A mix of Sunnmøre, Sunnfjord and Sogn
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 21.08.23 | Vasshornet | 479m | 56m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 21.08.23 | Lysløypa, Leikongeidet | 160m | 0m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
| 22.08.23 | Melshornet | 668m | 560m | Hareid, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 23.08.23 | Vardehornet | 600m | 60m | Ørsta/Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 23.08.23 | Melshornet | 809m | 567m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 25.08.23 | Nyken | 800m | 44m | Jølster, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 26.08.23 | Reppanipa | 944m | 101m | Sogndal, Norway | MAP | |
| 26.08.23 | Bøtun | – | – | Luster, Norway | MAP | |
| 27.08.23 | Ramnaholten | 440m | 13m | Sogndal, Norway | MAP |
Vasshornet (479m), Aug 21 2023
Monday: The week started hot. The outside temperature was 27 deg. C., which is unusual this late in August. I had planned to go jogging today, but had to walk the dog first, and chose to go to Vasshornet on Gurskøy island. I parked at the Almestad trailhead, which is not a trailhead you will find unless you know where to look for it…
This is a hike I typically do once a year. I associate this mountain with ticks…
I don’t mean the nice birch forest. The ticks typically dominate the bush areas…
I always enjoy getting on the ridge to Vasshornet…
When we reached the top, Karma was super-thirsty. No water along the way.
But we would for sure find water pits on our way down to lake Slokevatnet.
And then we entered tick territory…
But, the fjord view is nice!
When we got to Slokevatnet, it looked like that someone had brought the lawnmower…
Eventually, we joined our ascent route and headed back down to Almestad.
Trip statistics: 6,3km, 505 vertical meters, 1h:58m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Lysløypa, Leikong, Aug 21 2023
Monday: Last week, I started jogging again. The plan was to start nice and easy for a change. I always hit a wall every time I started picking up running up mountains again. This time, the mountains would have to wait until I could jog this 5,4km lap 10 times, and avoid injuries.
Last week, I jogged with an average speed of 7km/h. This time, I increased the pace a notch and had 9km/h. Which I know isn’t a lot!
But, I cut my time with more than 2 minutes. I couldn’t (and wouldn’t) expect this progress every time I jogged, but the goal was to slice 10% off last week’s lap (34m:40s) after 10 runs. Whenever in time that would be.
After the jog, I returned to the car where Karma was awaiting. Back home, I picked ticks off the dog for the rest of the evening. More than 20!. But thanks to the stuff I rub on her neck twice a year, they all died upon entry…
Trip statistics: 5,4km, 180 vertical meters, 0h:32m:25s
Melshornet (668m), Aug 22 2023
Tuesday: I thought that the route from Ulset to Melshornet would be fairly free of ticks. There is a short forest section, and then there is a long ridge route without bush and trees. I was quite keen of avoiding ticks (on the dog) for a while…
It rained on our way to Ulset, but not a lot. Fortunately, it stopped raining when I parked the car.
Just after the trailhead, there were cows on both sides of the tractor road. Bummer, and I didn’t really see an easy way around. I didn’t really want to cancel the hike either, so I took my chances. We walked quickly past them while they were gazing at us.
We finished the forest part quickly and got on the ridge.
I remembered when I used to run this mountain. By the time I reached this point (the ridge), I was still good. I was always good up to 460m and the final 200 vertical meters were pure hell. At my best, I ran this mountain in ~30 minutes. I don’t really recall if ever got below 30.
Today, we didn’t go straight for the top. I discovered a path and wondered where it went. After following it for a while, this path seemed to lead to the north ridge, which I had no interest in. So, we had an off-trail ascent ahead of us…
But eventually, we were up!
I always enjoy the views from this mountain!
We took the normal route down and when I got home, the process of removing ticks from the dog began. It took a few hours, off and on and I picked more than 20 ticks today also. Aargh!
Trip statistics: 7,1km, 560 vertical meters, 1h:51m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Melshornet (809m), Aug 24 2023
Thursday: Fast forward to Thursday and Karma was her usual self again. The day before, she was sedated while the Veterinarian performed microscopy on her tail, suspecting a gland. At least that’s what she thought it was. She was just confused for the rest of the day.
But today, she was OK again and I chose to go to Melshornet in Ørsta/Volda after work. Today, I chose to start from Raudemyrvegen. It’s been many years since I headed out from here.
Here I discovered a path that I hadn’t noticed before. So, I followed it. The path crossed a creek and took us up along Yrgjøet.
