Sunset week…
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Signalen | 231m | 231m | Giske, Norway | WCP |
| Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Høgkubben | 450m | 62m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Geitnausa | 456m | 102m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Skolma | 636m | 483m | Hareid/ Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Helgehornet | 626m | 545m | Volda, Norway | WCP |
| Storehornet | 770m | 72m | Vanylven, Norway | |
| Furunakken | 625m | 47m | Vanylven, Norway |
Signalen (231m), Middagstua (163m), Nov 4 2019
Monday: After work in Ålesund, I drove to Valderøya and hoped to catch a nice sunset on the way up to Signalen. When we head out from Valdervoll, we normally start out northbound, but today I decided to go south and then follow the south ridge towards the top.
When Karma and I reached the south ridge, the sun was about to disappear in the horizon. But at least, we got a glimpse of it. That kind of makes the whole trip…
Signalen isn’t a long hike, regardless from where you start from – on this island. But it’s a nice hike with good views.
We reached the top after half an hour, and Karma waited patiently for her reward.
Then, the moon appeared and I realized that a 24-105mm lens is not the perfect one for taking pictures of a rising moon. I wished I had my 300mm lens here…
As the sun had gone down, I looked forward to that orange-to-red glare that is so beautiful to watch. And it came…
Now I had to decide on the descent route. This would be a round trip hike, of course and as I had never hiked across Middagstua before, I figured it was high time. We descended down to the top of Sætredalen valley before we headed up Middagstua along a good path. It should be noted that in order to get to the high point (which coordinate isn’t totally obvious) you have to step away from the trail.
The descent towards the head of Sætredalen was quite fun, and there was a steep section that I didn’t quite see coming. But it didn’t pose any problems for Karma.
Eventually, we reached the gravel road that runs on the west side of the mountain massif, and it was getting pretty dark by now. But my new EOS RP didn’t seem to think this was a huge problem and gave me a daylight representation of the Skjonghelleren cave entrance, whereas my former SLR (Canon 80D) would have proposed that the picture could be taken in 1/20 sec. Which doesn’t work well when handheld…
Our hikes will get longer when I’m bound to use the headlamp. But in this transition period from daylight saving and until it’s pitch dark at 4pm, I find myself seeking hikes that I can do without using a headlamp.
Trip statistics: 6,3km, 330 vertical meters, 1h:27m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Huldrehornet (271m), Nov 5 2019
Tuesday: Anne had returned from her (near) two-week stay in Bhutan and was at my place when I returned from work. It was nice to see her again, but first things first – the dog had to be walked. I decided to do a round trip hike across my local mountain Huldrehornet.
The weather was still beautiful, but was it was also darned cold. No complaints, though. I would choose nice and cold weather over grey and rainy days anytime.
From the top of Huldrehornet, we returned via Lidafjellet and Dyrkyrkja. It was getting dark and the moon appeared. It was a nice walk but I looked forward to get back home and hear Anne’s stories from the faraway country…
Trip statistics: 4,6km, 330 vertical meters, 1h:10m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Rambjøra (132m), Nov 6 2019
Wednesday: This was the last day with Anne before she would return to Sogndal the day after. We didn’t prioritize hiking, but had to walk the dog. And, we chose to do so on the very nearest top – Rambjøra. The primary reason was that this was the only top from which we hadn’t drawn a lottery winner from the visitor register. It would be nice to get the final top “ticked”.
From the top, we continued towards Dragsund. It was getting darker, but I assumed we wouldn’t need a headlamp.
From Dragsund, we crossed under RV61 and did some “backcountry hiking” before crossing RV61 again and returning home – via the local grocery store.
Trip statistics: 5,5km, 175 vertical meters, 1h:20m
Høgkubben (450m), Geitnausa (456m), Nov 7 2019
Thursday: After work in Ålesund, I drove to Eikenos to do a round trip hike across Høgkubben and Geitnausa – two tops I visit quite often. But, today I would do a new loop, including a pitch I don’t think I’ve done before.
From Eikenos, we took the Bjønnalågen path – a path I haven’t done in many years.
And thanks to Karma, I get to see a squirrel every now and then. I never spot these cool creatures, but Karma does. And while the squirrel doesn’t move, she doesn’t either.
Eventually, we joined the path from Blindheim, and by now Karma understood where we were heading.
From Høgkubben, we got a glimpse of the sun before it went down in the horizon.
It was quite clear that if I wanted to get to Geitnausa and back to Eikenos without using the headlamp, we had to run. Now, the question is of course – what’s wrong in using the headlamp? Nothing!. It’s just that I haven’t gotten to that point in the season yet. So until then, I prefer to hike in daylight.
We ran non-stop over to Geitnausa and had still some daylight left when we got there…
Upon our return, we ran across the humps on the east side of lake Blindheimsvatnet. I’m pretty sure I haven’t hiked there before, and it was nice to cover some new ground.
On our way down to lake Røssvolsvatnet, I had control over the remaining distance vs remaining daylight and could slow down a bit. Which, allowed me to enjoy the moon rising above Auskjeret in Sykkylven.
When we returned to Eikonsa, it was pitch dark.
Trip statistics: 8,6km, 470 vertical meters, 1h:48m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8):
Skolma (635m), Nov 8 2019
Friday: If I really hurried, I could get up and down Skolma (from Flø) before it got dark. The time was 3:07pm when we headed out from Flø, and it would be pretty dark by 5pm. I had roughly 2 hours to cover 10km+ and a 600 vertical meter ascent. That’s a challenge for a man whose best years are behind him, but thanks to the bike – it was possible.
