Some OK walks and a lot of nosebleed…
Index
Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
21.11.22 | Aksla | 188m | 188m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP | MAP |
22.11.22 | Stemnehornet | 190m | 43m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
22.11.22 | Svarane | 191m | 43m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
22.11.22 | Høgåsen | 240m | 240m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
23.11.22 | Gyrinakken | 365m | 157m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
24.11.22 | Djupvikhaugen | 98m | 29m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
25.11.22 | Hornseten | 190m | 152m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
26.11.22 | Nyken | 800m | 44m | Jølster, Norway | WCP | MAP |
27.11.22 | Molden | 1121m | 808m | Luster, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Aksla (188m), Nov 21 2022
Monday: Just back from our “European tour“, we got up 4:30am, after 2-3 hours of sleep. I was a total wreck. Anne had a long journey to Voss ahead of her. I was just going to Ålesund. In addition to lack of sleep, maybe I felt a touch of a cold? In any case, I felt I had the longest day of the year ahead of me.
After surviving work, I took Karma on a walk across Aksla before joining a dinner with colleagues. This time, I decided to start out from Ålesund downtown.
After finishing the 418 stairs up to Fjellstua, my nose began to bleed. Again.
I didn’t have any paper tissue and just had to keep my nose in the air, while trying to figure out where to put my feet on the forest path up to Rundskue.
From Rundskue, we continued all the way to Gangstøvika, from where we returned via the shore trail. It’s a very nice round trip.
I wanted to hang out with my colleagues all evening, but as Karma was waiting in the car, I only stayed for a couple of hours. I was back home around 9pm, very very happy about not going anywhere the next day.
Trip statistics: 8,6km, 370 vertical meters, 1h:55m
Stemnehornet (190m), Svarane (191m), Høgåsen (240m), Nov 22 2022
Tuesday: Not feeling top notch, I settled for a hike across the Dimnøya tops, but in the reverse order. Not that there is any given direction, but I typically go to Høgåsen first.
Today, we sat course for Uglesætra first. And after a while – nosebleed. Very little practical when hiking.
We normally stop for a little while at the adventurous Uglesætra, but now I just wanted to hike without the headlamp as much as I could. It was nice to walk on partly frozen ground, as this route can be quite boggy after rain.
Despite feeling a bit rotten, I enjoyed the walk. I like this round-trip hike. I also enjoyed the last glow in the horizon before it got totally dark.
I had to change GPS batteries on Svarane and managed to leave the GPS behind. Halfway to Høgåsen, I noticed that something was wrong and had to go back and retrieve it.
Taking pictures with long exposure at Høgåsen was difficult due to the wind.
On the way down from Høgåsen, I missed the path that would take us back to the car and I ended up on a path that I hadn’t done before. Bonus!
Trip statistics: 7,6km, 450 vertical meters, 1h:50m
Gyrinakken (365m), Nov 23 2022
Wednesday: The shape and form was deteriorating, not improving. Just deciding to hike Gyrinakken was an effort. And then there was the hike itself. I decided to hike out of Leikongeidet, just to get some variation from reversing a typical round-trip hike.
The “goal” was to reach the top before I had to turn on the headlamp.
I reached that goal, but didn’t enjoy the “win”, as my nose started to bleed again on top. Luckily, it was so windy that the blood wasn’t able to make its way out of the nose. It’s never so bad that it isn’t good for something…
Then it got dark.
We then took the forest path down to the light trail.
On the light trail, I decided that one day I should play with light and long exposure. A drone with lights would have been super-cool, and I have one – still in the box. One day…
Covid-test: negative…
Trip statistics: 6,4km, 370 vertical meters, 1h:45m
Djupvikhaugen (98m), Nov 24 2022
Thursday: Today, I had one goal only. To avoid nosebleed. And so, I decided to keep walking the dog low-key. Very little uphill.
We started out by hiking off-trail along lake Djupvikvatnet.
I regretted that choice. The terrain was cumbersome.
Instead of finishing this route, we crossed the main road and continued off-trail in the direction of Kjeldsund. I was hoping to get some nice pictures down there.
But it wasn’t really dark enough to do the pictures I wanted.
Still, nice to be here.
I tried to take some low ISO, long exposure pictures of Karma, but she wouldn’t sit still. So, I gave up. In retrospect, quite futile, when I think about it…
We then headed up to Djupvikhaugen, which was my Mt. Everest today. The nose was still dry. Bonus!
Trip statistics: 7,3km, 230 vertical meters, 1h:54m
Hornseten (189m), Nov 25 2022
Friday: No real change in the shape and form. Still rotten. But the dog had to be walked and I decided to hike Hornseten above Fosnavåg.
Again, doing a traditional loop in the reverse direction. I parked down by the school and headed for Hornseten first.
I do enjoy hiking in this area. There are lots of paths to choose from.
We reached the windy top and then I tried my best to take some pictures. Not easy!
From Hornseten, we headed down to the Heida light trail.
From here, we had a mighty fine view towards Fosnavåg.
Instead of taking the light trail down to the main road by the school, we took another forest path and went down the same way we came up.
Trip statistics: 5,4km, 250 vertical meters, 1h:37m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Nyken (800m), Nov 26 2022
Saturday: Heading for Sogndal to join a Thanksgiving party in Solvorn in the evening.
When we got to Skei, I decided to do a hike across Nyken. I did this trip for the first time last year, and I really enjoyed it.
This time, we hiked in the opposite direction – going to Nyken first.
I typically hike Orkja (948m) on my way to Sogndal, but I had already been to Orkja this year and wanted some variation.
And Nyken offers far better views than Orkja!
From Nyken, we headed down to Hamnanova and suddenly we were no longer alone on the trail. My impression is that this hike to Hamnanova is very popular!
The path from Hamnanova was quite icy, which is more of a fun challenge than a problem. A good thing was that now the nose bleeding seemed to be history…
Afterwards we sat course for Anne’s place, to iron my shirt and join Anne for the Thanksgiving party. The food was overwhelming, but maybe I walked out of there with more than a full stomach? More about that next week…
Trip statistics: 3,7km, 380 vertical meters, 1h:05m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Molden (1121m), Nov 27 2022
Sunday: The morning news informed us that a storm was about to hit western Norway. It would take some time before it reached Sogndal, if at all, and I proposed to Anne that we could hike Molden from Krossen and maybe go ice skating on one of the nearby ponds afterwards.
It was a bit strange – when I came driving down Sogndalsdalen the day before, there was snow almost down to the road and Tylderingen (1104m) looked covered in snow. This was certainly not the case here in Luster, where I would be surprised if we ran into snow at all!
We had a nice hike up the mountain. It was windy and I encouraged Anne to keep a good pace, so we got off the higher part of the mountain before the rain sat in. I was mostly thinking about Karma, who doesn’t deal with the combination of strong wind and rain as we do – in wind- and rainproof clothes…
We typically do not hike Molden. This is a classic ski-trip, but I do enjoy hiking here also. The views are great once above the forest.
It seemed that we “had control” on the incoming rain and could spend a couple of extra minutes on top. It was so windy that it was a challenge to keep the camera steady, but I would sure not leave before the classic panorama…
And then we went for shelter…
We took the same route down.
Back at Krossen, we drove the road toward Ildritjørni. But as we couldn’t see the pond from the car, and the fact that it was getting late in the day, we skipped the planned ice skating.
Trip statistics: 8,6km, 630 vertical meters, 2h:30m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike: