Local walks and a mixed weather week
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| 01.09.2020 | Sulafjellet | 776m | 776m | Sula, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 02.09.2020 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 03.09.2020 | Garnestua | 653m | 415m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| 04.09.2020 | Hornseten | 190m | 152m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 05.09.2020 | Heidakollen (Galten) | 570m | 71m | Volda, Norway | WCP |
| 30.08.2020 | Kornbergveten | 577m | 139m | Volda, Norway | WCP |
Snøhornet (1309m), Aug 31 2020
Monday: See separate trip report
Vardane on Sulafjellet (776m), Sep 1 2020
Tuesday: Working in Ålesund for a change. I had an early appointment at the Vet (Karma being treated for her latest ear infection), but had to reschedule to later in the morning as the ferry was delayed due to fog.
As nice as the fog was to watch, it was just annoying to wait – without knowing when the ferry would depart. The ferry on the picture just parked and didn’t let any cars onboard. But eventually, another ferry came and we could get going.
After work, my shape and form was good for the 2nd day in a row and inspired from the nice hike to Snøhornet the day before, I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and the good shape by doing something new on Sula island.
I had been to the high point (Vardane) 27 times before, but I had never hiked from Nøringset. According to the map, there was supposed to be a path and I decided to explore it.
It started out on a jolly good note. The trail towards Nybø/Nymarka was excellent.
Close to Nybø/Nymarka, the forest path began and ran through a nice birch forest. I was thinking to myself that this is just awesome!
Then it all turned downhill. Not literally, but above the forest I realized that this path went to Eltrane (the west tip of the island) and not to Vardane. Which meant 3km off-trail across Myrane (the meadows). Wet meadows, I might add. That was just no fun at all! But, it would eventually get worse. Much worse!
Eventually, we reached the top and I promised myself to stick to a well known route (via Sulabakkhornet and Sulabakken) on the way down, even if it meant 3km along the road back to the car.
But first, the views…
I finished my summit “rituals” (GPS waypoint, pictures, treats for the dog) before I got into a chat with another guy – out running. He was heading for Sulabakkhornet, and I decided to jog along. It’s been a long time since I had done any sorts of running. It was NICE, although I knew that in a day or two, running would feel like an unachievable goal. It’s just that up and down, these days…
On my way down from Sulabakkhornet, I figured it would have been nice to get back to my starting point without following the road. I took a closer look at the map and noticed a path that supposedly traversed from the cabin below Sulabakkhornet and the path I had been following upwards. If I had just known what I was heading into…
Getting to – and crossing Storelva river went OK. It wasn’t nice terrain, but heaven compared to what was ahead of me.
What was ahead of me was a FOREST of juniper bush. It was like a maze and I felt really sorry for Karma who didn’t have the luxury of having arms. I tried to help her as much I could. This part of the hike was a true nightmare, but the worst part was still not over.
After what felt like hours, I finally joined my ascent route just above Nybø/Nymarka. Once back at the car, we just jumped in and drove away to reach the ferry that was coming in.
Once on the ferry, I noticed ticks crawling up my orange hiking pants. Some easy to spot, but the majority – microscopic! I always have a magnifying glass in the car and had to use it to distinguish the ticks from dirt. In the beginning, I found it a bit amusing. Hey! I just counted 10 ticks! Then 20, 30, 40 and stopped counting at 50. I guess the final result was close to 100 and I have NO IDEA where they all came from. When I looked down on my legs, I saw nothing. But if just sat and waited a few seconds, there would be 1-2-3-4 suddenly appearing.
Once back home, I stripped naked in the hallway and jumped in the shower along with the dog. The clothes went straight in the washing machine – handled in Covid-19 style. One thing is for certain – I will never, ever again hike in these parts of Sula island in summer!
Trip statistics: 11,7km, 800 vertical meters, 3h:11m
Pictures from the trip (Canon EOS RP):
Sollia (661m), Sep 2 2020
Wednesday: Reports were coming in that the sticks on the Nonshornet – Sollia route were a mess.
My thoughts immediately went to the shy gang who commit vandalism on the sticks in this region. Shy – as in they always run when approached. The only thing we know about them is that they dress in wool from top to bottom, and has been seen to perform twerking-rituals on the sticks. The “woolpack” has been a bother for years and there is seemingly no other solution to the problem than to go up and fix the sticks.
The weather was still gorgeous and there are worse ways to spend an afternoon than hiking up to Sollia. We started out from Tjørvåg.
I felt that the term “mess” was a bit over the top. I only counted 4 sticks that were really out of position.
Still, I decided to use the club on all of the sticks, as most will turn a bit loose over time anyway. I made a mental note to find someone who can support me with band-aids.
