2020 Week 49

A lot of darkness and some light at the end…

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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

Haddalshornet (611m), Dec 1 2020

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.

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

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

We returned to Havåg via the normal path…

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

Rambjøra (132m), Dec 2 2020

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?

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

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

Solavågsfjellet (263m), Dec 3 2020

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.

Øyrahornet (417m), Dec 4 2020

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.

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

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…

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

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

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.

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

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

And then we reached the top…

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

But first, we had to get off the mountain.

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.

Liadalsnipa was quite a sight, reflecting in the lake.

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 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.

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.

A beautiful walk!

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

Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

Vasshornet (479m), Dec 6 2020

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.