Eventually, we reached the road to Dinglavatnet (Sætrevegen) and I decided to stick to the road. It’s been many years since I hiked this road…
From Dinglavatnet, we followed the normal route up the mountain.
This was our 6th visit to this top in 2023. Well on our way to break or match our 2018 record of 10 visits (at least half of them on skis). It should be noted that this mountain doesn’t belong to my local region.
I just like this mountain. Today, I chose to come here hoping to avoid ticks. And we did!
We took the same route down to Dinglavatnet.
Then we headed up to Vardehornet. New measurements show that this top is only 599m, not 600m. OK, I need to update my lists accordingly…
Then we followed forest paths back to the trailhead. A very nice hike!
Trip statistics: 9,6km, 760 vertical meters, 2h:17m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Nyken (800m), Aug 25 2023
Friday: Time to return to Sogndal and spend the weekend with Anne. I was super-tired after a stressful day and while I always look forward to a hike along the way, today – I just didn’t.
But I got myself together and decided to hike across Nyken. The Kjøsnesfjord view up there will always get me in a good mood.
Like most times, I chose to follow the forest path up to Djupeskaret.
I used to hike Orkja on my way to Sogndal, but now it’s Nyken everytime.
That said, I recently hiked Snøfjellet also – south of Nyken. I imagine I also will visit Støylsnova one day. And maybe Tverrfjellet, until I’m at the foot of the Grovabreen glacier…
After passing Nyken, we aimed for Hamnanova, where the best Kjøsnefjorden viewpoint (IMHO) is found…
And the view lived up to its reputation today also…
Then we headed down the nice path from Hamnanova, back to the trailhead. Less than 1 hour later, we were in Sogndal and could enjoy a nice Friday evening!
Trip statistics: 3,9km, 560 vertical meters, 0h:51m
Reppanipa (944m), Aug 26 2023
Saturday: Today, we decided to visit Reppanipa – from Hodlekve. The plan was to hike via Kollsetestølen – a route I’ve never done before.
We started out from Hodlekve – along a path by the river, expecting that this path would take us to Kollsetestølen.
Anne – who has downloaded the “Stolpejakten” app, was happy to find “Stolper” here…
But the path seemed to go in a different direction, and so we chose to go off-trail.
After a while, we found the path. If we had looked at the map, we would have seen that this path went further west before turning south.
Eventually, we got to Kollsetestølen…
From here, we followed the path leading up to lake Kollsetevatnet.
But only for a while. Anne saw a (misplaced) stick that suggested a different route, and so we went that way. That wasn’t a path at all, but we were now directly heading for the top and so we chose to stay on our present course…
The mountain is steep in the direction we came, but we found a nice, grassy slope that brought us safely up the mountain.
And then we were on top! It had begun raining, but only lightly!
For descent, we headed south, down to lake Nipevatnet. Instead of going over to the narrow passage between Nipevatnet and Rundavatnet, we stayed on the east side of Nipevatnet.
Eventually, we were on the marked trail towards Rindabotn.
From Rindabotn, we got on a forest path that took us down to the forest path we had started out on. Fun hike!
Trip statistics: 9,1km, 500 vertical meters, 3h:00m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Bøtun, Aug 26 2023
Saturday: In the evening, we went to the Bøtun farm at Indre Hafslo for a “pop-up dinner experience”. This was a gift to Anne for her 60th birthday, from friends. I was invited to, of course, at Anne’s expense…
Bøtun is driven by Mathilde and Martin and has quickly grown quite a reputation for their innovative and ecologically farming concept. So, before dinner, Martin gave us an introduction to their philosophy.
And then we could walk around and check out the produce…
The guests paid close attention to what Martin had to tell…
Then it was time for dinner!
It was a 7-course meal, or was it 8? I lost count. The food looked stunning!
They also had 2 renowned chefs who introduced some of the dishes.
While I applaud everything they do, this was a bit “nerdy” for me. I can understand the driving force, though. How can I make the outmost of this vegetable? I’m not that elevated. More of a “mhm, nice carrot!” kind of guy…
There was nothing nerdy about the dessert. It was just tasty.
The only question I was left with was – was it enough food? There were only small dishes and if I find myself fancying a hot dog at the local gas station, maybe it wasn’t enough? We didn’t stop by the gas station on our way home, so I kinda – guess it was enough. Not 100% sure…
But it was a fun dinner experience, for sure!
“Munthemarki rundt” & Ramnaholten (440m), Aug 27 2023
This trip is featured on a separate post…
