Good walks on Ytre Søre Sunnmøre, in Ålesund and Indre Sogn
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 20.01.25 | Storetua | 592m | 249m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 21.01.25 | Selsteinen | 598m | 90m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 21.01.25 | Storehanen | 493m | 67m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 22.01.25 | Geitnausa | 456m | 102m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 23.01.25 | Årvikveten | 458m | 205m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 24.01.25 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 25.01.25 | Amlaholten | 508m | 265m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 25.01.25 | Stedjeåsen | 625m | 123m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 26.01.25 | Sogndalsfjøra | – | – | Sogndal, Norway | – | MAP |
| 26.01.25 | Klantenovi | 593m | 121m | Lærdal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 26.01.25 | Åberge | – | – | Sogndal, Norway | – | MAP |
Storetua (592m), Jan 20 2025
Monday: I quit work 3:30pm to get a little daylight on my planned hike to Storetua this afternoon. It wasn’t raining today either, which was a huge bonus.
The time was 3:45pm when we ready to hike from Holtane and I reckoned I would reach the top before it got dark.
This is a route we know quite well, but for descent, I had planned to hike across Årekinna – on the south side of lake Sæsvatnet. I’ve only walked there once and didn’t find the path. I was hoping for better luck today.
The ascent was quite uneventful…
When we got to the summit plateau, it was windy and cold.
I didn’t bother to bring my heavy 24-105mm lens and today I settled for the lightweight 16mm.
More than once, I’ve crossed this 750m long plateau in terrible weather. One is truly exposed up here. But today, we just had to deal with a cold wind.
When we got to the top, I tried to take a picture of Karma with my mini tripod, and with a fairly low ISO. But it was impossible to shelter the tripod from the wind and Karma turned out a bit blurry.
It was about to turn dark, even the pictures suggest there was plenty of daylight left. For some reason, they magically come out a tad brighter from Lightroom…
But on our way to Årekinna, it was properly dark. My new challenge is to figure out how to NOT burn out a collection of lights, while trying to get the darker surroundings bright enough.
Trip statistics: 7,5km, 470 vertical meters, 2h:00m
Selsteinen (598m), Storehanen (493m), Jan 21 2025
Tuesday: Yesterday, the forecast said it would snow this evening. Today’s forecast was just rain. But when I finished work, there was no rain, and I drove to Moltudalen to hike Hidsegga/Veten.
But the gravel road was closed, and I couldn’t be bothered walking the 1,2km to the parking. So, plan B became Storehanen.
But along the way, plan C emerged. We would simply hike Selsteinen.
Given Karma’s condition (20+ stitches), this was an OK mountain to hike. No need for jumping anywhere. Just a steady progress to the top.
And then we were up! Again, I just brought the 16mm lens. No point in dragging a heavy lens up here in the darkness…
Now that we were here, we might as well keep walking and so we headed over to Storehanen. I could see new signposts since I was here the last time. There was even a new mailbox (visitor’s register) on Storehanen, but the Moltu trail committee call the mountain “Blåfjellet”. We had the same plan (signposts and mailbox), so I guess we need to talk to the Moltu people.
All in all, a nice walk. I was very happy about the absence of rain and snow…
Trip statistics: 6,5km, 470 vertical meters, 1h:40m
Geitnausa (456m), Jan 22 2025
Wednesday: Ålesund day. Karma had her stitches removed. Overall, it looked fine. I was visiting an Orthopedist. He ordered another MRI for my knee.
After work, I drove to Spjelkavika to hike Geitnausa. Karma was low on energy today, so I would have to trick her. If I had chosen the regular trailhead, she would have refused to walk. So, I found another – one she’s only been to once before. I was hoping that she had forgotten about it and got curious.
She was just a little bit curious, but didn’t refuse to walk.
I was totally OK with her being slow, because I wanted the hike to be slow, given removal of the stitches. Step by step, we made our way up the forest.
It was getting darker by the minute, but I was quite sure we would reach the top without turning on the headlamp.
I’m very grateful towards the volunteers that have put work and time into this route.
We reached the top just as it got properly dark.
We sat down for a couple of minutes and enjoyed the view but not so much the incoming rain.
Better take the pictures and get off the mountain…
I was NOT happy about the long exposure pictures. There was some wind and given the pictures, just a tad too much wind.
