My back was all warm now, and I didn’t feel so bad. Why not visit Kolåsen while at it, and doing a “check!” on this peninsula?
Trip statistics: 7,4km, 410 vertical meters, 1h:25m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
Kolåsen (372m), Oct 19 2019
Still Saturday: I had no idea what route I should take up Kolåsen and drove down to the Joker store, picked a random guy that looked like he knew the area, and asked for advice. I got a very clear advice; park by the church, pass the uppermost house at Eide, follow the path up to the pass between Hælberget and Kolåsen and follow the ridge until I reached the top. Perfect!
I parked by the church, and as I passed the uppermost house at Eide, I got an excruciating pain in my lower back. I had to stop for a couple of minutes to figure out what was going on. Well, it was that better vs. worse, which happened to be worse…
But it would be a shame to turn around now, and I didn’t really want to come back all this way for this top. It’s not that I really had to hike it, having reached my annual goal and all, but … you know. Or you may not. But I kept going on, step by step.
The hike up to the pass felt like forever, and now I had ~1,3km to go along the forest ridge. There was a vague path at first, but it disappeared after a while. The pain got worse and worse, but I would NOT leave without Kolåsen “in the bag”.
The whereabouts of the high point was not totally clear, but after wandering around at the top, I had been to every possible hump candidate. And now it was time to get back home and dive into the pain killers. It’s not that I really looked forward to that. One made my stomach weird and the other took away my sleep.
Getting into the car, and facing a 3 hour drive home – was marginally less painful than walking. But eventually we got back home after a really long day and I couldn’t wait for Monday to arrive. The first thing to do would be to call the chiropractor. “It’s me again“. Surely, I had to be their “customer of the month“. In any case, it was a very expensive month for me…
Trip statistics: 4,5km, 320 vertical meters, 1,5 hours
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
Hasundhornet (533m), Oct 20 2019
Sunday: I woke up to a gorgeous weather day, but also with the same back pain as I had when I went to bed the nigh before. Fortunately, lying in bed was quite painless, but I didn’t want to spend the day in bed. Moreover, the dog had to be walked. I took a pain killer and decided to go to Hasundhornet – the most gentle top I could think of, in this region.
I drove up to Fjelle and took the shortest route to the top. In the beginning, it was quite painful, but it got better as I got warmer – or when the pain killer kicked in.
It was nice to reach the top, enjoying the view and most importantly – walking the dog. I’m pretty sure the dog would survive a day without a mountain walk, but it’s a conscience thing. I feel so much better afterwards.
As I felt better already, we took the longest route back to the road and 1,2km ahead of me, to get to the car.
This was indeed a roller-coaster week. From sick leave to full restitution (or 90% as my chiropractor said), my annual goal reached (100 new tops) and now a real problem in my lower back. I was wondering what the new week would bring…
Trip statistics: 5,6km, 250 vertical meters, 3h:18m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
