Travels and chores in my local mountains
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 16.10.23 | Oslo | – | – | Oslo, Norway | – | MAP |
| 18.10.23 | Høgåsen | 182m | 99m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 19.10.23 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 20.10.23 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 20.10.23 | Nonshornet | 485m | 7m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 21.10.23 | Vardehornet | 600m | 60m | Ørsta/Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 21.10.23 | Melshornet | 809m | 567m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 22.10.23 | Øyrahornet | 417m | 42m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 22.10.23 | Slettheia | 553m | 49m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Oslo, Oct 16-17 2023
Monday: I was on a two-day business trip to Oslo, staying at Clarion The Hub. After Monday’s session, I looked forward to walking around in my old town in the 3-hour break before dinner. Unfortunately, I was asked to present something the very next morning, and I had to prepare. Suddenly, my 3-hour window was reduced to 1. But I figured I could make it to Tjuvholmen and back in that time.
I really wanted to see Tjuvholmen. I worked there from 1984 to 1995, and I didn’t expect it to look the same. But how much could actually change?
I kept a steady pace up Karl Johan – Oslo’s main street, past the Town Hall, across the old “Vestbanen” – now holding the National Museum. Finally, I arrived at Aker Brygge, 13 minutes after leaving the hotel.
I have spent more time on Aker Brygge than I like to admit, but it just didn’t look familiar at first glance.
Approaching Tjuvholmen, I just thought – what???
I was not able to orientate myself. Probably for a good reason. All this must be new since my days here.
Everything seemed to be new…
But finally, I found a well-known space at the heart of Aker Brygge and memories came thumbling down…
It was nice to finally get here, but now I needed to keep up the pace and see as much of my old turf before my 1-hour break was over.
The dinner in the evening was nice. Indian. Chaos tendencies. I had a feeling I had eaten there before but could not remember.
Tuesday: My presentation next morning went well and after work, I took the airport train to Gardermoen where I caught the afternoon flight to Sogndal. It would be nice to get back to my small family. The city life is beyond me.
I was very happy about the good flying weather. I’ve had my hours in the Widerøe Dash-planes in rugged weather.
Unfortunately, we had fog as we crossed the mountains.
Some 40 minutes after taking off, the captain began the descent towards the Sogndal airport.
I enjoyed passing by Amlaholten – a mountain I’ve visited numerous times during my Sogndal visits.
Høgåsen (182m), Oct 18 2023
Wednesday: After working from Sogndal, I drove home to Sunnmøre in the afternoon. The weather was nice all the way until we reached Austefjorden where we hit the mist. The mist was beautiful and so I stopped for a picture.
On the other side of the mist, the weather was back to just fine.
It was time to walk the dog, and I had decided to drive up to Åsemyra and do a quick walk across Høgåsen.
I really enjoy this hike. We normally do a round-trip hike via Furnes, but today I wanted a variation.
It didn’t take many minutes to reach the top, but Karma still gets her treats.
Even if winter was on its way, the autumn colors were still stunning.
The plan today was to descend north to Vassteinen – the farm in center of the below picture.
But first, I had to wait for Karma – triple-checking the “Gapahuk” (lean-to shelter) for any possible overlooked treats.
We followed a forest path that I expected would take us down the forest, nice and easy. But that wasn’t the case. Eventually, we had to go off-trail and it was quite dark by now. I hadn’t brought a headlamp.
When we got to Vassteinen, a took a picture that might not suggest it was very dark. But it was. The Iphone just captured a lot of light that I didn’t know was there.
When we returned to Åsemyra, it was dark for sure! A nice hike!
Trip statistics: 4,5km, 225 vertical meters, 1h:03m
Sollia (661m), Oct 19 2023
Thursday: It was that time of the year when “Turstiprosjektet Myrvåg/Tjørvåg” was checking all mailboxes, the visitor registers and making a note about the visitor count. I am “trusted” with all of the higher tops in our region of Gurskøya, and I figured that I might as well start with the highest top (of them all) – Sollia.
I looked forward to getting up in the sunshine. And at the Røddalshorn – Sollia/Rjåhornet pass, I did.
Since I “had to do this hike”, I figured I could enjoy some off-trail hiking, hopefully getting some new tracks on my GPS map (which has almost all my hikes since I started hiking in ’99)
Karma enjoys off-trail too…
It was one of those afternoons when you don’t really need a “chore” in order to go to a mountain top.
After a while, we had Sollia in plain view.
And a little bit later, we were up.
I decided to check the visitor register before giving Karma her treats. She didn’t let me out of her sight, and she didn’t blink while waiting…
On our way down, we went on the other side of lake Holmavatnet and found some more fun off-trail terrain before returning to the Leikongeidet trailhead.
Trip statistics: 10,2km, 675 vertical meters, 2h:25m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Rjåhornet (600m), Oct 20 2023
Friday: This afternoon, I would be checking the mailbox and visitor registers on Rjåhornet and Nonshornet, and we headed out from Stemmedalen.
There was ice on the mountain, so I went looking for a safer route than the normal route up the steepest part, which can get quite icy.
I enjoyed the nice weather we were having and hoped it wouldn’t go away anytime soon. It didn’t.
I also enjoy the Stemmedalen – Rjåhornet route. It is a bit spooky in winter when the snow is hard as ice, and I’ve had my share of scary moments up here.
I admit that I can sometimes find the usual views a bit boring, but that does not apply on days like these…
Eventually, we reached the top of Rjåhornet.
The mailbox was OK, but the visitor register needs replacement…
Then we moved on towards Nonshornet, through an off-trail short-cut across Høgsetdalen valley.
I had never taken this particular route before, and so I was mighty pleased with getting new tracks in my local terrain.
Mailbox status on Nonshornet was OK, and we continued down the marked trail that leads to Tjørvåg, until we branched out to an overgrown path that led to Sætremyra. Here, we had to find a way to cross the river and that turned out much easier than expected!
Trip statistics: 9,8km, 755 vertical meters, 2h:31m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Melshornet (809m), Oct 21 2023
Saturday: This trip is featured on a separate post…
Øyrahornet (417m), Slettheia (552m), Oct 22 2023
Sunday: My final day on going to the local mountain tops and check the mailboxes and visitor registers. Today, I would go to Øyrahornet.
On our way up the Øyrahornet trail, I found that this trail was way too overgrown and would need a round or two with the brush cutter. But that would have to wait until next week.
Fortunately, the bush problem only last for 200 vertical meters. Above that, the trails are easy to maintain. It’s mainly about getting the sticks back in place after the sheep have had a good scratch.
The Øyrahornet mailbox was OK and I was “free” to do something else. I decided to continue up to Slettheia and cover some new ground at Konebrekkmyra below Hestefjellet.
My GPS map had holes that needed mending…
We still haven’t gotten the mailbox and signpost up on Slettheia. That will certainly happen in 2024…
Now, we could go and fill some “blank space” …
We aimed for the creek draining down to Nonsvatnet.
In Nonsdalen, we stayed close to the river, knowing it was very cumbersome terrain. The things one do to have been everywhere…
But the forest part was really nice. There is certainly potential for a fun trail here. The only problem is that the terrain up in Nonsdalen is terrible for hiking, and so why would we lead people up there?
Trip statistics 9,7km, 685 vertical meters, 2h:34m