I biked 1,8km until the terrain was so bumpy that biking wasn’t beneficial any longer. From that point on, I jogged and walked up Ytreflødalen valley and eventually – Skolma’s west ridge.
It was just as cold as it had been all week, and I was wearing two sweaters and a Gore-tex jacket, long underwear and two pairs of socks. In addition to neck fleece and a hat. It had “overkill” written all over it, but I’ve learned from the past days and now it felt OK, even if I was dripping wet from sweat – halfway up the mountain.
I was happy to see that we could climb faster than the sun could set, and we got a couple of minutes of sunshine from the summit.
We descended into Ytreflødalen along a different route, but followed the main path from the valley and back to the bike. Biking back to the trailhead was freezing cold!
Trip statistics: 10,5km, 630 vertical meters, 1h:57m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
Helgehornet (626m), Nov 9 2019
Saturday: Got a late start to my walking today, due to things to do @work. And then I spent some time figuring out where I wanted to go on this gorgeous weather day.
I ended up with choosing Helgehornet from Kulsneset (or Kolsneset) – a route I had thought about for some time, but delayed not knowing if there was a path or not. The best way is just to go there and see for yourself.
I parked 200m east of Kulsneset, and instead of going to the very beginning of the ridge, I headed straight into the forest. That was not fun at all, but instinctively, we headed towards the sunshine and on the very crest of the ridge, we found a neat path.
Unlike the path to Lidaveten from Berkneset, this ridge wasn’t so steep and we had a gentle ascent up to the cairn at approx. 380m. From here, Helgehornet seemed very close, but it was still another 2km to go.
From the cairn, we had a nice view towards Ørsta peaks.
2km later, we arrived on top of Helgehornet.
The sun was just about to drop behind the Vanylven mountains, but it was nice to get a final glimpse of it, before it disappeared.
There was however lots of light lingering on the nearby mountains.
Upon descent, we took a direct off-trail route across Vasshaugen. It’s a route I’ve done once before, and it’s a bit steep, but not too steep.
After Vasshaugen, we picked up the marked route that runs via Tuva and eventually ended up on the road to/from Eideim. When we reached the main road by the fjord, we had only 0,8km of walking before we were back at the car.
It was a really nice round trip hike. Especially because of the new route from Kulsneset. But also because of the nice weather and the frost in the ground – which made things a bit upside down. No snow on the mountain and snow all white in the lowlands…
Trip statistics: 8,3km, 720m vertical meters, 2h:05m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
Storehornet (770m), Furunakken (625m), Nov 10 2019
Sunday: Today, I headed to Vanylven to continue on my new project – visit all the tops with prominence 50m or higher. Last Sunday, I visited Kraksethornet and today the goal was Storehornet. This top is on the same ridge as Fuglehovudet – which I visited back in 2009. It always feels good to pick up where I left off.
I decided to follow the path from Vidnes to Vidnesstøylen, and hoped that there actually was a path. I rang the doorbell on one of the houses at Vidnes and explained my business. It’s important to get the story right from the get-go, otherwise the locals will think you’re up to no good.
The (old) guy I spoke with was skeptical about my project – to hike up from Vidnes, visit Storehornet and Furunakken and return via Kilebrekka. That was a mighty long walk vs. the amount of daylight left. I swore I was “pretty fast“. “You’d better be“, he replied. As I didn’t see any obvious parking, I asked if I could park on his property. It took him a long time to figure out that I could. That’s just the way it is sometimes. Better not dwell on it. Just take whatever sounds like a vague “yes” and thank him from the bottom of your heart before you take off.
The forest route up to Vidnesstøylen was nice. The path was easy to follow, albeit very icy. Close to Vidnesstøylen, I met a guy on his way down. As I hadn’t studied the map yet, I took the opportunity to ask for advice. Afterwards, I had a better understanding of the terrain ahead of me and moved on.
We passed just north of Furunakken – which was not my main goal. Still, it annoyed me to just pass without visiting the top. Ahead of us was Storehornet. It looked quite prominent seen from this angle, but I knew that there would not be a 100m drop towards Fuglehovudet.
The guy I spoke to said I should either approach Storehornet from the north or head straight up, and I chose the latter. The terrain looked quite steep, but I assumed it would be nice and gentle as I got closer.
On the contrary! When I was at the foot of the ridge, it looked hilariously steep! But only in the upper part, where I carefully used small ledges to make progress. As it was, it was quite OK. But if the mountain had been 50m higher, I’m not sure if I would have continued on this route.
But we made it to the top without any problems, and that’s when I got a phone call from a good friend – and the news were not good. In fact, the news were shockingly bad, and after our conversation, I had to sit down to and let it all sink in. When I finally pulled myself together, I was more determined to live as if this was my last day on earth, more than I had ever done before.
I had now determined that we would descend via Kilebrekka, and I concluded that the easiest thing to do was to head down the same ridge we came up. And then, while heading south, we might just as well visit Furunakken on the way.
At Furunakken, we rejoined the path that forked just above Vidnesstøylen, and we followed it in the direction of Kilebrekka.
On our way down to Kilebrekka, I was torn between enjoying myself big time and feeling sad about the ill news I got on top of Storehornet. I concluded that it was possible to have both thoughts in my head at the same time.
From Kilebrekka, we followed the mountain gravel road down to lake Støylsvatnet, then the paved road for 2,4km down to the main road and then along the main road for 1km back to the trailhead. It was a very nice end to a week that didn’t start out very well in terms of hiking, but gradually got better, day by day.
Trip statistics: 13,9km, 930m vertical meters, 3h:14m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
