One magical sunset, then rain and darkness
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 09.12.24 | Garnestua | 654m | 417m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 10.12.24 | Høgåsen | 240m | 240m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.12.24 | Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 12.12.24 | Aksla | 188m | 188m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 13.12.24 | Hornseten | 190m | 152m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 14.12.24 | Hovdenakken | 474m | 176m | Hareid, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 15.12.24 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Garnestua (654m), Dec 9 2024
Monday: The weather was gorgeous, and nothing would prevent me from finishing work at 3pm, giving me enough daylight to get to the top of Garnestua without using the headlamp.
My conscience was good, as I started my working day at 7am. The past mornings had been better now, with respect to the headache. I wasn’t sure if it was the increased strength of the medicine, the gel or the training program I got from the physiotherapist. Maybe a mix of all.
Anne was on a work trip and wouldn’t join us for this hike. Karma and I started out from Garneskrysset and I couldn’t even remember the last time we headed up from here.
The path was in OK shape, although overgrown in places. This is “tick country”, but with the cold temperatures lately, I assumed the ticks were in diapause. At least, I hoped so…
The path was icy in places, and I made a mental note about taking it easy on the way down.
I was so glad I had brought the camera. A cell phone camera would probably get good help from the nice colors in the sky, but nothing beats a half descent camera! Except for a professional camera, of course…
It was getting darker, but it was extra dark in the direction of the sunset.
Ulsteinvik was “all lit up” …
When we got to lake Garnesvatnet, I decided to do an off-trail short-cut into the small valley between Flåna and Garnestua.
That was a big mistake. Very cumbersome terrain.
Finally, we reached the top.
It was a cold wind on the mountain, and it wasn’t easy taking pictures without a tripod, in this wind. But some of the pictures came out roughly how I hoped they would…
We returned via Flåna, and I took another off-trail route down to lake Garnesvatnet. The route was a bit cumbersome too (turfs and holes) but at least we were going downhill.
From Garnesvatnet, we followed our ascent route down to Garneskrysset. This hike was really good for the mind and the soul. Too much bad weather lately. It gets to me in the end. But now I was uplifted!
Anne had prepared a nice dinner and afterwards I was able to post yet another blogpost from our memorable vacation in northern Norway in 2014. These pictures never ended up on any of my blogs and it was truly enjoyable to go through all this material, 10 years later.
Trip statistics: 7,8km, 740 vertical meters, 2h:30m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Høgåsen (240m), Dec 10 2024
Tuesday: Anne went back to Sogndal this morning and I already looked forward to coming down to Sogndal, to spend Christmas with her down there.
The weather wasn’t particularly good, but it was only raining lightly. As such, I didn’t automatically get the inspiration to go hiking. Instead, I took a nap. I was completely exhausted, without knowing why. True, I started work 6:30 this morning, but that couldn’t be it.
1,5 hours later, I had to fight my way out of the coach. I was a complete wreck, but changed into hiking gear on autopilot and got in the car without knowing where I would end up.
I ended up on Dimnøya island. A 240m top was all that I had energy for. We started out from Hasundgot Stadion and followed the regular path to the top.
I had brought the camera for the occasion, but as I could hardly see Ulsteinvik from the top, I settled for a top picture from the cell phone.
I was still a wreck and wondered if Anne had “brought something” from Réunion. It was tempting to just return the way I came, but we took the route to Kleven Verft and returned to the trailhead via roads.
It was not a memorable hike, but I was more concerned about getting sick.
Trip statistics: 5,1km, 260 vertical meters, 1h:19m
Hasundhornet (533m), Dec 11 2024
Wednesday: I began work 6:30 so I could get something done before going to the physiotherapist in Ørsta. We had a good session regarding the neck problem, and he also gave me some advice for knee. It made sense to me.
I was hoping to get off work at 3pm and get 30 minutes of daylight, but I was stuck until 4:30pm. Then I drove to towards Ulsteinvik and parked by the start of the tractor road just before Strandabøen (south of). On top of the tractor road, I didn’t find any forest path and we messed about for a little while until I chose to descend and try my luck further down in the forest.
Eventually, we found the forest path.
Then it was non-stop to the top. Enough time wasted already. It was nice to be alone up there, with darkness all around, except for a city below us.
I had planned a round-trip hike, but we ended up going back the way we came, until we reached the fork before “Notten”. I figured I might try to take some pictures. The wind wasn’t so strong down in the forest.
The cell phone takes OK pictures for a cell phone screen, but if you dive into the pixels, the pictures are just crap.
That’s why we have real cameras.
I just have to learn to take proper pictures…
But regardless how they come out, taking them is still big fun!
Trip statistics: 9,4km, 610 vertical meters, 2h:27m
Aksla (188m), Dec 12 2024
Thursday: Ålesund day, and an early appointment with the Vet, for Karma’s monthly Librela injection. Sometimes, she is not very eager about hiking afterwards, but it could also come from the fact that she had spent 9 hours in the car, the lunch walk excluded.
I didn’t get off work as early as I hoped and then it was too late to be picky about where to hike. I would just get stuck in traffic. I could drive the subsea tunnels – no queues there – but it started to rain and then I just settled for a classic hike across the Aksla mountain.
