Local hikes, not-so-great weather and snowmelt…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 02.12.24 | Leinebjørnen | 271m | 108m | Herøy, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 03.12.24 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 04.12.24 | Røddalshorn | 563m | 100m | Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 05.12.24 | Gyrinakken | 365m | 157m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 06.12.24 | Mosvarden | 553m | 50m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 07.12.24 | Lidaveten | 592m | 439m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 07.12.24 | Sukkertoppen | 314m | 314m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 08.12.24 | Remøykammen | 184m | 41m | Herøy, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 08.12.24 | Vardane (Remøyfjellet) | 188m | 188m | Herøy, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Leinebjørnen (271m), Dec 2 2024
Monday: The weather was extremely unpleasant during my working day. Rain and snow in a nasty mix. It was supposed to let up after 6pm and so I decided to do a hike across Leinebjørnen on Leinøya.
We started out from the school and got onto the west ridge path. It was amazing to see the rain and snow penetrate the thick forest…
The weather got a bit easier on our way up the mountain. The wind was strong in the beginning, but less strong on the mountain.
I was in a bad mood. I had lost my favorite Octopus Tripod somewhere, on one of my recent hikes, and without it – it was close to impossible to take OK pictures after dark.
The top of Leinebjørnen was quite windy. I looked forward to getting off the mountain…
We did a roundtrip, across Vardeheida. Given the weather earlier in the day, I could NOT picture us getting a hike like this. So, I was quite pleased about it.
Trip statistics: 4,6km, 305 vertical meters, 1h:13m
Rjåhornet (600m), Dec 3 2024
Tuesday: The day started with a drive to Ørsta.
I had an appointment with a new physiotherapist, and he came recommended by my doctor. I just had to figure out what was wrong with my neck. Long story short, he told me I had an inflammation in my neck (hence the headache) and other notable problems. I bought what he was saying and was motivated to do the exercises he sent me home with.
He recommended pain killers to fight the inflammation, and “fortunately”, I was already on such medicine, hoping to cure an inflammation in my knee. I felt uplifted when I left Ørsta. Moreover, it was a gorgeous day.
I finished my working day 3pm, so that I could get some daylight for my afternoon hike. I decided to go to Rjåhornet, as I had to replace the visitor register/guestbook. We started out from Leikong, and we had thin layer of fresh snow. I realized I had forgotten to bring socks for Karma, so she would just have to do without…
It was SO nice to NOT be hiking in the rain!
We got gradually more and more snow, but there was far from enough snow for skiing.
Eventually, we reached the halfway point.
Karma seemed happy. Her nose was more under the snow than above…
Then day faded into evening, but there was enough light to get us to the top without using the headlamp.
It was ~-3-4 deg. C. on top but there was no wind.
I tried to think about how many times I’ve been up here. I guessed it was between 200 and 300. But when I looked it up when I got home, this was my 339th visit to this top. It is safe to say I know this mountain quite well.
Oh, I almost forgot…
Karma didn’t have a too bad icing problem. She only chewed on the ice once on the way down.
It was time to get off the mountain and I decided to follow the fresh snowscooter tracks and see what route the maintenance people follow.
That brought us into terrain I’ve never hiked in before – because of the bush. But at least, I got some new tracks for my GPS map. The snowscooter tracks were NOT PRETTY to watch…
As we closed in on Leikong, I decided to take a forest route that I hadn’t done before. That will be the standard route from now on, whenever I come off the mountain on the Leikongeidet side.
Trip statistics: 7,5km, 665 vertical meters, 2h:09m
Røddalshorn (563m), Dec 4 2024
Wednesday: It was hard to get motivated for hiking this afternoon. I was tired after an intense working day, and the wind was hitting the house – hard. But in the end, I pulled myself together and drove up to Leikongeidet to hike Røddalshorn.
There was still a bit of snow, but the combination of good socks + low terrain shoes was OK. Karma seemed to lack motivation. Maybe I should have brought socks for her, although that didn’t seem to be the problem.
She must have found motivation in the end, because she stopped turning towards me every 10 seconds and started to explore the surroundings. That’s always a good sign.
I really missed my tripod. It was impossible to take half decent pictures without it.
When we got to the top, it was incredibly windy. Gusts above 15 m/s, surely. It was good to get off the mountain!
Trip statistics: 3,6km, 400 vertical meters, 1h:12m
Gyrinakken (365m), Dec 5 2024
Thursday: I couldn’t get off work until it got dark. Damned wind! It didn’t inspire me to go to higher ground, so I chose a forest walk to Gyrinakken. The upper part is above the forest, but we wouldn’t spend a lot of time in exposed spots.
The “wonder medicine” didn’t make wonders after all. I had maybe a 10% reduction of the pain in my knee, but that was it. As I now were being treated by two doctors (knee and neck respectively), I had to coordinate the treatment and medication.
But knee doesn’t hurt a lot when I walk, so it’s not a major issue. It’s just a little tedious getting my pants and shoes on. Given how many are way worse off, it feels wrong to even mention it.
We had a nice walk through the forest, and it wasn’t as windy on top as I had feared. Still, the most comfortable place was behind the cairn.
I was glad to see that Karma was doing fine. She’s been through a lot. The last hotspot was terrible and I’m not sure she will ever grow the hair back in that place.
For descent, I chose to go off-trail all the way from the top and until the lit trail on Leikongeidet. The terrain was for the most part easy enough, but there was a place I didn’t bother to find a way back up and around, and after some orchestration and manoeuvring, I got Karma down. Hence, I call the below picture “Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark” (If you don’t get the music reference, this isn’t funny at all…)
My shoes and socks were soaking wet when we reached the lit trail. But it was OK. It wasn’t cold.
