Stunning weather and a fine mountain top!
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 01.09.24 | Matøskja | 1332m | 731m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 01.09.24 | Harpehornet | 1193m | 55m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Sunday: Welcome to September, and from a health perspective, I surely hoped it would be a better month.
I was not really up for hiking this morning, but the weather was drop dead gorgeous. I just HAD to make most of the day. So, the plan was to drive to the other side of Austefjorden and do a roundtrip hike across Merket (845m) and Neshornet (550m). I had not been to Neshornet before.
We took the toll road from Øvsteberget to Lauvhaugsætra. The VIPPS payment was a bit tricky, as the account number was inverted/mirrored. But eventually, I was able to make the NOK 50,- payment to “Anne Petrine Ryslett”.
From the Lauvhaugsætra parking, we followed the path towards lake Nykkjedalsvatnet.
Once up on the forest ridge, we turned left and sat course for lake Grøndalsvatnet – where the plan was to turn right and hike towards Merket.
At this point, I was growing a “depression” about going for such a short hike on a day like this.
When we got to lake Grøndalsvatnet, the “depression” went away when I decided to skip my original plan and continue to Matøskja.
And maybe, if all went good for my knee and Karma, we could also finally visit Harpehornet.
Oh, what a day!
The ridge up Blåfjellet looked totally unfamiliar to me. I noticed a steep cliff halfway up the ridge that I assumed would be “interesting”.
I was thinking hard about my previous hikes up here, and I could not remember having hiked this ridge. I hiked across Joldalshornet, Kvitfannegga and Matøskja back in 2017, but where on earth did we come down? I only had to assume that we descended via Eggene and Storreisfjellet back then.
The steep cliff turned out to offer no problems at all. It only looked bad from distance.
Karma was thirsty again and I didn’t expect to find much water in the “rocky desert” that appeared in front of us. I had to strongly consider how far I should bring the dog in this landscape.
But then we found water!
And snow!
We even found a “green lounge” …
So far, so good. And now we had Matøskja in clear view. I suddenly remembered how nervous I was back in 2009, when the entire mountain was glaciated.
It would be altogether an easier ascent today…
There was a lot of rock in the hillside, but we were able to find an OK route to the top.
And a heavenly view opened up…
We were not alone up there. A couple of with a dog were chillin’ on the other side of the summit plateau. But I never spoke with them.
If I would be limping for one or two weeks after this hike, it would be worth it…
After a round of pictures, I decided to we should head back down.
I was interested in giving Harpehornet a go.
Fortunately, the “green lounge” also offered water…
And a bit later, Harpehornet was “in the bag”. We skipped this top on our 2009 ski-trip, and it has been “annoying” me ever since…
Life was good. The knee was only moderately painful. Even if I had to limp, I would be smiling…
We descended down to the ponds below Harpehornet so Karma could “fuel up” before the descent.
We then took the same route back down.
I killed the thought of going across Merket and Neshornet before it even started to materialize. I think the expression is “Quit while you’re ahead” ….
When I got back home, I immediately had to check where I descended back in 2017. And sure enough – down the Blåfjellet ridge – the same ridge we hiked up and down today. How is it possible to not remember such a ridge?
I think the explanation is that my main focus for that hike was how I would get up Joldalshornet and across Kvitfannegga. Anything else was “not worth remembering”. I remember most of the ascent and nothing from the descent.
Trip statistics: 13,2km, 1120 vertical meters, 4h:11m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