We started out from Gangstøvika and took the forest ridge route – via Kråkeskar.
Our next stop was the high point on the Aksla mountain – “Rundskue”.
I am not ashamed to admit that I enjoy this round-trip hike – even if this is quite a low mountain, and there are many variations to choose between.
Someone had put Christmas decorations on trees along the trails. Nice. I just hope it’s not plastic…
The “Christmas tree” didn’t raise my Christmas spirit. It made go humming on “Purple rain” instead. The tree was purple, and it was raining.
Then we headed over to Fjellstua, which for me was the main goal on this hike. I had brought my camera and was determined to come up with a better picture than the week before, when I only had my cell phone.
It was fun trying different settings. I’m allergic to manuals, so there’s so much about my Canon that I don’t know. Like, why is it taking so long after I take the picture, until I get control back? I had to ask AI and learned about “Long Exposure Noise Reduction” and sure enough – the setting was “ON”.
When we returned to the car, I realized that I had forgotten to track the hike. As I like to keep a track for every hike I’ve done, I had to find the same route in my archive and modify the timestamps. I think I might have been jogging on this very route in 2021, because it sure took me longer today than the 1h:39m on the track I copied.
Trip statistics: 7,6km, 330 vertical meters, approx. 2 hours
Hornseten (190m), Dec 13 2024
Friday: When I finished work, it started to rain. My motivation to walk the dog was very low and the only thing that could serve as inspiration was light.
When I need light, my go-to place is Heida above Fosnavåg, combined a walk across Hornseten. I had also brought my camera, but the combination of long exposure and rain isn’t optimal.
I really enjoy the Heida trail…
When taking pictures of “Christmas stars” with my cell phone, I am “bothered” with a “ghosting” effect. This is a side effect from the lenses on the cell phone camera and it’s not a “feature” I want…
But the hike across Heida was nice. We were completely alone up there and stopped by the top of Hornseten.
We returned to the Heida trail and continued our round trip. Even with the rain coming down, I enjoyed myself.
It was quite strange to meet no one at all…
After the hike, I drove down to Fosnavåg to get some groceries and stopped for a picture while at it…
Trip statistics: 4,5km, 260 vertical meters, 1h:27m
Hovdenakken (474m), Dec 14 2024
Saturday: I had to work this morning and started 7:45am. I was finished a little past 11am and had some errands in Ulsteinvik. The weather wasn’t good. Hail shower day. I’m OK in that weather, but Karma doesn’t like the whipping.
I decided to hike Hovdenakken from the golf course. We would be in shelter from the wind until we were closing in on the top, and if we were really lucky – avoid hail showers while on the mountain?
This is a route Karma knows well. She didn’t bother waiting for directions.
I like the forest part. The steepest part was icy, and Karma’s first attempt failed. She came running back to me for advice and fell in behind me. I showed her where she could climb to get up and she did exactly that. I noticed that she started looking at how I solved small climbing problems when she was a puppy. I’m glad to see that she hasn’t stopped!
We were in the outskirts of a couple of passing showers, but there was no “direct hits” yet.
I had a good feeling that we would be in the clear by the time we reached the top.
But what was awaiting behind the top? It looked absolutely terrifying…
There was so much weather in motion. Fascinating to look at. Not so fascinating to be in it.
It looked really gloomy towards the Sunnmøre alps. I’m glad I didn’t go there today…
And then we were up!
No hail showers would hit us within the first couple of minutes, at least…
I allowed myself a whole minute for pictures while Karma was enjoying her treats.
And then we left.
We crossed the mountain and got on the Fjelle road, which took us back to the main road in Hareidsdalen valley. It was a little bit boring, but then the moon came out behind some clouds.
I like the moon. Taking pictures of it was a challenge, as it was already glowing strong. With 1/1000 sec shutter speed, the camera wasn’t able to capture anything else…
This inspires me to dive further into the challenge. I am aware of the High Dynamic Range technique and as my camera and software supports raw format, the only thing stopping me is that I’m missing the socket to mount my camera on the tripod…
After a while, I got tired of walking alongside the main road and took a shortcut along the golf course.
Trip statistics: 9,9km, 480 vertical meters, 2h:27m
Rambjøra (132m), Dec 15 2024
Sunday: Not much time for walking the dog today. I had to too much to finish before going to Sogndal early next week. One of the things I had to do, was to get a Christmas tree.
I used to pick them in my backyard but now I’m out. So, I have to cross the fence and pick one from the neighbor’s backyard. He’s OK with that and this time I was allowed to pay for it too. Makes me feel better.
And since I had to go into his backyard, I took the dog to Rambjøra. The weather was still miserable and I’m quite sure it will stay miserable for the rest of the year. It will be nice going to Sogndal, although it’s winter there…
I didn’t find any tree before we left his part of the forest.
For the 3rd or 4th time, we took a very, very off-trail route down to Tovågane. And for the 3rd or 4th time, I contemplated on how it would be to develop a path down here. Like the previous times, I concluded that it would be too much effort.
Too bad, as I like it down there.
I went into my neighbor’s backyard one more time and then I found a nice tree. It was pretty close to other houses, and I’m wondering if they will notice it’s gone…
Trip statistics: 3,6km, 150 vertical meters, 1h:04m