Saudehornet, Aug 27 2020

Harder than normal…

Saudehornet (center) seen from Ørsta
Tops and places visited
Peak/Place Height PF Location WCP
Saudehornet 1303m 825m Ørsta, Norway WCP

Thursday: As I am posting this trip prior to the week 35 report, the backdrop was that I went through an examination the day before, after fasting for two days. The night before the exam, I had a sudden drop in blood pressure (according to the Doctor), collapsed on the bathroom floor and hit my head in the fall. I was so sick that I thought for a moment “this was it“. The day before was clearly on my top 3 list of days I wish I never had

But now I had started to eat again and I wanted to celebrate the nice weather with a proper hike after work. The choice fell on Saudehornet (Sheep’s horn) above Ørsta. This is a top I hike at least once a year, but I had not been up there so far in 2020. I should have understood on beforehand that the body wasn’t necessarily ready for a fast 1200+ vertical meter ascent, but I didn’t.

At the Vallabøen trailhead, Karma was eager to get out of the car, but then she realized that we were heading to Saudehornet and just sat down. She does not do that often, more like – very rarely! But there is something about Saudehornet that she doesn’t like. Perhaps it’s the combination of pace and vertical gain (we’ve had some pretty fast ascents up here). But, I hadn’t driven this far just to turn around and had to pull rank on her.

Karma is on her way…

Once she clearly understood her position in the hierarchy, she got going. But, for the next 10 minutes, she stopped after 50 meters just to check that I was really sure about this. I was…

Still sure! Move on!

At the foot of Vallahornet, I *completely* ran out of energy. I found comfort that I could always call it a day on top of Vallahornet and dragged myself up the steep hillside.

Below Vallahornet, with view towards Saudehornet

When we got to the top of Vallahornet, I felt better and Saudehornet was just too tempting to resist. The fog on top was coming and going, and I hoped we could get there in a “going” moment.

On Vallahornet – with Saudehornet behind

It seemed like we were completely alone on the mountain, which was also a nice feeling.

On our way up Saudehornet

This was my 19th visit to the top and it really bugged me that I never had found the opportunity to check out the lower tops on the massif. One day, though…

Still unknown terrain – with fresh snow

For the first time, I let Karma completely handle herself (no leash). Which she did, of course. It’s not as if she lacks training in this category…

No short-cuts, please!

And then we could celebrate another visit, although I don’t Karma would use that exact word…

Karma on Saudehornet

I’m not sure I can say that the fog was “going“, but it wasn’t a complete white-out.

Dramatic terrain in this area!

I got a glimpse of Bukkedalstinden, which was a real awesome hike!

Bukkedalstinden

We took a different route down. In the saddle just before Vallahornet, we went down the route leading to the waterworks building.

Looking back on Saudehornet

From below the waterworks building, I expected a hike through the forest in order to get back to Vallabøen, but was mighty surprised about what I found. I had to stop a person and ask what this was, and then learned that it was avalanche protection. It was quite clever to build a network of paths at the same time. Kudos!

They’ve been busy!

Trip statistics: 9,4km, 1270 vertical meters, 3h:09m

Pictures from the trip (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8):

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