Trail maintenance and some hiking…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 08.05.23 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 09.05.23 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 10.05.23 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.05.23 | Mosvarden | 553m | 50m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.05.23 | Storebroren | 620m | 177m | Hareid/Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.05.23 | Sarshornet | 543m | 50m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 12.05.23 | Helgehornet | 626m | 545m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 13.05.23 | Snøfjellet | 996m | 51m | Jølster, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 13.05.23 | Nyken | 800m | 44m | Jølster, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 14.05.23 | Vardeggi | 1406m | 104m | Balestrand, Norway | FP | MAP |
Huldrehornet (271m), May 8 2023
Monday: After having fun on foot, on skis and in the kayak at the end of last week, it was time to get back to some do-gooding in the local forests.
I decided to continue cutting bush under the powerline below Huldrehornet, but first – carry another bag of wooden chips up to Djupvikhaugen.
I was happy to see the snowline quickly creep upwards after the past days with high temperatures. I mean, I like snow, but not out here – at this time of the year. If I want to go skiing, I can go to Ørsta or Volda. Here, I want to hike…
My colleagues in the “Turstiprosjektet Myrvåg/Tjørvåg” have strong faith in wooden chips on Djupvikhaugen. I’m not that confident about it when it gets really wet, and so I wanted to see how it binds when the are something more solid beneath.
Then it was time to cut bush. I spent a lot of time on this trail a few years ago, and ripping bush with the roots paid off, because it still looked OK. Now, it was time to continue this work.
After the hard work, we treated ourselves with a steep ascent up Huldrehornet. Karma has to use her claws to get up here.
And of course, the final treat (for Karma) on top.
Trip statistics: 5,1km, 300 vertical meters, 2h:48m
Huldrehornet (271m), May 9 2023
Tuesday: This afternoon, I went back to the forest where I did trail maintenance the day before. Today, I had brought my electric chainsaw to make use of fallen trees.
On the below picture, I would of course wanted the branches to lie “horizontally”, but that would have required a lot more wood. But anything helps – even just one piece of wood where you can put your toes on…
Afterwards, a quick hike up to Huldrehornet…
Trip statistics: 4,4km, 250 vertical meters, 2h:40m
Rambjøra (132m), May 10 2023
Wednesday: My final trail maintenance session this week, and this time on Rambjøra. It’s so much more enjoyable to hike a path with “space”. And, that space also means we don’t have to be cutting here again, anytime soon.
To my surprise, I saw that someone had been doing work here lately, and it’s no one in our group. We applaud help but would like to know who is doing it so we can comment on any activity that doesn’t sit well with the handbook. Yes, there is a handbook (pdf link, Norwegian). I’ve got some horrific examples when things are done bad, even for the right reasons…
It was that kind of day where trail maintenance was just perfect. A little rain, some fog…
My main focus today was on the northeast side of Rambjøra. That side has never been maintained, and now I’m trying to open it up again, one pitch at a time.
Trip statistics: 4,3km, 140 vertical meters, 2h:14m
Mosvarden (553m), Storebroren (620m), Sarshornet (543m), May 11 2023
Thursday: I was not in the mood for hiking today but had to walk the dog. I mustered the strengths needed to hike Kiberget above Ulsteinvik.
But when I got to the Kiberget – Mosvarden junction, I felt more energetic and continued towards Mosvarden instead.
I was hiking in low hiking shoes, the path was soaking wet and it’s a long time since these shoes resisted moisture…
When we got to Mosvarden, I felt the hike had been quite short even if the distance was 4,2km. So, I decided to continue towards Storebroren.
Fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of snow left.
We arrived on Storebroren just in time to see the sea fog roll in. It was a beautiful sight, even if that meant we would be hiking in fog on the way down.
I decided to hike via Sarshornet on our return, and Sarshornet was literally wrapped in the sea fog.
But then we rose above the fog as we reached the top of Sarshornet.
