Winter returned…
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| 04.04.2022 | Skafjellet | 573m | 82m | Hareid, Norway | WCP |
| 05.04.2022 | Sukkertoppen | 314m | 314m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| 06.04.2022 | Røddalshorn | 563m | 100m | Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 07.04.2022 | Aksla | 188m | 188m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| 07.04.2022 | Hjørungneshornet | 185m | 157m | Hareid, Norway | WCP |
| 08.04.2022 | Melshornet | 807m | 564m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
| 09.04.2022 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 10.04.2022 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
Skafjellet (573m), Apr 4 2022
Monday: After work, I figured it was high time to revisit some of the tops on the north side of Hareidsdalen valley and decided to begin with Skafjellet. OK, it had been snowing since Tuesday, but as a lot of it had melted upon contact with the ground, I reckoned this would be a fairly easy hike.
It was snowing when we headed up the tractor road from Geilane and the amount of snow took me by surprise. I decided to leave the tractor road and head up the Mjølkeråsa trail, as there would be less snow in the dense forest.
Back on the tractor road, I was wondering how it would be above the forest. I feared that this wouldn’t be a fairly easy hike after all.
And it wasn’t. FAR from it!
The snow didn’t carry none of us, but Karma had it easier – with her long belly as “floating device”. I kept going straight trough – up to my thighs in snow.
The upside was that it stopped snowing and everything was just wonderful. Except for the hike, which got harder the higher we got. But, as long as Karma kept going, I would too!
It was a huge delight to reach the top. There were several times where I thought we wouldn’t. Without socks, Karma had a “paw issue” and was deep in maintenance mode when I offered treats.
The descent wasn’t easier than the ascent. Maybe harder, as the legs took a heck of a beating against the hard and wind-packed snow.
But regardless of how hard it was, it was wonderful to be up here!
Back at the car, I took one look at Karma and decided to put her into the car as-is and take straight to the shower for de-icing, once back at the house.
Trip statistics: 5,4km, 535 vertical meters, 2h:02m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the walk:
Sukkertoppen (314m), Apr 5 2022
Tuesday: Ålesund day, which meant that I had to get up at 5am. Fortunately, I woke up 10 minutes earlier and had time to get the fresh dump of snow off the car. I’ve told anyone that bothers to listen – winter comes in April!
The snow showers came and went during the day. When I was walking Karma in my lunchbreak, the weather was gorgeous.
When I left work, the weather was truly miserable – with a combination of snow and hail, plus wind. I still decided to hike Sukkertoppen, hoping it would clear up.
At the Hessa school trailhead, the weather was still miserable when I was changing clothes. But just as I opened the door, it stopped snowing. We had a very nice hike up the forest ridge!
I find it very strange that I *never* meet hikers along the forest ridge. I saw one single pair of tracks – not fresh. I’m wondering if hikers are aware of this route?
When we joined the normal route, I noticed a lot of bags with rocks (flew in by helicopter). About time that the worn trail got some rocks to protect it! But the rocks don’t fall into place by themselves, so kudos to the volunteers! I know that the work is hard!
The real effort couldn’t be seen due to the snow. As for the snow – compared to Skafjellet the day before – this was nothing!
Out in the ocean, I could see more snow showers moving in and realized the blue sky and sunshine wouldn’t last for long. Still, just enjoying it (albeit briefly) made the day.
The weather was still OK when we reached the top, but I knew it was a matter of minutes before there would be no more blue sky.
After a round of pictures, our exit cue presented itself.
We reached the forest before the next shower (with hail) came upon us. But this shower was a gentle one, and the road to Sulesund was still free of snow.
While waiting for the ferry, I enjoyed some mighty nice scenery…
Trip statistics: 3,8km, 290 vertical meters, 1h:03m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the trip:
Røddalshorn (563m), Apr 6 2022
Wednesday: Oh, what a glorious day! I really wanted to seek higher ground, but there was so much fresh snow that Karma needed a solid track up the mountain. Besides, I had to work in the evening and had to settle for something close to home. And then there are not too many options, but Røddalshorn is always nice!
At the Leikongeidet trailhead, I met Bård Ringstad. I knew his name through “friends of friends”, but I don’t think I’ve met him before.
He chose a route up the mountain that was quite unusual to me, and I think he realized after a while that this was NOT the fastest way to the top.
But that didn’t matter much to me. I enjoy variations. Karma was all over the place, but when the amount of snow increased, she stuck to our tracks.
As we climbed the final hill, Karma decided to take the lead. But then she sunk into a hole, had to be rescued and decided to stay on our tail for the remainder of the ascent.
On top of Røddalshorn, we met Sindre Håskjold and Elin Vedvik. I knew Sindre’s name through “friends of friends” and it was nice to finally meet him – and Elin – who’s originally from Sogndal.
The others descended the east ridge. I chose to ski down the normal route (northeast) and had wonderful snow down to the first pass. Karma struggled to keep up…
After the pass, the snow had gotten an icy surface and skiing was not so fun. I guessed that the east ridge was a better idea – as the sun was still shining there.
But we made it down, safe and sound and it was a really nice ski-trip altogether!
Trip statistics: 4,7km, 425 vertical meters, 1h:24m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the trip:
Aksla (188m), Apr 7 2022
Thursday: I went to bed last night with a splitting headache and it stuck with me all night. Got no sleep at all. When the phone alarm sounded at 5am, I was not in a good shape. But as I had to be in Ålesund today, trying to get some sleep was not an option. After work, there would be a team dinner – the first since Covid, and I had to mentally prepare myself for a long and hard day.
