Lots of good biking…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 02.06.25 | Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 02.06.25 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 03.06.25 | Laupsnipa | 562m | 380m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 04.06.25 | Lidafjellet | 200m | 47m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 05.06.25 | Røddalshorn | 563m | 100m | Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 06.06.25 | Gyrinakken | 365m | 157m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 06.06.25 | Leikongeidet | 160m | 0m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
| 06.06.25 | Tungestølen | – | – | Luster, Norway | – | MAP |
| 07.06.25 | Around Gurskøya | – | – | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
| 07.06.25 | Djupvikhaugen | 98m | 29m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
| 08.06.25 | Nystøylhornet | 600m | 382m | Vanylven, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Hasundhornet (533m), June 2 2025
Monday: My aching knee suggested a bike trip today. I felt like biking Hasundhornet from Haddal again and I was very happy when Anne agreed to come along. She would ride on a E-bike, but I was hoping she could keep up 😉
The Ringstaddalen valley is a quite gentle climb, and it was easy to get into that gear where you feel it’s flowing and you’re not wearing yourself out.
After the trip, I checked out a random 3,4km pitch from going up the valley, and my average speed was 15km/h. That’s quite OK in my book.
It had been raining most of the day and I hoped that the forecast was correct – no more rain this afternoon. And sure enough – no more rain.
While the 7,9km to the Hasundhornet trailhead were gentle enough, the remaining 1,5km (and 200 vertical meters) to the top were brutal. Anne just cruised up while I was grinding my teeth.
But eventually, after 50 minutes, I was up. Anne gave me kudos.
I was so looking forward to the descent, but first – a look around.
Oh my goshness, the descent was fun. It took me 3:03 down to the parking lot, then I had to wait a while for Anne who decided to play it a bit safer than I did. I am not a dare devil by any measure, but I managed to get up to 43km/h on this narrow, gravel road. That’s of course nothing, compared to those who know to ride a bike.
The rest of the trip was just beautiful. Anne and I were racing down the Ringstaddalen valley. Her bike was going faster than me when we just were ducking and letting the wheels flow. But then I went into “Tour de France” mode, and she couldn’t fight the E-bike’s cut-off speed.
Trip statistics: 18,8km on bike, 535 vertical meters, 1h:16m
Rambjøra (132m), Jun 2 2025
Monday: When we returned home after the very nice bike trip up and down Hasundhornet, Karma came running to us, feeling very much alone.
We had agreed to take her up to Rambjøra. I am confident that she wouldn’t do that walk with me alone, but with Anne around – no protests!
When we got to the first fork, she wanted to go down, but we wanted to go up. She decided to join us…
I haven’t gotten Karma this far since Apr 21st and it wasn’t without protests back then. I have to go back to March 3rd, to find the last time Karma walked up here, looking normal.
But now we were here. And we had to show Karma where mommy and daddy went – without her.
On our way down, she got her will and we turned left in the fork and returned via Møre Skule.
Trip statistics: 2,7km, 140 vertical meters, 0h:47m
Laupsnipa (562m), Jun 3 2025
Tuesday: Now that Anne had returned to Sogndal, I had no faith in that Karma would come along for a hike. But I decided to give it a shot anyway. I drove to Voldnes to attempt a hike to Laupsnipa, but I would be choosing a route that we’ve done once before – on descent – back in 2017. There was no way she would remember that one.
She started out being curious and somewhat enthusiastic.
Then it was full stop. OK. I decided to go to the top of the tractor road before turning around. I told Karma she could wait if she wanted to. She came running after me.
On top of the tractor road, I told her we could turn around now. Then she stretched her neck and walked over to the where the forest path began. Hmm… interesting scent! And off she went…
Her nose was glued to the ground, and I couldn’t believe my luck…
But what would happen when she ran out of scent?
Eventually, the path wasn’t so interesting anymore, but she made no effort in turning around. She just decided to go where I went.
I decided to stay off-trail just in case that kept her motivated. And she seemed to be enjoying that. I couldn’t see any physical distress, caused by her back.