When we reached lake Mosvatnet, we had 6,4km(!) of gravel roads ahead of us, before reaching the car. Jogging was unavoidable and now it was raining noticably! This hike sure got longer than planned!
Trip statistics: 15,9km, 730 vertical meters, 2h:50m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Helgehornet (626m), May 12 2023
Friday: This felt like a LONG day! I got up at 5am for a working day in Ålesund. On my way there, I heard disturbing sounds from the car. Or from the wheels, by the sound of it. I didn’t see anything wrong, but as I was planning on going to Sogndal the day after, I had to do something about it.
So, I left work a bit early, took the ferry to Festøya and drove to Ørsta, where the guys at my regular car shop would take a look. It turned out that because of rust on the bolts, the person who recently had swapped my tires (from winter to summer tires) had overlooked this (or simply not bothered). This was done at a different garage. During the past week, the wheels were gradually causing more and more vibration. Hence the noise.
While I was waiting for the wheels to be fixed, I overheard someone saying that it was raining in Ulsteinvik (my side of the Eiksund tunnel) and so I quickly decided to walk the dog on this side of the tunnel. Helgehornet was an easy choice to make – given the fog that covered the higher mountains.
We started by the shooting range, and I hoped that there would be no shooting today – as Karma is truly uncomfortable with rifles firing.
The fog was sitting on top of the mountain, but I had my hopes that it would lift by the time we got up there.
Karma doesn’t care about things like fog…
But the fog never lifted and it’s a good thing I’ve been up here many times before, and know the views inside and out…
We took the south ridge down and then an extra round where we were overlooking Håskjold, before returning to the starting point.
On my way home, I stopped by the garage and complained about their work on my wheels. They apologized and promised me the next one for free.
Trip statistics: 4,7km, 405 vertical meters, 1h:12m
Snøfjellet (996m), Nyken (800m), May 13 2023
Saturday: On my way to Sogndal and it was a delight to NOT hear the disturbing noise from my wheels!
It was a beautiful day, and it was not a question of IF I should do a hike, but where. Given the amount of snow, my options were somewhat limited. But, I could always hike Nyken or Orkja and handle whatever rotten snow the mountains threw at us.
I decided on Nyken, but with a twist. I would see if I could get all the way up to Snøfjellet – where I hadn’t been before.
The forest part was nice as always…
There was a good portion of snow up there, but the worst thing that could happen was that I got wet feet. In this weather, my feet would probably not get cold.
When we got on the ridge, there was less snow than I had expected, and we got a fairly easy hike up the ridge.
But the top wasn’t where I thought it would be…
Snøfjellet, like Nyken are just humps on the ridge towards the Grovabreen glacier. But I enjoy collecting humps too…
We had a nice view towards Orkja – which has been my regular walk-the-dog top on my way to Sogndal.
Orkja now has a very strong contender in this ridge – especially thanks to the awesome view towards Kjøsnesfjorden (cover picture).
I’ve had my share of nice views, but this view is high on my list!
From Snøfjellet, we went to Nuken.
From Nuken, we headed down to Hamnanova and this time I would make sure I would take a look inside the cabin there – open for the public.
The Kjøsnesfjorden view is nice, but lake Jølstervatnet isn’t bad either…
So, the cabin…
Nice and cozy. Bring some coffee or tea and just enjoy life for a little while…
The trail to/from Hamnanova is very nice. Someone has put in a lot of effort to help you and me keep our feet dry. Not that it helped me much today. My feet were soaking wet from the snow on Snøfjellet. No complaints, though. None whatsoever!
Then it was time for the final leg of my trip to Sogndal.
And I’m a very lucky man. In Sogndal, Anne had barbeque going. My job was basically to open a can of beer…
Trip statistics: 6,7km, 650 vertical meters, 1h:49m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Vardeggi (1406m), May 14 2023
This trip is featured in a separate post.
