Lots of nice hiking!
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 12.06.23 | Slakkafjellet | 855m | 242m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 13.06.23 | Snøfjellet | 1006m | 239m | Gloppen, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 14.06.23 | Svanshornet | 552m | 59m | Sula, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 15.06.23 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 16.06.23 | Sandvikhornet | 352m | 14m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | MAP | |
| 17.06.23 | Koppefjellet | 940m | 602m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 18.06.23 | Eidskyrkja | 1462m | 1037m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Slakkafjellet (855m), June 12 2023
Monday: After the long hike along Sogndalsdalen the day before, I felt a little “slakk” (weary) and what better destination is there than Slakkafjellet?
The thing that would make the doorstep lower, was to hike from Lereimsstølen (600m), which is a pretty high trailhead – even in this region. I had never been there before. The forecast mentioned rain, but with the opportunity to hike a new path, rain didn’t matter.
I found a marked path to Slakkafjellet near the cabins and then we were on our way!
The path was perfectly fine! Only light drops of rain in the air…
On the ridge to the north top (797m), I was back in familiar terrain – as I came here from Øvstedalen in 2021.
And then we reached the top of Slakkafjellet – our 1st visit in 2023. We typically don’t go here more than once a year. There are plenty of other tops to choose from.
And then came the rain. I took a picture of our route from the day before heading down.
It was nice to finally have done this route!
I don’t think I’ll be revisiting Lereimsstølen anytime soon. The road was OK, but it was narrow and if two cars meet, one of them will have to back up for quite a distance!
Trip statistics: 4,6km, 300 vertical meters, 1h:24m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Snøfjellet (1006m), June 13 2023
Tuesday: It was time to go back home to Sunnmøre, and on the way from Sogndal, I decided to hike Snøfjellet on Utvikfjellet. It’s a mountain I typically ski (I have never been here on foot), but I had found that there was a toll road leading almost up to Kvilestøylen. I wasn’t sure how far I could drive, but if I got as high as 500m, then the hike would be nothing more than “a stroll”.
Parking was at 520m, and the mountain path was only 0,5km away. Perfect!
We passed a few cabins but were able to follow the path through the open areas.
It didn’t take long before the views started to get good…
The path was leading us to lake Skaravatnet – in the pass between Snøfjellet and Dunheia. I actually considered going to Dunheia instead, as it was a higher mountain. But in the end, I decided to stay true to my plan and (re)visit Dunheia some other time.
And then we found snow!
In the pass, I noticed a marked path going up in the direction of Snøfjellet, even though there was no path on the map. Bonus, even if I am not a stranger to off-trail hiking…
Karma had second thoughts about coming along…
But when she realized there was snow higher up, she tagged along…
And then we were on top of Snøfjellet!
It is a rather nice viewpoint!
For descent, we stayed a little further east – all off-trail and didn’t cross our path until we reached the road to Kvilestøylen.
The 2-hour drive home was WAY better than it would have been – without this hike…
Trip statistics: 7,9km, 500 vertical meters, 2h:06m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Svanshornet (552m), June 14 2023
Wednesday: Working day in Ålesund, and throughout the day, I was clearly of the impression that I would hike to the top of Sulafjellet (775m), on my way back home to Gurskøy.
But, on the way to Sula Island, I changed the plan. I would hike Svanshornet instead and take this opportunity to visit brand new terrain on the way back to the car. We were potentially looking at 5km+ along paths where I had never been before.
I picked a starting point – by a school between lakes Raudåvatnet and Otrevatnet – where I was confident, I had not been before. But it turned out that I had hiked from there both in 2018 and 2020! With all this walking, it’s hard to remember everything…
Eventually, on the way up to the Fiskarstrandhyttene cabins, the terrain was quite familiar.
After Fiskarstrandhyttene, we just had to cross a small valley before making the final climb up to Svanshornet.
The path was just perfect…
On top, we had a darn nice view towards Ålesund! The cruise ships were departing, one after the other…
It was really tempting to continue to top of Sulafjellet, but I decided to stick to my plan.