And then we were up!
What a bonus! I didn’t expect this to happen.
We took the normal route down and Karma seemed to be enjoying it all the way down. When we got back to our usual trailhead, there was no car, and she was confused. I told her that the car was 200m up the road. She refused to walk any further. “OK”, I said. “Wait here then. The car is right there!”
She didn’t want to wait and came running along…
Trip statistics: 6km, 570 vertical meters, 1h:43m
Lidafjellet (200m), Jun 4 2025
Wednesday: The plan was to get Karma all the way to Rjåhornet (600m), by starting out from Aspevika – a trailhead we never use. For a reason, as we soon would find out.
It was all good as long we could follow the vague forest path – in light rain. Karma was 50% motivated.
The problem begun when we ran out of path. The off-trail terrain was terrible. I pushed Karma forward until even I didn’t want to continue. Then, we sat course for Lidafjellet instead.
Karma was still only 50% motivated but came along up the Lidafjellet ridge.
It was the kind of day where it was either sunny and beautiful, or raining.
Fortunately, we avoided the rain on our way up to Lidafjellet.
On top, I decided that we should just hike home – via Aurvåghornet – and then I would take the bike and get the car.
Karma seemed to appreciate the walk but looked tired. We passed a few cows, but because of the sunshine, she couldn’t see them.
On my bike trip – basically all downhill – I did I couple of detours and was able to get 80 vertical meters from the downhill route. Not bad…
Trip statistics: 5,9km on foot, 5,3km on bike, 430 vertical meters, 2h:00m
Røddalshorn (563m), Jun 5 2025
Thursday: Like every day; after work, I go down, put my hiking shoes and gear on. Just as I am opening the door, Karma comes running down. Not a minute too early, not a minute too late. But would that mean that she actually *wanted* to go hiking?
I drove up to the shooting range at Løkemyra (above Leikongeidet). Karma jumped out of the car, took a look around and tried to get back into the car.
What the heck?
I told her – you would certainly have walked around the block back home, so you can at least cross the road! She did. And she understood that I expected her to at least *try*
Once we got going, she got going – to put it like that. I tried to constantly cheer her up, being far more positive than I felt like, after an intense working day.
We were now on our way up the Aurvollegga ridge. I had a hope that we could make it all the way to Røddalshorn, but it would depend on her “mojo” today.
There was nothing Austin Powers about her today. That’s for sure. But she kept on grinding, and we made it to the top of Aurvollegga.
I then announced the plan to hike Røddalshorn. She was like – “oh well, the day is ruined anyway”.
Unfortunately, it’s a bit steep up to Røddalshorn and she had to work harder than I wanted for her. I tried to help her every now and then.
When we reached the upper mountain, I realized that we would get wet on this hike.
Shortly after, the rain came.
It was nice to reach the top. The plan was now just to get off the mountain, via the normal route. The only downside that we would get 1,2km along the main road. So I started looking for a shortcut down the mountain.
I need to have a serious talk with myself about these kind of shortcuts. This one was particularly nasty. I apologized to Karma at least 100 times.
When we got down, we followed a vague path alongside the main road, and so we avoided the asphalt.
Even if it was raining, I decided to get some more vertical meters. I left Karma in the car and biked down to Leikong and back up again.
I also rode up the new gravel trail on Leikongeidet – under construction. It will be a tough climb when this is ready and takes us all the way up to “Skardet”
Good exercise!
Trip statistis: 5,4km on foot, 8,8km on bike, 700 vertical meters, 2h:17m
Gyrinakken (365m), Jun 6 2025
Friday: I had a really good and intense working day and was “all spent” after I finished it. I thought that a hike to Gyrinakken would be something Karma might go for and then I could do a bike trip afterwards.
Then I got a text from our friend Lise, on her way up from Nordfjord – asking if I wanted to join her and her son Vinjar for a hike to – Gyrinakken!
Vinjar was only lacking two tops on Gurskøya, Gyrinakken being one of them and there would be no more unvisited tops by the end of Saturday.
