Some good hikes + finally skiing again
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 10.03.25 | Melshornet | 668m | 560m | Hareid, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.03.25 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.03.25 | Lidafjellet | 200m | 47m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 12.03.25 | Lidaveten | 592m | 439m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 13.03.25 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 14.03.25 | Laupsnipa | 562m | 380m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 15.03.25 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 16.03.25 | Dyrhovden | 948m | 108m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 16.03.25 | Helleberget | 988m | 108m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Melshornet (668m), Mar 10 2025
Monday: This hike is featured on a separate post…
Huldrehornet (271m), Mar 11 2025
Tuesday: I ended an extremely intense working day at 3pm, to give Karma a quick walk up and down Huldrehornet, as I had to attend a dinner with colleagues later on.
The reason for attending the dinner is primarily to maintain some physical connection to the world out there. My days, when not with Anne, are typically spent working from home, hiking with Karma and then blogging in the evening.
The fact is that I like it like that. So, to choose a dinner over a hike in nice weather doesn’t come naturally to me.
When I’m with Anne, I don’t have a choice. She’s super-social and wants to meet with people all the time.
Back to the present, we hiked quickly up the forest and just before we reached the top, Karma had to vomit. I hope that it was caused by something she found on the ground and that she isn’t sick.
So, what about winter – which I’ve been predicting will come in this month? I’m not so sure anymore.
But it’s sort of perfect now. I can hike on the coastal tops …
…and go skiing in the Ørsta/Volda mountains. The only problem is that I don’t have the time for ski-trips now. Work will be bad all the way into the summer…
Trip statistics: 2,4km, 250 vertical meters, 0h:37m
Lidafjellet (200m), Mar 11 2025
Tuesday: The dinner with my colleagues was nice. I should probably get out more often. But when I returned home to Karma, she made me feel I had been away for a whole week. She went totally bonkers. I figured she would be glad for an evening walk up Lidafjellet.
She wasn’t. When I headed out from the Stemmedalen parking, she just stood and looked at me. OK, I said. “I will be back in an hour. See ya!“
I wouldn’t leave her alone, of course. But she didn’t know that and came along. Once on the Lidafjellet path, she took the lead and clearly enjoyed being back on the trail.
My overall plan for this evening hike was to get the 200 vertical meters I missed to stay on plan with 500 vertical meters in average per day. 560 yesterday and 250 + 200 today would keep me “on plan”. Besides, it was nice to be out.
We returned along the path to lake Stemmedalsvatnet, and I had a feeling that Karma wasn’t ready to call it a day when we returned to the car…
Trip statistics: 3,8km, 205 vertical meters, 0h:54m
Lidaveten (592m), Mar 12 2025
Wednesday: This hike is featured on a separate post…
Rjåhornet (600m), Mar 13 2025
Thursday: Winter has returned! For the 4th or 5th time this winter. I’ve lost count. The snow showers came and went. Below 50m, the snow mostly melted on touchdown. After work, I decided to hike Rjåhornet. I was a little worried about a potential struggle for the dog, but time would tell.
In the Djupvika forest, there was no struggle. Hiking was easy.
Above the forest, hiking was still easy and I hoped that the ongoing snow shower would pass.
After a while, the amount of snow grew proportional to the elevation, and I started to plow the track for Karma.
Eventually, the snow shower passed, and it cleared up.
Breaking trail for Karma was hard work. Going from turf to turf was the best option. Around the turfs was bottomless snow.
The hill never seemed to end…
Then I fell (going up!) and struggled to get up. There was nowhere to place my hand to give myself a push. It was annoying to see the dog just stand there, not offering a helping hand…
It got a bit easier as we approached the upper plateau. Karma stopped following my tracks.
It was really nice to be up here. I was not able to capture the beauty and the contrasts with my camera.
Then – the final meters…
…and we were up!
There would be no round-trip hike today. We would for sure be following our tracks down the mountain.
Today was definitely a struggle worth the while!
My camera was running hot. I probably took 100 pictures, hoping that ¼ of them would turn out OK.
I was impressed by Karma. Not once did she show any signs of wanting to turn around when the struggle was at its peak. There is a good chance that she could be doing this, after turning 13. We’ll see.
Back in the forest, most of the snow Karma had “collected” on the upper mountain melted away.
Great hike!
Trip statistics: 6,2km, 580 vertical meters, 2h:02m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Laupsnipa (562m), Mar 14 2025
Friday: It was the same weather as the day before, possibly more snow up in the mountains. I didn’t look forward to stomping in deep snow, but there wasn’t enough snow for skiing either. So, it would be another hike. I chose to go to Laupsnipa.
It’s basically straight up, which can be strenuous if the snow is deep, but I gambled on that the ridge was a windy one and that there would be a mix of deep snow and very little snow.
The first 1/3 of the hike went just fine. As expected.
The weather was OK when we headed out, and given that it was snow shower weather, I assumed we would get a snow shower along the way.
Higher up, I had to start plowing trail for Karma. She appreciated that for a little while.
Then she went solo…
The mountain was seemingly particularly interesting today…
As I had reckoned, we got a passing snow shower. It was only unpleasant for a few minutes, then it was OK.
When we reached the cairn (558m), I was happy to find that the route over to the high point (562m) wasn’t too bad. Karma could easily come along.
And then we were up!
Ah, this was so nice! Reaching a top is definitely the highlight of the day!
Karma had an “icing problem” but she can only blame herself, sticking her head into the snow all the time.
Then it was time for descent.
It was another good camera day.
I love snow showers, but primarily when looking at them!
To maximize the vertical gain, we headed down to the shore. The week isn’t over yet. Maybe that extra 20m would be valuable in the end…
Trip statistics: 5,2km, 580 vertical meters, 1h:57m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Huldrehornet (271m), Mar 15 2025
Saturday: When I went to bed last night, I knew that I would wake up in the middle of with a blistering headache. I was wrong. I woke up already at 1am and didn’t know what to do with myself. But once I got going on the “bending, pinching and stretching” procedure, it got a bit better, and I fell asleep in a chair at 3am.
I woke up at 7am, feeling totally crap. That wasn’t very practical, as I had a busy day ahead of me. First, a couple of hours of work, then pack for being away for a week, then walk the dog and finally – drive to Sogndal.
I figured Huldrehornet would have to do for both me and Karma today. Karma wasn’t very interested and tried to run back to the car. I told her – “we’re both going!” in a firm voice. There were no protests.
It wasn’t like she was sick or anything. But I think she’s in another false pregnancy and she’s acting weird all day long.
When we got back home, I was all packed. It was just a matter of getting the bags in the car and get going. I performed neck massage for 3 hours straight and arrived in Sogndal in better shape than before I left.
Trip statistics: 2,7km, 250 vertical meters, 0h:44m
Dyrhovden (948m), Helleberget (989m), Mar 16 2025
Sunday: This trip is featured on a separate post…
