Counting down to Easter…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 18.03.24 | Røddalshorn | 563m | 100m | Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 18.03.24 | Storetua | 592m | 249m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 19.03.24 | Lidafjellet | 200m | 47m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 20.03.24 | Mosvarden | 553m | 50m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 20.03.24 | Storebroren | 620m | 177m | Hareid/Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 20.03.24 | Sarshornet | 543m | 50m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 21.03.24 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 22.03.24 | Amlaholten | 508m | 265m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Røddalshorn (563m), Storetua (592m), Mar 18 2023
Monday: During the weekend, I watched an episode of “Who dares wins” (reality quasi-military training television programme) and learned one thing. I had gotten old. This is a young man’s or woman’s game. But I took away some inspiration and decided to do my take of a “forced march” across two mountains. Their march was along roads, with a 20kg backpack, aiming at a speed of 7km/h with varying distances.
As I would be going across mountains, I had to lower the bar and adjust for age and the fact that I hadn’t been pushing hard for years. With a 6kg backpack, I set myself the goal of hiking across Røddalshorn and Storetua and return via a different route. This route would be roughly 10km and the total vertical gain would be above 600m. As this was the first time in years that I would be turning up “the pump”, I sat a goal of 5km/h as average speed. It should be doable – 4km/h average going up, 5km/h average on the flats and 6km/h average going down.
The hike up Røddalshorn was like normal, except for the “extra push”. I still took the time needed for pictures.
I couldn’t skip the treats for the dog on top of Røddalshorn either…
On our way from Røddalshorn, I was now jogging on snow. It had been way too long since I jogged last time, but so far, it was going OK.
Eventually, we had Storetua in plain view and I just had to figure out the route down to the pass. We were not following any paths.
It was quite windy, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. The focus was only on keeping the highest pace I could, at any given time. And eventually, we reached the first cairn on the Storetua plateau.
We ran over to the high point, and it felt good to have reached the turnaround point. I had no idea about the time, the distance or the vertical gain – other than what I had assumed on beforehand, and it was nice to feel the uncertainty being a drive to just keep pushing.
We did not go back up to Røddalshorn upon our return. Instead, I tried to keep the most optimal line from the Storetua – Røddalshorn saddle and to lake Simavatnet.
From the pass above Simavatnet, there would be only downhill back to the trailhead.
On our way down, I found myself enjoying myself big-time and promised myself this wouldn’t be the last time I did my take on a “forced march”.
My goal was to do this hike in less than 2 hours, but as the actual distance was 10,2km and the vertical gain was 620m, I was OK with 2h:01m. The average speed was more than 5,45km/h and as such – I had reached my goal.
Trip statistics: 10,2km, 620 vertical meters, 2h:01m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the trip:
Lidafjellet (200m), Mar 19 2024
Tuesday: Yesterday’s hike was fun, but now I had to do something for the community. Balance is important.
I went back to Stemmedalen with the brush cutter and hiked up to Lidafjellet while cutting some leftover bush I had previously missed.
The main work was in Myrvågskogen. I picked up from where I left off the last time, and today I was really making good progress.
Afterwards, we hiked back home, then I got onto the bike to pick up the car.
Trip statistics: 4,6km hike, 3,4km on bike, 415 vertical meters, 2h:33m
Mosvarden (553m), Storebroren (620m), Sarshornet (543m), Mar 20 204
Wednesday: I enjoyed the “forced march” on Monday so much that I had to give it another go. Would I be able to keep 5km/h over a longer distance, with more vertical meters and still with a 6kg backpack? Learning from past mistakes of overdoing things, I only raised the bar a little.
Today’s round would go across Mosvarden, Storebroren and Sarshornet on Hareidlandet island. I didn’t know the actual distance and didn’t bother to look it up either. It was for sure more than 10km and the vertical gain was for sure more than 600m.
We started out from Varleitet above Ulsteinvik and kept a good pace across the flats and up to the ridge leading to Kiberget.
The next goal was Mosvarden. I was able to jog along the flats, but the terrain was too cumbersome to jog uphill. But at least I would hike as fast as I could.
It felt good to eventually reach Mosvarden. It was windy and there was light rain in the air. But as long as I avoided snow, I would be able to keep the momentum.
A couple of minutes later, I could see that the entire ascent to Storebroren would be on snow. That would surely hurt my average speed!
If only the snow had been hard! But it was soft, and I was breaking through the snow and my energy level was bleeding.
One thing was snow on the ground, but would we also get it from above?
Eventually, we reached the top of Storebroren. This was a boost for the morale, as the main ascent was now over.
It was now snowing – or light hail – I couldn’t figure it out and had to put my jacket on before setting the course for Sarshornet.
There was no snow going down and we were cheated from an easy slide. Instead, we had to deal with slippery rock before reaching the flats between the two tops.
We passed the top of Sarshornet (in the thick fog that suddenly surrounded us) and jogged down to the mountain service road at lake Mosvatnet.
From here, we had 6km along gravel roads back to Varleitet. It was nice that most of it was downhill, but I really hate jogging on gravel roads. But this hike was a test to my motivation, and so be it.
It sure felt nice to return to the car! My app doesn’t give me the details I wanted and so I would have to wait until I got back home to analyse the GPS track.
The analysis showed that I had been keeping an average speed of 6,5km/h over 15,5km and 680 vertical meters. I was mighty pleased with that!
Trip statistics: 15,5km, 680 vertical meters, 2h:25m
Rambjøra (132m), Mar 21 2024
Thursday: As I would be driving to Sogndal in the afternoon, I devoted my lunchbreak to give Karma a walk up and down Rambjøra. It’s not much of a hike, but better than nothing at all!
As I was in a hurry, we had to jog all the way down.
The afternoon weather was not good. It was raining/snowing when I drove to Sogndal and there was snow on the road on top of Utvikfjellet. Little did I know that this type of weather would follow us at least one more week, wherever we went…
Trip statistics: 2,4km, 140 vertical meters, 0h:25m
Amlaholten (508m), Mar 22 2024
Friday: The weather in Sogndal was miserable, but the dog had to be walked. Anne and I decided to pay Amlaholten a visit. I had recently been up there, but I didn’t mind going one more time. Anne wanted to do the usual round trip, but I got my will, and we started along a forest road lower than the one we usually follow.
When Anne noticed a forest path, she proposed that we ought to follow it. This was the same forest path I joined (higher up) the last time I was here.
After a while, we joined our regular forest path. It was snowing (and raining) but who cares…
The weather should never define the quality of a hike or a trip.
Well, unless the weather is really, really bad. Which it wasn’t…
After reaching the top, I didn’t feel for any off-trail escapades. I was wearing slippery sneakers, and the grass was soaking wet. So, we took our regular forest paths back down.
I was surprisingly low on energy. I was dragging my feet the whole way. I surely didn’t mean that I would enter Easter break sick…
Trip statistics: 5,3km, 320 vertical meters, 1h:22m