Typically, Karma always recovers from a slow start, but not so today. She surprised me this morning, by not wanting to do the usual morning round. But she had the option to refuse hiking and didn’t use it. So…
At least, in the downhills she was leading on. I just need to pay attention to her. Maybe it’s a false pregnancy or some other type of post-heat trauma.
Trip statistics: 8,7km, 430 vertical meters, 2h:23m
Årvikveten (458m), Jan 23 2025
Thursday: When I finally finished work, it was too late for a nice start in daylight. As the weather was OK, I decided to hike Årvikveten from Drageskaret. I had brought the camera, but didn’t think there would be anything to take picture of. There are few light sources in this area.
To my delight, I discovered a beautiful sunset and sea fog!
I stopped over and over again, as I didn’t want to miss any new angle towards the nice view.
I love the sea fog. More precisely – I love to watch it, not to be in it.
It’s just fascinating.
Karma was not herself today either. She was dragging her feet, but perhaps slightly more enthusiastic than the day before. She just seemed tired.
By the time we got Veten in view, we totally ran out of daylight. On the below picture, Veten is seen quite clearly, but I didn’t see it.
After 3,6km, we reached the top.
Karma was good and ready for treats.
But I was too occupied with the camera and by the time I was ready to hand out the goodies, she was no longer sitting…
There was nothing to take pictures of, on our way back down. Great hike!
Trip statistics: 7,1km, 465 vertical meters, 2h:18m
Rambjøra (132m), Jan 24 2025
Friday: The plan was to go to Sogndal on Saturday, but after checking the weather forecast, I decided to go this afternoon. The bomb cyclone “Eowyn” would be hitting the Norwegian coastline on Friday afternoon and the driving conditions on Saturday would surely be terrible.
As such, I had to quicky rearrange my schedule. My lunch break was devoted to give Karma a walk up the Rambjøra forest before departure. She seemed surprised, but happy.
But after a little while, she started to drag her feet again. What’s wrong with her? She’s drinking and eating and seems otherwise normal. But there’s no mojo.
When we got to the only “awkward step” on the whole route, I had to smile. She previously took this rock head on. Then she saw me starting to hike up on the left-hand side, and she must have thought … “clever”. And ever since, she’s been doing it like daddy…
The weather was brilliant. If it hadn’t been for the close-to-zero degrees Celsius, I would have had a feeling of spring. Little did I know that we would be heading to full winter in a few hours.
Very seldom, I bring my camera on this hike. But I did so today, and so I managed to “secure” a couple of shots of our local tops from an angle that I’ve not done before. Just in case someone asks – “do you happen to have a picture of xxx from the west?” Or east. Or north…
Then it was time to head back down. I worked for two more hours before I got in the car and sat course for Sogndal. The mountains along the coastline were as good as free of snow up to 700m. When I got to Volda – a 20-minute drive – there was snow alongside the road.
When I got to Nordfjord, it was winter. When I got to Sunnfjord, it was winter AND bad weather. And it stayed that way all the way to Sogndal. This was depressing. It’s not like I don’t like winter, but it’s this off and on that’s bugging me. I kind of got used to hiking on foot now, and now it’s back to skis. Oh well…
Trip statistics: 2,7km, 130 vertical meters, 0h:45m
Amlaholten (508m), Jan 25 2025
Saturday: The weather in Sogndal wasn’t good, but it wasn’t totally bad either. It was definitely possible to think about a good hike in some forest. I mentioned Amlaholten to Anne and she wanted to come along.
It’s seldom a lot of snow in this forest and today was no exception. The weather was a mix of rain, light snow, overcast and blue sky.
We started out along the normal route, but then we took a different forest path. We enjoyed the variation!
2,2km later, we reached the top.
I’m so happy that there is a couple of tops (prominence > 100m) in Sogndal – Amlaholten and Stedjeåsen – where there is a forest on top. Which means it’s possible to hike to a top in rough weather. I’m not sure how it was in the mountains today, but it was quite windy in this forest. I’ve never filmed trees swaying in Sogndal before!
From the top, we headed over to the cliffs and found ourselves a viewpoint towards the fjord. We had to be careful with the slippery snow.
It was a nice hike, but the vertical meters were a bit too low for my taste, Saturday and all. My mind was already set on hiking Stedjeåsen before we reached the car.