I appreciated the lights after being in the dark forest.
Trip statistics: 6,5km, 370 vertical meters, 1h:43m
Mosvarden (553m), Dec 6 2024
Friday: As I had an errand in Ulsteinvik after work, I decided to the afternoon hiking in Ulsteinmarka, starting from Bugarden. The initial plan was to go up “Mørdarbakken” (killer hill), head across Skeidshornet and return via Nibben.
It was raining, but not enough to get wet. I hoped it would stay that way.
When we got to the Skeidshornet fork, I changed the plan and decided to go for Mosvarden instead. I could see that there wasn’t a lot of snow on the mountain, and that was the deciding factor.
The initial ascent was OK. There was more snow than I thought, but at least it wasn’t very icy. Karma seemed very happy and enthusiastic. Hopefully, 3 weeks of antibiotics had made her perfectly fine again.
And when we got the top in view, it was hardly raining. I thought to myself that this was going too easy.
And I probably jinxed it, because the weather on top of Mosvarden was NOT NICE!
We went down to the cairn and found shelter behind it.
Then I decided to take a different route down and followed the path that passes Kiberget. The strong wind wasn’t a factor as soon as we were below the top.
After being in the dark for quite a while, it was good to see lights again.
We crossed the Skarpeidet road and continued on the path towards Høgskjerva.
From Høgskjerva, we followed forest paths back to Bugarden. For a dark, rainy and windy Friday afternoon, this was proper walk!
Trip statistics: 10,4km, 560 vertical meters, 2h:26m
Lidaveten (592m), Dec 7 2024
Saturday: After breakfast, I drove to Volda to buy myself a new Octopus/Gorilla tripod for the mobile. I don’t lose a lot of stuff, and I was mighty annoyed by losing the previous one.
Being in Volda, I figured I could walk the dog across Helgehornet and drove up to the shooting range at Sollidalen – the regular trailhead. I saw a Police car there and I thought “oh no”. Seconds after, bam, bam, bam. Someone was practicing and Karma was not happy.
Instead, I drove to Eideim to hike Lidaveten.
I always do a roundtrip hike, from Bjerknes to Eideim and back to Bjerknes. But I didn’t have time for that today and settled for the steep route from Eideim.
Although it doesn’t really show on this picture, the lower part of this route is steep. Karma is still climbing it as a youngster. And her technique in the jumps is so fine!
And then we were up!
This is one of my favourite viewpoints. Too bad the weather wasn’t the best. That said, as long as it’s not raining, I am happy.
I spent a little time taking pictures, but also planning the rest of the day. I had volunteered to pick Anne up at the Vigra airport late in the evening, and as I planned to visit Sukkertoppen before picking her up, I had to calculate my departure time from home.
If for some reason, like crap weather, I didn’t get to Sukkertoppen – at least we had this hike.
Trip statistics: 4,5km, 460 vertical meters, 1h:26m
Sukkertoppen (314m), Dec 7 2024
Saturday: I took the 6:30 ferry from Hareid so that I would have time to hike Sukkertoppen before picking Anne up at the Vigra airport. We started hiking around 7:30pm.
“Sukkertoppen Vel” has done a fantastic job with the trail. During my Ålesund years (2006-2008), the trail was incredibly muddy in the middle section. Now, we could enjoy stone steps.
The Christmas star was of course lit. I remember when they put it up, but I don’t remember which year it was.
I regretted not bringing my Canon. The cell phone camera just doesn’t cut it when it comes to city scenery after dark.
When we reached the top, I was mighty happy that the trig. point was removed.
It was a nice evening, with just a tiny bit of rain in the air.
I picked Anne up at Vigra around 9:35pm and there was no way we would reach the 10pm ferry from Sulesund. So, we drove up to Fjellstua to enjoy the evening view towards Ålesund.
It was good to have Anne back, and I tried not to envy her the trip to Réunion. Who needs a sunny vacation in the Indian sea when you can enjoy a dark, rainy and windy pre-winter season on the Norwegian coastline…
Trip statistics: 3,9km, 270 vertical meters, 1h:09m
Remøyfjellet (188m), Dec 8 2024
Sunday: The weather in the morning was miserable, so we waited past noon before we decided where to go for a walk. I proposed that we should hike across Remøya and return via the shore – nowadays my regular roundtrip on this island. Anne was up for that.
It wasn’t raining a lot when we headed out from the Kvianeset parking, and the spirit was good!
Having just returned from cool mountains, blue sky, blue ocean and sandy beaches on Réunion, the transition to a rainy and windy Norwegian coastline can be brutal. But Anne never complained. And why would she? Variations are nice!
First, we arrived on Remøykammen (184m).
We both like hiking on Remøya, and especially when the weather is a bit unstable. One can get some nice pictures on days like this. But not today. There was too little “going on” in the sky…
Then we moved on towards Sævikhatten, aka Vardane.
The weather was holding up, which was nice.
When we reached the island high point, it was only windy. But it’s always windy out here…
And soon it would be rainy too. Dark rain clouds were moving in.
Better get off the mountain while we “were ahead” …
We went down to the shore. Anne hasn’t done the shore route before, but immediately liked it.
Maybe she liked it too much?
It’s nice to walk on the turfs.
In lack of good motives, we got by with what we could find…
As we passed the bridge, it started to rain – hard!
Any plans about returning to Kvianeset via the shore was abandoned and we went up to the road and followed it back to the car.
A good hike!
Trip statistics: 7km, 300 vertical meters, 2h:04m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