I had to reflect on the tension headache, as it had been absent so far in 2022. It didn’t take me long to realize that the workload (professional and private) was back at “too high”, and I’d better get some monkeys off my shoulders – fast.
Fortunately, I had a good work session in the morning, and the headache disappeared. I was now ready for the afternoon dinner with colleagues. But first, I had to walk Karma, who had a long day in the car already. I drove up to Kråmyra to take a short walk across Rundskue – the high point on the Aksla mountain.
It took us only 5 minutes up to the high point and I found that had time to also visit Fjellstua.
A bus full of tourists was just about to leave when we got to Fjellstua, and I (almost) had the entire terrace all to myself.
After some pictures, we took a different route back to Kråmyra and then sat course downtown to find parking near the restaurant.
Trip statistics: 2,8km, 105 vertical meters, 40 mins
Hjørungneshornet (185m), Apr 7 2022
Thursday: After a nice burger meal @ Molo in Ålesund, I caught the 7:50pm ferry from Sulesund. I felt a little bad about Karma spending so many hours in the car, and when we got to Hareid, I drove to Hjørungavåg to walk across Hornet – assuming we had plenty of time before it got dark.
We took the normal route to the top, which had some snow but not a lot.
The evening colors were beautiful and I looked forward to get above the forest and take some pictures.
Masdalhornet was indeed something I enjoyed resting my eyes on…
Karma had been somewhat low on energy during the hike across Aksla a few hours earlier, but here – she was on fire! Nothing beats a real forest!
It was tempting to take the same route back to the car and get back home. But, I do enjoy round trip walks and so we continued down the route to Hjørungneset.
The 2km along the car road back to the trailhead was a little boring, but I was quite happy about squeezing in walk #2 during this long day. I returned home around 9pm, 15 hours after leaving.
Trip statistics: 3,9km, 220 vertical meters, 1 hour
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the trip:
Melshornet (807m), Apr 8 2022
Friday: A colleague asked me on chat – where are you going this afternoon? I looked out the window and saw blue sky. “Melshornet sounds tempting”, I replied. We chatted some more and when I looked out of the window again, it was snowing. I then told him “I have very little interest in skiing down Melshornet in a snowstorm”.
But after work, the sky had some blue in it, and I decided to give Melshornet a shot. When we arrived at the Helgatun trailhead, I reckoned there was a chance that we could have OK weather up and down the mountain.
But I was wrong. It didn’t take long before a snow shower came creeping up behind us.
Karma is usually a good benchmark for determining how good or bad the weather is. Looking at her, I concluded that she was OK to continue…
When we reached the top, the weather wasn’t good. However, I smiled to myself as I saw skiers come and go. Norwegians…
But this Norwegian struggled in the steep hill below the top. The light was totally flat and I’m not sure what’s happened to my goggles. They don’t help! Fortunately, I had Karma. I sent her first and then followed her without actually seeing the ground I was skiing on.
As we closed in on the forest, visibility got much better and I could finally enjoy the skiing. Although this doesn’t qualify as a snowstorm, I definitely ended up skiing down Melshornet in a snow shower!
Trip statistics: 6,2km, 545 vertical meters, 1h:24m
Huldrehornet (271m), Apr 9 2022
Saturday: Oh my, the weather was nasty today. The hail showers were of January standard, which says a lot! So, the first part of the day was spent working.
But when Karma showed signs of impatience, I had to figure out where to go. I was totally lacking inspiration and had to resort to a trick that has worked many times before – pick a route that involves cumbersome and strenuous terrain. Soon, you’ll forget about the lack of inspiration…
We started out from the Stemmedalen trailhead and followed the service road up to the lake.
From there, the goal was to find the first place where we could ascend the mountain. I saw many opportunities, but none that would guarantee the safety of the dog.
Eventually, the ascent could begin, and Karma was really eager. The amount of snow didn’t seem to bother her a bit.
It got quite steep, but never *too steep* and we reached the top of Huldrehornet without ever putting the dog in possible harm’s way.
So far, we had avoided hail. We passed through a small snow shower down in the forest, but it didn’t last long. Now that we were in quite an exposed spot, we moved on. My plan was to hike to Aurvåghornet and try to find a way down to the western end of the tunnel.
On our way to Aurvåghornet, we finally got our hail shower…
As we descended off-trail from Aurvåghornet, I soon found that the terrain was too steep to even give it a try. So, we had to keep moving north until the terrain allowed us to descend. This was quite complicated terrain, but eventually we found a safe route down to the tunnel roof.
Now, we only had a high fence to negotiate. I found a weak point and was able to get Karma across, and then we could return to Stemmedalen along roads. I was quite cold when I got back home, but it had been an interesting walk!
Trip statistics: 6,0km, 400 vertical meters, 1h:53m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the trip:
Rambjøra (132m), Apr 10 2022
Sunday: After the 4-hour session in the morning, I had finally made good progress on my backlog at work and looked forward to walking the dog. The only problem was that the weather was not good – by any means or standard. So, I decided to do some honest work on the Rambjøra trail – starting from my very house.
The route to the top facing my side is pretty OK, but the north side is a disaster. So, today I decided to take on the monstrous task.
I spent one hour on a 30-40m section and was gave the root-ripping my very best. Afterwards, I felt like I had been hit by a truck or something. I’m a programmer, remember. Hard labor is not my everyday routine.
I didn’t even notice the hail and rain showers that came and went.
When I got back home, I noticed that I had been ripping roots for 3,5 hours. So, I had two really good work sessions today…
Trip statistics: 3,0km, 135 vertical meters, 3h:30m
