A very ordinary hike week in the local mountains
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| 19.10.2020 | Røddalshorn | 563m | 100m | Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 21.10.2020 | Skåla | 184m | 497m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | |
| 22.10.2020 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 23.10.2020 | Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| 24.10.2020 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 24.10.2020 | Slettheia | 553m | 49m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 24.10.2020 | Øyrahornet | 417m | 42m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 25.10.2020 | Årvikveten | 458m | 205m | Sande, Norway | WCP |
Røddalshorn (563m), Oct 19 2020
Monday: And the snow had come to the Gurskøya mountains. Actually more than I had bargained for and when I was in a hurry to get up and down Røddalshorn from Leikongeidet while there was still daylight, I dressed like I had done all autumn. As we left the trailhead, that didn’t seem like a problem although the temperature was only 4 deg. C.
But was we got higher on the mountain, I wished I had worn gaiters. My feet got pretty cold.
Karma didn’t understand what I was talking about. She just LOVES snow…
But it was nice to be outdoors. The work project I am on these days is overwhelming. Not only do I put in a substantial amount of hours, I keep thinking about programming issues every minute, and even in my sleep. Walks like this one are necessary to stay sane.
I enjoyed reached the top more than usual, because that meant we could begin our descent and get back into a much warmer car.
Karma was not in a hurry, though…
But eventually, she found the right direction.
Trip statistics: 3,4km, 435 vertical meters, 1 hour
Skåla (184m), Oct 21 2020
Wednesday: Finally, hiking shoes back on. Yesterday was just too busy and besides the weather was really shitty. I supposed I would have done a short hike if the weather had been better.
But the weather wasn’t much better today and I settled for a short hike across Skåla by Tjørvåg.
As long as Karma is happy, I am happy…
I took a look towards Sandvikhornet and the higher mountains and hoped that I would get a chance to visit them later in the week. I did…
We reached the top and was still en route for getting back to the car before it got totally dark.
Trip statistics: 5km, 225 vertical meters, 1h:06m
Osnessanden (Ulsteinvik), Oct 22 2020
Thursday: The weather had improved and I sacrificed my lunch break for a quick trip to Ulsteinvik. While there, I walked the dog at the Osnessanden beach.
Karma certainly does not mind being walked on this beach.
Rjåhornet (600m), Oct 22 2020
Thursday: After work, I decided to visit Rjåhornet to draw a winner of a lottery from the visitor register. It’s an annual event, and I am expected to do this on the higher mountains that we “support” in terms of trail marking, signposts, map boards and visitor registers.
I decided to hike from Leikongsætra for a change and chose an off-trail route that I regretted once we were on our way.
But as we got higher, the terrain got easier.
It was wonderful to have blue sky again!
It even looked like there was skiing season on the highest mountains…
And Rjåhornet came closer and closer…
Eventually we reached the top, and …
…could draw the winner – in cooperation with Elin (on the phone) who keeps track of the last cut-off and has a random number generator.
Daylight was fading and it was time to get back down. I took a look towards Sollia, knowing that the visitor register had to be checked there as well and wondered when I would be standing on that top. Two days later, it turned out…
Trip statistics: 5,6km, 510 vertical meters, 1h:37m
Hasundhornet (533m), Oct 23 2020
Friday: Today, I went for a round trip hike that’s a really nice combination for both me and Karma: Gardsholhaugen – Hasundhornet – Strandabøen – Gardsholhaugen. We both enjoy the mountain part of the hike, but it also means 2km along a road with little traffic. Which is boring for me, but big fun for Karma as other people walk their dogs here.
Karma also loves the trail up Gardsholhaugen – lots of bush – probably lots of rodents and due to the many switchbacks, I hardly see her at all, even though I know she stays trued to the “operational perimeter” – which is quite small. I’m not one of the dog owners that let their dogs run around without supervision.
It was nice to reach the top, only downhill from here. Not that my shape was rotten or anything, I was just SO tired after working a lot and sleeping poorly.
But, I looked forward to a round trip hike and sat course for Alvehaugen, from where we descended to Strandabøen. The road crossing across RV61 is always a small hurdle due to traffic and guardrails.
Trip statistics: 7,8km, 575 vertical meters, 1h:50m
Sollia (661m), Slettheia (552m), Øyrahornet (417m), Oct 24 2020
Saturday: The weather was good enough for going to Sollia to draw a lottery winner from the visitor’s register. Which meant I could do the same on Nonshornet, on our way to Sollia. And to help the rest of the local trail group – I could also visit Øyrahornet on the way back to Tjørvåg. That meant I could *finally* visit the northeast hump (approx. 570m) on Hestefjellet .
Something to look forward to. I just hoped that the fresh snow wouldn’t make it too cumbersome. At least, the first transport leg to Nonshornet would be snow-free.
It wasn’t raining, but it was very windy and cold. My old Gore-Tex jackets are no longer really wind-proof, but if I wear two light ones, they will keep the wind out.
We stopped at Nonshornet, found some shelter, called Elin and waited while she drew a number from the random number generator and then we moved on.
There wasn’t a lot of snow, but it was sharp and I hoped that the crust wouldn’t cut into Karma’s paws. But, she didn’t seem to be particularly worried about the snow.
Then we reached Sollia and repeated the procedure. I did appreciate the shelter behind the top, as the process of drawing a winner could easily take 5 minutes or more, including the phone call with Elin.
I concluded that the Sunnmøre alps looked windy and was happy with my present location. It was windy enough as it was.
We moved on towards Hestefjellet and the 570m northeast hump.
Looking back on Sollia, it struck me that I could not recall seeing the top from this angle before.
And a bit later, we could claim the 570m hump as “ours”.
It was much less windy here, so we could slow down a bit and enjoy the views.
We aimed for Slettheia and then I discovered a perfectly good path that I had no idea about. Nor could I understand where it came from, either. Something to be checked out later…
On Slettheia, we were now on the newly marked path (by yours truly) leading us to Øyrahornet, where we repeated the visitor’s register procedure for the 3rd time today. That was it for my part. The rest of the local trail group would cover the lower tops.
Trip statistics: 12,5km, 920 vertical meters, 3h:27m
Årvikveten (458m), Oct 25 2020
Sunday: After rain in the morning, it cleared up and I made the mistake to think it had cleared up all around. So, I decided to drive to Larsnes and hike Årvikveten from Dalen. That was sort of a poor choice, because as soon as I got to Larsnes – it started to rain again. And, it didn’t seem to be raining in the area where I live.
But oh well, the best way to ignore rain is to try to find some routes I hadn’t done before. Which was a challenge, but only a small new section would be appreciated. However, the route up from Dalen was one we’ve done several times before.
If we were to back before dark, we couldn’t afford the luxury of “strolling“. As soon as we reached the ridge on the south side of lake Nyksvatnet, I found that I better had to jog – along a soaking wet path…
Rain is never fun, but if you’re right there when it’s clearing up (albeit for just a short moment) there is a good chance you can observe some pretty scenes.
We continued up to Veten in a good pace.
The weather was still holding up when we got to Veten, which was a huge bonus. Moreover, it seemed that we were still slightly ahead of schedule, in tems of daylight. I had the headlamp, but for some reason – every single year – I try to avoid using it if can. When we get to late November and there is no alternative, then it’s just fine. But in late October, I always try to finish without using it.
“Shout out” to the persons (especially Bjørn Skoge) behind the new circular viewfinder. Back in 2019, I was asked to verify a couple of mountains in the distance, which I did. I am happy that people consider me to be a “what’s that in the distance?” resource…
The plan now was to continue to Svedehornet and begin our descent from there.
When we got to the meadow between Svedehornet and Grøthornet, there was a trail fork and I wondered where “Råkja” was. I reckoned it would be in the direction towards Larsnes, which meant that we would have to walk the road back to Dalen. A better solution was to follow this path (new to me) to lake Kjellavatnet and then follow another path back to the “Gapahuk” above Dalen – where we came up from. And we reached the car “in the nick of time”. I had my long lights on when I was driving out from Dalen.
It had not been the best week for hiking, but at least we finished the week with a fun hike.
Trip statistics: 8,2km, 560 vertical meters, 1h:50m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
