A good week on Sunnmøre and in Sogndal
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| 05.10.2020 | Rjåhornet | 421m | 68m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 06.10.2020 | Koppefjellet | 940m | 602m | Volda, Norway | WCP |
| 08.10.2020 | Leinebjørnen | 271m | 108m | Herøy, Norway | WCP |
| 09.10.2020 | Orkja | 948m | 470m | Jølster, Norway | WCP |
| 10.10.2020 | Lingesetfjellet | 1002m | 184m | Sogndal, Norway | |
| 10.10.2020 | Dueskardhøgdi | 986m | 33m | Sogndal, Norway | |
| 11.10.2020 | Store Haugmelen | 1172m | 974m | Sogndal/Luster, Norway | WCP |
Rjåhornet (598m), Oct 5 2020
Monday: We started a new week with gorgeous weather and although I was tired after an intense working day, I was able to scramble enough strength to aim for Rjåhornet.
It didn’t take long before energy was filling up again, mostly thanks to the nice weather.
On the top, we were granted some mighty fine views. Although the views are familiar, the combination of light and clouds was a bit special.
And it’s simply not allowed to grow tired of the view towards the Sunnmøre alps.
Trip statistics: 6km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:32m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Koppefjellet (940m), Oct 6 2020
Tuesday: Again, stunning weather and today I planned already in the morning that I would hike Koppefjellet from almost sea level. With only 3 hours of daylight, 900 vertical meters and almost 5km to the top could be a “stretch“, but I imagined I could do it in 2,5 hours and be back down before it got dark.
Karma and I started out from Vassteinen and had a good pace up the steep forest.
It felt good to reach Vassteinsætra and see the whole mountain ahead of me. I didn’t find any path leading up the mountain so I just sat a course straight towards it.
Another “milestone” was to get to the top of the ridge. Only a little bit to go…
Even though I was in hurry, I had to stop several times to capture the nice evening light.
We reached the top of Koppefjellet 5:42pm, 1h:25m after leaving the car. That was 5 minutes ahead of schedule and I could spend a few minutes taking pictures.
The Volda-Ørsta “skyline” is a mandatory shoot…
Upon descent, we took a slightly different route down the mountain and joined our ascent route just south of Vassteinsætra.
As mentioned, the plan was to be back at the car 2,5 hours after leaving and we returned after exactly 2,5 hours! And no, I didn’t stand around the corner waiting for the clock to read 02:30…
It was an awesome hike. Not something normal folks do after work with limited daylight left.
Trip statistics: 9,4km, 925 vertical meters, 2h:30m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Leinebjørnen (271m), Oct 8 2020
Thursday: Had to skip hiking on Wednesday as Karma got sedated so that the Vet could clean her ears. She’s had an ear infection for far too long. Unfortunately, she got a hot spot where the needle went in, and I had to treat this hot spot for more than one week.
But today, she was eager to get out into the terrain. She wasn’t 100% so we settled for an easy hike across Leinebjørnen on Leinøya island.
We followed the west ridge up from Skardet and had a nice view towards Leine and Leinehornet along the way.
The weather was still OK, although rain was lurking in the distance.
We passed the top and continued down the normal route to Frøystadskardet.
This would be the last hike back home for some days. Tomorrow, we would go to Anne in Sogndal.
Trip statistics: 4,5km, 290 vertical meters, 1h:03m
Orkja (948m), Oct 9 2020
Friday: Transport day (Sogndal), but as I got to leave work a little earlier, there was time to hike Orkja above lake Jølstervatnet.
The time was just before 5pm when we reached the trailhead in Dvergsdalsdalen and I remembered that my previous hike here only took an hour. As such, I could leave the headlamp in the car.
At 5pm, we were on our way – up an extremely muddy and wet trail.
Above ~850m we ran into fresh snow, although just a tiny layer.
After a couple of pictures, we headed down. The pace was good as I wanted to see if I could still make it down within the hour.
We returned to the car 52 minutes after leaving, and I was quite happy with that! And after changing clothes and cleaning the dog, we continued towards Sogndal…
Trip statistics: 3,1km, 500 vertical meters, 0h:52m
Lingesetefjellet (1002m), Dueskardhøgdi (948m), Oct 10 2020
Saturday: Now that Anne finally had gotten her electric bike, it was high time it got tested. I didn’t want anything to do with that bike, old school and grumpy as I am.