I got to Løkemyra above Leikongeidet a bit early and I killed time with 5 laps around the go-kart track. The reward was 8 vertical meters per lap. If I am to reach 200K vertical meters in 2025, every meter counts…
Eventually, the others arrived and we headed up the wet path.
There were no mental or physical limitations for Karma today. She was leading on like she never had a bad day in her life. Brutus!
There’s only so much to tell from a hike that short. But it was nice to be hiking with Lise again.
They would move on to Gursken in their RV and hike Årvikveten the next day. I could have joined them, but my buddy Morten texted me and asked if I wanted to bike around the island the next day.
From being in a place where no one asks me to come hiking or biking with them, I got two invitations on the same day! Holy cow! I hope the lack of invitations isn’t because I am a horrible person. If it’s because they think it would be such a struggle (me going fast), I can accept it – incorrect as it is. I would always keep it at the others’ level.
Back at the shooting range, we parted, and I had some more vertical meters to collect…
I drove down to Leikongeidet to leave the car – and Karma – in the shade. Then I biked down to Gurskebotn and back up. The headwind was furious. I was worried that the wind would send me straight off the road and it almost fell like I stood still. Yet, I kept 45-47km/h down to Skogevatnet. It was a bit scary. I was clinging onto the steering as if my life depended on it.
Gyrinakken: 1,9km on foot, 3,8km on bike, 200 vertical meters, 1h:21m
Bike trip: 13km on bike, 270 vertical meters, 0h:42m
Tungestølen Information Boards, Jun 6 2025
Friday: Anne sent me these pictures from Tungestølen. They are information boards for the Austerdalsbreen glacier.
With the glaciers Odinsbreen and Torsbreen, Austerdalsbreen is one of the most scenic places in Norway. And how proud am I to see that the “legacy” of Karma – the mountain dog – will live on.
The original picture, taken by Anne Rudsengen:
Around Gurskøya on bike + Djupvikhaugen (98m), Jun 7 2025
Saturday: The day before, my old buddy Morten invited me for a bike trip around Gurskøya island – today. This would mean going for all every hill along the route and I’d better put on my A-game. Morten is an avid biker, although he hasn’t had much of a biking season this year. Maybe I would not be left in the dirt?
But, the preparations were not good. I hardly slept during the night. Grass allergy kept me sneezing until I developed a tension headache from this closest-to-dying physical reaction. I spent the better part of the night in a chair with a wet cloth, covering my face. I felt like total crap in the morning. And now I would go biking around the island with – Morten! The guy who had done the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route…
Just after noon, we started out from my place and went for Leikongbakken first. He wanted to bike via Kleppefurene and “Lysløypa” but as he hadn’t done neither the old road, parallel to Leikongbakken, nor the new gravel road, that’s the route we went for.
We had the same headwind as I head yesterday, biking from Leikongeidet down to Skoge. With Morten in front, a felt a little braver and we passed 50km/h in strong wind against. Scary and fun!
We took a couple of side roads along the Gursken fjord, that I had not biked before.
Then we took a short break in Gjerdsvika, before climbing up to Sædalen. I really enjoyed myself. I always learn a lot about biking, being with Morten. But I was especially pleased with that I was strong enough keep up with him, even in the hills.
We kept the same pace on the flats, but he is much tougher than me in the downhills. But it wasn’t so that he had to stop and wait for me. I was just a few seconds behind.
We enjoyed the flats from Moltustranda to Sandvika before we took on the final climb for the day – up to Sandvikskaret. I was feeling so fine. I wouldn’t have mind if this trip got much longer.
Back home, Karma was very happy to see daddy and “uncle” Morten again. I assumed she was keen for a walk and so I drove up to the Djupvkhaugen trailhead, to give her a very easy walk.
But no, she wouldn’t walk. That pissed me off, because this hike was basically like walking around the block. Twice. I told her that we would do this walk. Period. She got the message.
Once she got going, there weren’t any problems. She wasn’t limping or anything. I guess she was stiff from her back problems, but isn’t she capable of learning that it gets better as she goes?
