2020 Week 49

A lot of darkness and some light at the end…

Beautiful sunset at lake Hovdevatnet

Index

Date Peak/Place Height PF Location WCP
30.11.2020 Lidafjellet 200m 47 Herøy, M&R, Norway WCP
30.11.2020 Huldrehornet 271m 113m Herøy, M&R, Norway WCP
01.12.2020 Haddalshornet 611m 103m Ulstein, Norway WCP
02.12.2020 Rambjøra 132m 109m Herøy, M&R, Norway WCP
03.12.2020 Solavågsfjellet 263m 210m Sula, Norway WCP
04.12.2020 Øyrahornet 417m 42m Herøy, M&R, Norway WCP
05.12.2020 Helgehornet 626m 545m Volda, Norway WCP
05.12.2020 Høgtua (Åsen) 162m 27 Ørsta, Norway WCP
05.12.2020 Indrehovdåsen (Høgåsen) 187m 66m Ørsta, Norway WCP
06.12.2020 Vasshornet 479m 56m Sande, Norway WCP

Lidafjellet (200m), Huldrehornet (271m), Nov 30 2020

My route across Lidafjellet and Huldrehornet

Monday:  Had a weird night. Woke up in the middle of the night, soaking wet from sweating. But I didn’t feel sick at all. And I normally don’t have nightmares. When I woke up in the morning I was all fine, if a little tired.

In the afternoon, Anne would take a walk with some friends and brought Karma. I then decided that I would go for a jog! I hadn’t been jogging since Sep 2019, and I don’t remember when I jogged before that. Since I started to feel unwell from the a) coffee machine or b) the capsules, I have had no surplus energy for this kind of activity. But the coffee machine was put to rest end of September this year, and my shape and form was prospering.

I decided to jog from home, down to Stemmedalen, up to Lidafjellet and if I still was alive – across Huldrehornet and back home.

The rain was pouring down but I had brought headphones and hoped that the music would outweigh the discomfort.

So far, so good…

I chose to have the headphones under the hood, as I didn’t want the device to get wet. That didn’t work out well. The hood was actively controlling the music, which was stopping, spooling, starting. It was altogether a failed concept.

But I kept on jogging. First up Lidafjellet and then up to Huldrehornet. The mud didn’t allow for effective jogging in the uphills, but I was definitely moving faster than walking.

Up the Lidafjellet ridge. Iphone8 isn’t the best tool for pictures in the dark…

On Huldrehornet, my thighs were in deep pain. I knew that I would have 4-5 painful days ahead of me, and then my body would have forgotten all about it. But overall – a very pleasant experience!

On Huldrehornet, view home

And even more pleasant – Anne had left me an Advent calendar!

Oh yeah!

Trip statistics: 8,2km, 250 vertical meters, 1h:33m

Haddalshornet (611m), Dec 1 2020

Our route across Haddalshornet

Tuesday:  The weather was OK, but the wind was terrible. Anne left before noon, and I decided to do a hike to Haddalshornet from Havåg, where I would be sheltered from the wind in the forest, and if headed straight up the south ridge, I could stay on the west side of the ridge and avoid the worst part of the cold, cold wind.

The goal was – as many times lately – to reach the top without using the headlamp. That would be a stretch, as we were heading out 3:36pm. It would be quite dark 30 minutes later and I’m not able to do 600 vertical meters within half an hour…

It was a mistake to leave the nice path and head off-trail towards the south ridge. I will surely never do that again. Way too much juniper bush.

Abvove the forest. Nice light!

Things got easier above the forest, but it was getting really dark by now.

Approaching Haddalshornet. 15 minutes to go

We reached the top 4:34pm – roughly one hour after heading out and it was nice to turn the headlamp on!

On top of Haddalshornet

We returned to Havåg via the normal path…

Trip statistics: 5,6km, 630 vertical meters, 1h:34m

Rambjøra (132m), Dec 2 2020

Our route across Rambjøra

Wednesday:  Today I was definitely not feeling adventurous. After yet another intense working day, I settled for a hike across my local mountain Rambjøra. Karma didn’t mind at all. She LOVES this mountain – for reasons I don’t know…

We headed up the regular path to the top and Karma was double curious – are there any treats pending and will we continue on the other side?

On top of Rambjøra

The answer to both questions was “yes” and we headed down to Dragsund.

Nice to come back to some light…

From there, we continued past Jonseholmen before returning home via side roads.

A real “fjord path” near Jonseholmen

Solavågsfjellet (263m), Dec 3 2020

Our route across Solavågsfjellet

Thursday:  Ålesund day, and for ONCE not because I had to take Karma to the vet. No, I finally had to pick up my new PC – several months overdue. Normally, getting a new PC is a good thing, but never for me. The amount of work to get it up to the same configuration … sigh!

After work, I was tired and plan a, b and c was quickly cancelled. I ended up in Solavågen with the plan to do a round trip hike across Solavågsfjellet. The same old route. Nothing adventurous, but Karma needed a walk after having been idle since 5am.

On Trollhaugen – the highest point on Solavågsfjellet

Øyrahornet (417m), Dec 4 2020

Our route across Øyrahornet

Friday:  The weather was nice and whatever plans I might have had for a longer walk this Friday afternoon got cancelled as Karma was limping a little this morning. I didn’t know why, but understood that we would have to settle for a shorter walk with “exit options” in case the limp became a problem.

I chose to hike Øyrahornet from Tjørvåg. I had to stop at the bench to take a picture but because of the wind, it was impossible to keep the camera still.

Bench view – towards Ulsteinvik

We reached the top and Karma looked just fine, so I decided that we should return along a more “adventurous” route.

On top of Øyrahornet

The descent route meant finding our way through the thickest forest on Gurskøy island. In the beginning, it was all fun. We descended through an old forest, covered with green moss from top to bottom. But in the end, it was all juniper bush and crawling through a nasty forest. I’ll not repeat this route…

Hang in there. It’ll be over soon…

Trip statistics: 4,6km, 440 vertical meters, 1h:34m

Helgehornet (626m), Høgetua (162m), Geitenakken (170m) , Dec 5 2020

Our round trip hike

Saturday:  This was supposedly just going to be an easy hike to Helgehornet. I was tired after having spent the entire night in a chair with tension headache and little sleep. Then followed a 2-hour work session before I decided it was time to walk the dog.

We took the forest road from Helghorntunnelen, and should have stuck to that route but ended (of course) in a hopeless off-trail struggle in the forest.

Why?????

Above the forest, we were back on the track – en route to the top.

Back on the trail

There was a nice shine, and I was filled with good energy.

View towards Liadalsnipa

And then we reached the top…

On top of Helgehornet

The energy level was so good that I decided to prolong our hike by hiking around lake Hovdevatnet.

Lake Hovdevatnet. We have a good walk ahead of us

But first, we had to get off the mountain.

Descending from Helgehornet

We took some short-cuts in the forest, leading us down to Kleiva-Håskjold, from where we followed the road to Tjørna – where I decided to follow a path I had no idea would lead us.

This path led us (as I hoped) to the forest ridge on the south side of lake Hovdevatnet. The first stop was Høgetua.

On Høgetua

Liadalsnipa was quite a sight, reflecting in the lake.

Liadalsnipa

Then we passed a “Fossekall” (Cinclus cinclus) which is Norway’s national bird. Of course, I didn’t know this until I posted the pictures on FB and Anne informed me. Why bother to learn everything when I have a girlfriend who tells me everything I need to know?

The “Fossekall”

The next goal was Høgåsen, but I’m always eager to go places I’ve not been to before and so we followed a path down to lake Hovdevatnet. By now, there was a fantastic glow in the horizon.

My oh my…

I have to admit that I was about to skip Geitenakken and stick to the road when we met a person on horse – right where the trail up to Geitenakken begins. Of pure courtesy, we went on the forest trail as I had forgotten Karma’s leash back home. Not that she would have done anything but walking by my side, but I didn’t want to make the horse or the person on the back nervous.

Along lake Hovdevatnet

A beautiful walk!

Trip statistics: 11,9km, 750 vertical meters, 2h:50m

Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

Vasshornet (479m), Dec 6 2020

Our route across Vasshornet

Sunday:  Another working day, but after 4 hours it was time to walk the dog. It was raining (light) and I failed to get the big inspiration. As I hadn’t been to Vasshornet in 2020, I decided to go there.

Vasshornet

We took the regular route up to the top. Once on the ridge – it always strikes me – it’s a quite cool ridge!

On the ridge to Vasshornet

On my way up I was going through my round trip options. I could go to Drageskaret, but almost 5km along the main road didn’t seem too exciting. I could go to Laupsnipa, but soon dismissed that option too. In the end, I decided to hike along the south side of lake Skogevatnet. I had hiked the north side, and even across the lake – on ice. But I hadn’t done the south side before. I expected it would be a cumbersome walk, but the fact that this would be the first time gave me energy.

Lake Skogevatnet

But first, to the top! Note that the high point is 60m south of the cairn/signpost.

On Vasshornet

We then aimed for the east side of lake Skogevatnet and the descent down the forest didn’t offer any difficulties.

By lake Skogevatnet

To my big surprise, there was a track along the lake – making the hike MUCH EASIER than it otherwise would have been.

Along lake Skogevatnet

It was almost dead dark when we returned to the car. And it was nice to have gotten some fresh air!

Trip statistics: 10,15,5km, 450 vertical meters, 1h:37m

Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

My friend Petter Bjørstad, Dec 6 2020

Still Sunday:  Today, my good friend Petter Bjørstad turned 70 years. Petter has been my mentor and inspiration for my life in the mountains, and without him – I would never ever had visited the high points of Greenland, Svalbard and Jan Mayen

I could not call to congratulate him, as he was leading a group to a small hut below the Hardangerjøkulen glacier – an annual event.

But I could at least post a congratulate on his FB page. I hoped he would appreciate when he returned from the mountains.

Happy birthday, Petter!

PLEASE check out his home page (yes, it’s still a home page – created in the early 90’s) and allow your jaws to DROP from what this guy has accomplished in the mountains around the world.

4 thoughts on “2020 Week 49

  1. Ever tried a tool like O&O Diskimage? I moved my whole system to new hardware without any reinstalling or adjustments. P.S. I’m still figuring out how the promised beer could be smuggled to norway 🙂

    1. Hi Toby. I have not forgotten about the beer 😁 But I am quite well now. It was the coffee machine. Or the capsuled that made me sick. Pulled the plug two months ago. Happy days! It’s a job pc. With the constraints that follows. I’ll survive though. It is only half a dozen apps. Thanks for the tip!

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