The plan was to bike up the road to Lingesetefjellet and hike the short distance up to the top. We started out at the local airport – Sogndal Lufthamn Haukåsen (~500m elevation)
The good news was that now – Anne (easily) kept up with me. Actually, I struggled to keep up with her. And Karma was just happy to be hiking with mommy and daddy again.
We biked up to almost 900m, and the uphills were murder for me. Anne was just pressing some buttons and biked up the hills without even breaking sweat…
We left the bikes and sat course for the top – along the most complicated route we could find…
It’s always nice to come here. The fjord view is terrific!
We agreed to stretch the hike a little longer and headed for Dueskardhøgdi – 1km to the southwest – along the most complicated route we could find…
And then it was posing time…
Karma was having a great time and was all over the place – within the allowed perimeter that she could “operate”…
While returning to the bikes, I asked Anne if it was OK if Karma and I continued down to Fimreite, as I had never taken that route before. She would return to the car and pick me up later.
The first part of the mountain path was just awful to bike.
Then it got slightly better and we got to Dueskard, safe and sound.
The path from Dueskard was a disaster due to deep tractor tracks and mud. As I was concentrating to maneuver safely down the road, a dog suddenly appeared in front of us. That distracton was all it took to send me across the handlebar, head first.
The landing was OK, but I cut my hand on a rock and was bleeding enough to call for the first aid kit to come out of the backpack. The dog was leading on a family of four and they realized that the dog had something to do with my accident. I told them not to worry. I certainly didn’t blame the dog.
Once down on the forest road, it would have been nice to blast down to Fimreite, but as I didn’t want Karma to limp the next days (shoulder dysplasia) we took it nice and easy and arrived at Fimreite just as Anne got there. Good timing!
This was an outstanding trip!
Trip statistics: 16,4km on bike, 3,5km on foot, 700 vertical meters, 3h:15m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Store Haugmelen (1172), Oct 11 2020
Sunday: Yet another stunning day!
Inspired by the nice bike trip the day before, we decided to take another one. This time from Dalåker and up to Breidesete. From here, we would hike Store Haugmelen.
The road from Dalåker to lake Breidesetevatnet is nowhere as steep as the road up Lingesetefjellet, and I didn’t have quite as hard time as the day before.
But in the last hill, I had to get off the bike due to a stiff back. Anne told me to take her electrical bike up the hill, which I did – even if I had promised myself never to try one.
And as I flew up the hill, I regretted switching bikes. This was just too easy. I don’t want to KNOW that biking can be this easy. I want to feel pain, sweat and satisfaction as reward.
We left the bikes at Breidesete and followed a couple that knew about a path towards Vassløysa. We followed this path for a while until we went off-trail in the direction of the mountain.
We had invited guests for dinner and we had a time constraint to deal with. If we weren’t at the top by 1:30p, we would have a problem with getting the food and house in order. Anne wasn’t moving as fast as I hoped she would, and I proposed that she could turn around. But she was in the stubborn mood and kept on going.
I was quite impressed with her when we reached the top of Store Haugmelen 1:32pm. Our time schedule would now work out quite well.
There was also time for some additional pictures below the top.
This is a mighty fine viewpoint, and no wonder – as this mountain has a prominence of almost 1000m. Which means – that you have to descend almost 1000m before you can start climbing a higher mountain that would block some of the views.
We left the top 10 minutes after getting there and took a direct course down the birch forest. From Breidesete, Anne took a couple of slow legs with Karma so that I could blast down some of the hills.
Another nice trip and altogether a wonderful weekend! And the dinner with our friends was the icing on this weekend “cake”…
Trip statistics: 12km on bike, 6,4km on foot, 940 vertical meters, 3h:25m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
I lived in Norway for a few years and only recently moved out of the country. I found your old webpage while looking for pictures of the surroundings of my old place there, in a moment of homesickness. Your blog brightened up my evening. 🙂
Hi Stefano. Thanks for your comment! I hope that I can add value to your evenings in the future also 😉