Sogndal week
| 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
Monday: The busy days continued at full strength this week to, but the afternoon walks are still sacred. This afternoon, Laupsnipa was the target.
We literally started from sea level…
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)…
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*
But 30 secs for pictures was within the plan…
From the top, we ascended quickly off-trail straight down to lake Voldnesvatnet.
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!
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…
Sogndal doesn’t have the most amazing skyline in Norway, and especially not when a crane is dominating the view…
Then we continued through the park…
And finally, a pose on a statue that reminded me of Donald Trump…
Trip statistics: 1,7km, 20 vertical meters, 24 minutes
Stedjeåsen (624m), Nov 11 2020
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.
Even nicer was to get back to Anne’s warm house, and I wasn’t the only one cherishing the comfort of a home…
Trip statistics: 5,6km, 575 vertical meters, 1h:40m
Skardsbøfjellet (~705m), Nov 12 2020
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.
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
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.
The goal when we headed out was to make it to the top without using the headlamp.
Oh that hillside – there’s not a single flat section where you can take it a little easy.
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.
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
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.
We drove to Barsnes, parked there and rode our bikes to the end of the road at 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.
We got on the forest path and eventually got to Dal (approx. 400m)…
From Dal, we continued up to Helgasete – ~600m. Still a bit to go…
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…
As we gained elevation, it wasn’t clear whether we would get incoming rain from Luster, or not. We just hoped for the best…
Rain or not, it was really nice to be above 1000m elevation.
And then we reached the top!
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…
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
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.
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.
The hike to the top was longer than I remembered it to be, but eventually – the summit tower came into view.
So far, it was all familiar routes, but now we would be heading into brand new terrain.
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.
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 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.
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.
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…
And Karma went bananas…
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:
