Skaphornet, Nov 12 2022

Back again, 13 years later

Skaphornet – behind the Fyrde church
Index
Date Peak Height PF Location WCP/FP MAP
12.11.22 Skaphornet 852m 244m Volda, Norway WCP MAP
Our route up and down Skaphornet

Saturday: I was working in the morning, but at lunch time it was time to log off and go for a hike. It wasn’t raining and it wasn’t supposed to either. So, I began looking for some interesting places…

I ended up with Skaphornet in Volda. Most people wouldn’t know this mountain, but if I were to say “that’s where you’ll (almost) land if you jump off Sunndalsnipa” then people would get the general idea about the geography.

I was there in 2009 but didn’t remember anything from the hike. I decided NOT to look at my own trip report, so that this hike would feel like one that I hadn’t done before.

I drove up to Høybakk and parked at the head of the Sunndalen mountain road. The road was marked “Private”, and I decided to respect that. I am not afraid of vertical meters.

My starting point

After a while, we caught up with a family and we had a brief chat. I had a feeling that I was following a path back in 2009, and they told me that nowadays – most people follow the road. If it hadn’t been marked “Private” I’m not 100% sure I would have driven it. It got really steep!

Up the road to Sunndalen. Sunndalsnipa ahead

It was fun to be back, even if I didn’t remember one single moment from the ’09 hike!

View towards the Eidskyrkja massif

We branched onto the road going in the direction of Skarphornet.

Skaphornet ahead

After 0,9km, this road ended and the I was looking at a marked forest path towards the Haralddalsætra cabins. This place – I did remember!

Forest path begins here

The path was easy to follow. It was only 0,6km up to the cabins.

Arriving at Haralddalsætra

On my way up, I started thinking – I have been to Skaphornet. Why not visit Skredefjellet (890m) instead? A place I haven’t been. Tempting, but I didn’t have plenty of daylight and when I stopped to check my headlamp, it was dead. Somehow, I had burnt out the batteries without knowing how. So, it had to be Skaphornet today and Skredfjellet the next time…

River crossing just after Haralddalsætra. Karma looks hesitant…

From Haralddalsætra, we crossed the river

Attagirl!

Then we followed a vague path in the direction of Busseskaret – the pass between Skredefjellet and Skaphornet. I figured it was best, as there were a lot of steep cliffs all around. By now, I was *dying* to learn where I had been hiking back in ’09.

Staying on the easy side of the cliffs

At Busseskaret, we had to go off-trail. It seemed like an easy walk to the top, although we couldn’t go wherever we wanted to.

At Busseskaret. Skaphornet above

Karma seemed happy. No limping or symptoms of any other inconvenience. It made me happy too.

Where do we go next?

I was also happy to see glimpses of blue sky. The higher mountains were for the most part hidden in fog.

Sunndalsnipa and blue sky

And then we were up. With plenty of daylight left. Which – for a change – felt really nice.

On top of Skaphornet

After a round of pictures, we took the same route back down.

Panorama view from Skaphornet – towards Sunndalsnipa and Eidskyrkja

Back home, I checked my ’09 tracks. I had done the same route up to Haralddalsætra, but gone off-trail shortly after crossing the river. And from the top, we had descended to the north (!) before finding a route back to Haralddalsætra. We also took the short-cut path on the way down. See map on the ’09 trip report

Trip statistics: 10km, 800 vertical meters, 2h:31m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:

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