Trip statistics: 5km, 300 vertical meters, 1h:27m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP [16mm], Samsung Galaxy) from the hike:
Stedjeåsen (624m), Jan 25 2025
Saturday: My next hike would be Stedjeåsen, but first we had to stop in Sogndal for shopping. I had left my ice cleats back home on Sunnmøre and I felt I would need a pair when going up to Stedjeåsen. Now I have 3 pairs…
I headed up the route I’ve newly discovered – from Anne’s house. It’s a “no bullshit” route. It goes straight up. No zigzags or switchbacks.
When I was about to join the regular trail, I continued off-trail into the forest and after a while, I reached one of the two viewpoints I know about in this forest.
There was no doubt that I would visit the true high point on my first hike to Stedjeåsen in 2025. There wasn’t as much snow as I thought it would be. I had an overall easy hike up the forest.
With the high point “in the bag”, I was happy about the Saturday activity. I got 870 vertical meters, which helped a bit since I only got 130 the day before.
On my way down the forest, the ice cleats came to good use. The path was both slippery and icy here and there.
Now, I could start enjoying Saturday evening with Anne and Karma.
Trip statistics: 5,7km, 570 vertical meters, 1h:43m
Sogndalsfjøra, Jan 26 2025
Sunday: This Sunday started like all other Sundays in Sogndal. The “fjord dippers” went at it again. I was just there to pick Anne and Karma up.
The water temperature was 3 deg. C. Thanks, but no thanks!
Karma was a bit more relaxed when mommy returned…
Then she could go back to watching ice drifting by…
As nice as it was to begin Sunday morning down here, with others, I wanted to go hiking…
Klantenovi (593m), Jan 26 2025
Sunday: After breakfast, we did what we agreed on the day before. We drove to Lærdal.
More precisely, we drove up Lærdalsdalen and stopped at Rimskjold to hike up Vindhellavegen and the forest to Klantenovi, just like we did in October 2021.
We expected there to be snow, but not a whole lot. It was roughly like I expected.
We should have gone skiing, really. But we only learned this morning that there was a solid dump of snow in the Sogndalsdalen mountains last night. We could have changed the plan, but we didn’t. We enjoyed being here too.
We had ice cleats on. Quite a necessity, as there were sections of pure ice.
Vindhellavegen is a beautiful road. More precisely – a horse- and cart road (from 1843). It’s part of the old “Kongevegen” (Kings road) between Oslo and Bergen.
Cars have driven along this road in the early 1900’s, but it wasn’t suited for cars back then and over time, newer and better roads (and a tunnel) were built.
Eventually, we reached the Vindhella pass and we followed the forest path towards Klantenovi (also known as “Klanten”)
Karma had not been very enthusiastic on the trail for a while, but today she looked like herself again. Leading on.
And then we were on top!
The last time we hiked here, we hiked “Sverrestigen” on the west side of Klantenovi. Today, we would be hiking on the east side.
After a while, we reached the old farm above Tråo.
From here, we followed “Sverrestigen” almost down to the Borgund Stave church.
I had no need to take a closer look at the Stave church (been there before) and we let the path lead us back up to the Vindhella pass.
It was nice to be back. It won’t be 4 years until next time, as I’ve set my eyes on the path from the Vindhella pass and up to Horgehorna (1505m). That will be one heck of an uphill!
Trip statistics: 5,8km, 380 vertical meters, 1h:52m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Åberge (330m), Jan 26 2025
Sunday: Back in Sogndal, I dropped Anne and Karma off at Anne’s place and then I drove down to the fjord to gain some additional vertical meters.
Without this hike, my 2025 average-per-day would be less than 500m, which is no crisis but somewhat stupid when it doesn’t take a lot to be above. 500m is not really impressive as such, but it’s what I can do without too much effort. My average-per-day in 2024 was 548m, which I was satisfied with.
In 2016, my average-per-day was 610m. That felt like a busy year. I have no intention of repeating that.
In addition to the 340 vertical meters this hike would give me, I wanted to take some pictures. There is a viewpoint near Åberge that I like.
It’s very difficult to get after-dark pictures that I’m happy with. This evening, I took perhaps 20 pictures and only two came out close to what I could hope for. Like the below one. Quite sharp when I zoom all the way in!
When I returned to the fjord, I took some more pictures. Again, most of them turned out disappointing.
But the picture of the new Loftesnes bridge was quite alright, given my amateur level.
I also have a problem with “burning out” the picture when there is a massive light source. I tried to reduce the exposure, which reduced the “burn out” but it also took away the mountains on the other side of the fjord. So, I kept the “burned out” version…
All in all, a good day and a good week!
Trip statistics: 5,8km, 340 vertical meters, 1h:28m