Eventually, we reached the top of Sollia and all sticks but one were now in order. One stick was just missing and I found it several hundred meters away from its designated location. Once back in its place, we could continue down the mountain.
Sollia offers really nice terrain for hiking, and even for off-trail hiking.
On Nonshornet, I met Elin and Johnny – repainting sticks. They are also part of the trail group committee, and it’s fair to say that it’s the three of us that is doing the majority of the work.
Every effort to keep Karma away from the newly painted sticks was futile…
It feels good to do some “community work” every now and then. “Some” is perhaps an understatement. I’ve put in quite several hundred hours into the local trail project, but it’s all worth it based on the feedback we get.
Trip statistics: 9,6km, 770 vertical meters, 3h:06m
Pictures from the trip (Canon EOS RP):
Garnestua (653m), Sep 3 2020
Thursday: Another typical day this year; OK working day, tired after work, rest, wreck after rest and then find myself stumbling up a mountain, walking the dog…
I was originally planning on taking the “easy way out”, by hiking the new gravel road up to Hasundhornet, but managed to pull myself together and get going towards Garnestua.
Once the body understands that there’s no escape, it takes supportive actions and the vertical meters fly by. The only thing I hoped for, was that the rain would stay away.
But, the rain was coming in – fast.
And the summit wasn’t a nice place. We exited quickly…
Trip statistics: 4,9km, 430 vertical meters, 1h:06m
Hornseten (189m), Sep 4 2020
Friday: I pulled out an old trick to make a rainy hike more inviting – find a new route!
As I hadn’t hiked Hornseten from Flusund before, I decided to check out the route. I drove to the end of the Flusund road and hiked straight up, in very wet grass. Instead, I should have followed the shore for a little while and then picked up on the path that I met higher up.
After a while, I reached the path that I’ve hiked many times before.
The summit point is coming together nicely. They’ve got a great cairn (!) and now they have panorama pictures instead of the traditional circular viewfinder. The only thing I’m curious about is the height of the signposts. They’re really tall! Which – shouldn’t be an advantage on the coastline. I almost needed my glasses to read the signposts.
We took the normal route down to Bergslia, and then I followed vague paths through backyards in order to get down the main road to Flusund. The remaining 1km back to the car was incredibly boring, although I thought I had found the end of the rainbow for a little while.
After the hike, it stopped raining (of course) and it was incredibly “provoking” to see the sun shine its rays down on the ocean…
Trip statistics: 4,2km, 200 vertical meters, 1 hour
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Our route across Hornseten 
My starting point 
On the ridge to the top 
The top of Hornseten 
Panorama 1 
Panorama 2 
Holy cow! 
Nice!
Heidakollen/Galten (570m), Kornbergveten (577m), Sep 5 2020
Saturday: Even if the weather wasn’t very stable, I was in desperate need to see new terrain and took the ferry from Volda to Folkestad to hike Galten and Kornbergveten. I had just recently been aware that there is a rock – sort of sticking out from the ridge – which has caused some debate lately.
Some think this rock is too exposed and wants to put safety measures in place. To me, that’s a ridiculous idea, because we have thousands of exposed points in my local area alone. What would be next? People just have to learn not to kill themselves by doing stupid things for a picture. And to my knowledge, no one has died there yet.
We started out from the Blåfjellsvegen road. It was never an option to pay NOK 45,- to drive up to the point where the mountain trail to Galten begins.
The path was very nice for a good while, and then it got really *wet*.
By the time we reached the ridge, it had started to rain.
The mountains above Folkestad are nice, but I prefer to visit them on skis.
Despite of the light rain, I enjoyed myself. It’s been a while since I was here the last time, and completely missed out on the – now so famous rock.
Eventually we reached the top and I wondered how I could have missed this rock the last time. I didn’t find it extremely spectacular, not anywhere near “Johan Skytt” on Godøya, but I could understand why people would want to take selfies here.
Then we continued towards Kornbergveten.
Karma – the poser – never disappoints…
When we reached the top, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I found a path leading down to a hut, but then no more paths could be seen. The terrain towards Løndalen didn’t seem inviting, but still more attractive then retracing our footsteps.
But first, I closer look at Volda and the surrounding mountains…
I just hoped that I got lucky and found a path down there somewhere…
After some nasty terrain, I reached a meadow where I noticed a white and blank signpost. I found a path here, which was helpful for a couple of minutes until it disappeared.
But further down, we stumbled upon a marked path that took us down to Løndalen. Now, we had just 0,8km back to the car. All in all, a nice round trip hike!
Trip statistics: 7,6km, 530 vertical meters, 2h:12m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Skoratinden, Fossanipa, Myrkevassega, Storhornet, Sep 6 2020
Sunday: See separate trip report