After the hike, it was still early afternoon, and I was wondering what to do next. To my despair, I found that my app hadn’t tracked the biking route. That was a huge problem, as I’m pretty nerdy about my GPS tracks. So, the plan was to do the route one more time and just edit the timestamps so that I would have a track that resembled the trip earlier in the day.
Wow, am I that fit, I was thinking to myself. Yes, I felt good, but I also sent a message to Morten, in case he had tracked the trip. He had, and sent it to me. So now there was no reason to do it again. So I decided to rest for 30 minutes instead. Those 30 minutes turned into almost 3 hours. I went completely zombie and had major problems getting out from bed. I guess that’s what no sleep + 830 vertical meters on bike can do to you…
The bike trip: 44km, 830 vertical meters, 2h:39m (w/pause)
Djupvikhaugen: 2,1km, 100 vertical meters, 0h:34m
Nystøylhornet (600m), Jun 8 2025
Sunday: I needed to get off the coastal islands and took the ferry to Vanylven, hoping to get Karma up to Nystøylhornet. I almost turned around at Årvika, because the weather was awful. The mountains were covered in fog, and it was pouring down. But, the forecast was promising and so I decided to continue.
We typically hike this mountain from Åram, but I wanted to give Karma and easier route and so I took the toll road (NOK 50, – per 2025) up Sandvikdalen. With a starting point at 230m elevation, that should give Karma a fair chance.
But she wasn’t interested in hiking. She wasn’t interested in moving at all. I felt I was in the process of getting annoyed but was able to switch to my finest sugar voice. “Let’s give it a little try, shall we?”
It worked. She started walking.
She wasn’t constantly looking back at me, which probably indicated that she truly didn’t want to hike. She kept a steady pace up the meadow.
When we got the mountain in view, it was windy, and it was raining. I had to put the Gore-Tex jacket on.
But, as we approached the summit ridge, the rain stopped, and it started to clear up. Perfect!
And then we were back on Nystøylhornet!
This was my 10th visit to the top, and Karma’s 9th. I hope Karma is well enough to get #10 in 2026, but I have my doubts.
I enjoy the views up here. They’re quite awesome.
Maybe a bike trip on Kvamsøya could be fun?
We then turned around. Quite while ahead, in terms of the absence of rain. Karma was disappointed about returning along the same route and was trailing.
I did a small test and went off-trail. In a second, she was leading. I completely understand her. I don’t like going back the same way, either.
I had to make a decision. This hike wouldn’t even get me 400 vertical meters and so I had to do something about that.
As I had never done the route from Sandvikdalen and down to Sørbrandal, I figured I could do that on bike while Karma waited in the car.
I opened the car windows, praying it wouldn’t rain. The weather was OK and it seemed as if it would stay like that for a while.
The descent was fun. Basically, downhill for 4,5km. Passing Dalebøen, there was a “major Gapahuk”. You should be really unlucky if you couldn’t find a table to enjoy your lunch.
Then I passed a fake eagle. I didn’t know it was fake until I stopped the bike.
Further down, there was a sheep netting. It had something white attached to it, so I could see it from a distance. Apart from that, it was invisible. Later in the evening, I talked to a buddy that came biking down here before “something” was attached to it. He slammed into the netting, flew off the bike and got pretty injuried. He called the police and that “something” I noticed was most likely a result of that.
Eventually I got down to Sørbrandal. I hadn’t given the climb back up a single thought. But now, I had to.
The road back up wasn’t very steep, and I was able to find a gear that gave me momentum while not wearing me out.
¾ along the way, it started to rain. Man, that served as inspiration to put the “pedal to the metal”. When I got to car, it was about to change from rain to pouring rain and I was able to close the windows before the heavens opened up.
The plan was to return to Koparnes and take the ferry to Årvika, but I had a bit of luck as I passed Åram 3:29pm and there was a 3:30pm ferry. I had a bit more luck when the ferry was full, but I got onboard by parking sideways.
Trip statistics: 6,9km on foot, 9,1km on bike, 660 vertical meters, 2h:25m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the trip:
