2020 Week 46

Sogndal week

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Index
Date Peak/Place Height PF Location WCP
09.11.2020 Laupsnipa 562m 380m Herøy, M&R, Norway WCP
10.11.2020 Fjordstien Sogndal, Norway
11.11.2020 Stedjeåsen 624m 121m Sogndal, Norway WCP
12.11.2020 Skardsbøfjellet 705m~ 0m Sogndal, Norway WCP
13.11.2020 Togga 1205m 15m Sogndal, Norway
14.11.2020 Solvornnipa 1031m 81m Sogndal, Norway WCP
15.11.2020 Storehaugfjellet 1173m 990m Sogndal, Norway WCP
15.11.2020 Point 867m 867m 34m Sogndal, Norway WCP

Laupsnipa (562m), Nov 9 2020

Our route across Laupsnipa

Monday:  The busy days continued at full strength this week to, but the afternoon walks are still sacred. This afternoon, Laupsnipa was the target.

Laupsnipa

We literally started from sea level

Sea level is always a nice place to start…

Just to have something to occupy my mind, I decided to try to do a round trip hike and be back down without using the headlamp. Which meant that there would be no pauses on the way up (or down)…

Taking pictures while I walk…

We reached the top of Laupsnipa 4:33pm, and it was already starting to get dark. I had 562 vertical meters to do – down the mountain – in very little time. One thing was sure – by 5pm it would be *dead dark*

On top of Laupsnipa

But 30 secs for pictures was within the plan…

Rovdefjorden and tops beyond

From the top, we ascended quickly off-trail straight down to lake Voldnesvatnet.

View towards Hareidlandet

From the lake, we followed a path that would lead us to Jøsokdalen unless we found the vague fork that would send us in the direction of Voldnes.

When the time passed 5pm, it was totally dark but we were able to get all the way down to the marina without using the headlamp. Satisfaction!

Hornelen in the distance

Trip statistics: 5,1km, 560 vertical meters, 1h:15m

Fjordstien (Sogndal), Nov 10 2020

Tuesday:  I drove to Sogndal in the afternoon and was NOT in the mood for hiking when I got there, 3,5 hours later. Instead, Anne, Karma and I took a walk along Fjordstien (the fjord path).

Every time we pass the children’s climbing wall, we become children again…

We just *have to*

Sogndal doesn’t have the most amazing skyline in Norway, and especially not when a crane is dominating the view…

Sogndal view

Then we continued through the park

Stay still for 5 seconds…

And finally, a pose on a statue that reminded me of Donald Trump

Get off that guy. I get bad vibes…

Trip statistics: 1,7km, 20 vertical meters, 24 minutes

Stedjeåsen (624m), Nov 11 2020

Our route up and down Stedjeåsen

Wednesday:  Woke up 5am and couldn’t get anymore sleep. Might just as well get up and log on to work.

After a long day, it had gotten dark by the time I decided to take a pause. I decided that a walk across Stedjeåsen would be nice.

On Stedjeåsen

Even nicer was to get back to Anne’s warm house, and I wasn’t the only one cherishing the comfort of a home…

Happy?

Trip statistics: 5,6km, 575 vertical meters, 1h:40m

Skardsbøfjellet (~705m), Nov 12 2020

This afternoon’s bike route

Thursday:  After yet another insane working day, hiking was out of the question. But perhaps a bike trip?

Stupidly enough I chose to bike up Skardsbøfjellet, and I remembered the mountain road up to the power plant to be less steep than it was. Karma didn’t mind though. She doesn’t normally like mountain roads, but many walk their dogs here.

FINALLY, we reached the highest point on the road and I could look forward to 500m+ of vertical meter downhill. In a modest pace, given Karma’s latent shoulder dysplasia.

The power plant on Skardsbøfjellet

I made another stupid decision to take a short-cut and ended up on an old tractor road that is suited for normal bikes. But, we made it down safe and sound and all my teeth were accounted for…

Trip statistics: 10,1km on bike, 550 vertical meters, 1h:29m

Togga (1205m), Nov 13 2020

Our route up and down Togga

Friday:  My workload was something getting under control and I could afford the luxury of logging off from work around 3pm. Which meant that I would get some daylight, wherever I chose to go in the local region.

As I had surplus energy, I decided to leave it on Togga – a monster hill in Sogndalsdalen.

Togga – to the right

The goal when we headed out was to make it to the top without using the headlamp.