So, we began our descent…
Eventually, we reached the gravel road between the sports field and Vonhytta and followed it down.
From the sports field, we followed a network of paths that were new to me. I had the map on the phone, but some well worn paths were not on the map and paths on the map were hardly visible. With some help from other hikers, we kept the best course back to the trailhead.
This strategy worked well until we reached lake Gjølvatnet and a trail fork. My instinct told me to go straight ahead, but a couple I met there said I ought to go left. They were quite sure! And so I did.
It only took me 5 minutes to conclude that this was a stupid suggestion, but I would always be able to find my way back to the car.
We got a detour of 1,7km from listening to these folks. But OK, sometimes these things go in my favor also…
Nevertheless, it was a brilliant round-trip hike!
Trip statistics: 14,8km, 820 vertical meters, 2h:30m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Sollia (661m), June 15 2023
Thursday: Another beautiful day, and Karma got to run on the sandy Osnessanden beach during my lunchbreak.
We can’t only have fun in the mountains. We need to put in some do-gooding too! So, today I went up on Sollia to repaint sticks on the north side of lake Holmevatnet.
The sticks were in real need of a refresh after the winter…
Of course, we had to visit the top of Sollia.
Sollia is the highest point on Gurskøy island, and we’ve been here quite a number of times. This was my 93rd visit. I expect to be close to 100 by the end of this year. Not that it’s a goal…
Sollia is a good place to take a break and enjoy the views…
The only sad thing is that I’m running out of new ground to cover…
That said, in the valley below – there is probably potential of getting some new tracks!
On the way down, we took the normal route – repainted not long ago.
And – thanks to ponds – on hot days!
Trip statistics: 11,6km, 650 vertical meters, 3h:17m
Sandvikhornet (352m), June 16 2023
Friday: It was time to finish repainting the sticks surrounding Øyradalen valley and the only remaining route was across Sandvikhornet and down to Sandvikskaret.
During ascent, we followed the unmarked path along Øyraelva river.
And then we got to the point where I finished off, 9 days earlier. I didn’t mind the fog. No distraction and could focus on the task at hand…
Time for treats on Sandvikhornet…
I was very happy about finishing the routes on both sides of this valley. Now, I only had one long route left…
Trip statistics: 7,2km, 465 vertical meters, 2h:37m
Koppefjellet (940m), June 17 2023
Saturday: So far, this week, we had only hiked tops starting with ‘S’ and I was actually considering finishing the week that way. Until I didn’t find any more ‘S’ tops that I wanted to visit this Saturday. At least the day started with ‘S’…
So, I drove to Krøvelsætra with the intention to hike Koppefjellet via the northwest ridge. But when I got there, I saw there was a lot of snow left (and cornices) on the upper part of the ridge. So, I decided NOT to do that route.
Plan B was to hike to Rotevassætra and figure out something.
At Rotevassætra, I found a path going up the forest – that was also on the map. I had completely missed this one. Big bonus!
The path up the forest was just fine!
It was yet another hot day, but fortunately, Karma found water in many places.
There’s nothing like new routes! That applies to both of us, and I had to yell at Karma, asking her to keep me company.
And we found snow too!
I was slightly concerned about the upper part of this route – as a snow band was covering the entire ridge. On my way up, I was looking for sharp rocks that could function as an ice-axe, but I found none.
Fortunately, the point with least snow was easy to ascend and then we were on top. Karma had a hard time posing, because of annoying wasps.
But eventually, we got rid of the insects and could “do our thing” …
The views are darn good from up here…
For descent, we aimed for the other ridge – parallel to our ascent route.
It was a bit steep in places, but we found a good route and were soon back on our ascent route.
All in all, a superb hike!
I was mind-boggled about the fact that it took us less than 2 hours to get up and down this mountain! But, it wasn’t that many vertical meters, although it felt like there was…
Trip statistics: 6,7km, 630 vertical meters, 1h:54m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Eidskyrkja (1482m), June 18 2023
This trip is featured on a separate post…