The hill doesn’t look that long, but it is!

Oh that hillside – there’s not a single flat section where you can take it a little easy.

Pu-ha…

But, we made it to the top without using the headlamp, and I was mighty pleased about that. The time was only 4:33pm, which meant it took us exactly one hour to ascend the 800 vertical meters.

On top of Togga

After a few minutes on the way down, I decided to use the headlamp so that I could hold a faster pace. It was altogether an excellent workout and now I was ready for a cozy Friday afternoon with Anne!

Trip statistics: 5km, 805 vertical meters, 1h:38m

Solvornnipa (1031m), Nov 14 2020

Our route to Solvornnipa

Saturday:  I had a bad start to the day. Due to tension headache, I had to spend the entire night sitting in a chair (head bent downwards) and be at work at 8am. After a 3 hour work session, I could hit the bed again. But after just half an hour I was OK again and wanted to go hiking. I had my eyes on Skurva (1028m) next to Solvornnipa – a place I hadn’t been to before. Anne decided to come along.

Solvornnipa seen from Anne’s house. Skruva is further right

We drove to Barsnes, parked there and rode our bikes to the end of the road at Vikastrondi.

On bikes to Vikastrondi

It was a nice day and I looked forward to the hike. But I wasn’t sure if we had enough daylight to get to Skurva and back before darkness. For some reason, I had not brought a headlamp, thinking we had all the time in the world.

A nice day in Sogndal

We got on the forest path and eventually got to Dal (approx. 400m)…

Arriving at Dal

From Dal, we continued up to Helgasete – ~600m. Still a bit to go…

Arriving at Helgasete

At Helgasete, I realized that Skurva was a “no-go” and told Anne that I would not be disappointed if we just visited Solvornnipa. She seemed relieved…

Nice light in the horizon

As we gained elevation, it wasn’t clear whether we would get incoming rain from Luster, or not. We just hoped for the best…

View towards Sogndal

Rain or not, it was really nice to be above 1000m elevation.

Approaching the top

And then we reached the top!

On top of Solvornnipa

For descent, we hiked down to Skardet before following the path to Helgasete. We joined our ascent route just above Helgasete. We were back at the car 4:30pm, just as it was getting dark. We clearly made the right choice for not attempting Skruva…

View from Solvornnipa

Trip statistics: 11,4km on foot, 5,2km on bike, 1070 vertical meters, 4h:10m

Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

Storehaugfjellet (1173m), Nov 15 2020

Our route across Storehaugfjellet

Sunday:  Yesterday’s hike to Solvornnipa was strenuous and Anne decided to pursue other interests today. But, she offered to pick me up, in case I wanted to do an A to B hike.

This was a nice offer and I decided to do a hike I had been thinking about for a long time.

I drove towards the Sogndal airport (Haukåsen) and parked in “Storesvingen“. From here, Karma and I headed towards Storehaugfjellet.

Storehaugfjellet seen from the trailhead

We did not take the route past Bjørkestølen, but headed for the “outer” route where we follow the ridge and have a nice view towards Sogndal along the way.

Sogndal and Kjørnes view

The hike to the top was longer than I remembered it to be, but eventually – the summit tower came into view.

The summit comes into view

So far, it was all familiar routes, but now we would be heading into brand new terrain.

Fjord view from the top

We descended (off-trail) from the top and sat course for point 867m – between Storehaugfjellet and Lingesetefjellet. The plan was to descend all the way down to Eidsfjorden – where Anne would pick us up.

Heading into new terrain

On the way down, I slipped and while trying to stay on my feet, I pulled a major muscle in my left thigh. It was painful as heck and was in limping mode from there on.

We made it up to point 867m and could see Storehaugfjellet from a brand new angle…

Looking back on Storehaugfjellet

Looking at the map, I noticed that a creek would lead us down to a forest road and I decided to follow it all the way.

About to begin our descent down the forest

At 540m elevation, I found a tractor road that I decided to follow. Initially, it was going in the wrong direction, but I could see on the map that it would eventually connect to the road we were initially heading for.

On the tractor road

Anne called me and told me that she was on her way up the forest road – which turned out to be a car road! She asked if she wanted me to drive all the way up (400m elev.) but I said that I wanted to complete the hike – all the way down to Eidsfjorden. After a while, we met…

Go!

And Karma went bananas

Oh joy!

All in all, a very nice week of hiking!

Trip statistics: 15,2km, 900 vertical meters, 3h:45m

Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

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