A nice reunion with my buddy Jukka
Index
| 25.08.25 | Eidskyrkja | 1462m | 1037m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Monday: It was a gorgeous day, and the plan for the afternoon was to meet up with my buddy Jukka from Finland, and hike Eidskyrkja.
We first met on the 2019 Jan Mayen expedition and then I hiked Falketind with him and his girlfriend Hennu in 2020.
Jukka is “collecting” the big mountains in Scandinavia and the Alps. This summer, he had done 17 peaks in the Alps, 11 in northern Norway and 10 in southern Norway. I “envied” him his motivation, his achievements, and as much as I love my Caddy – I also “envied” him his car. Looked like a really nice camper!
Eidskyrkja is a mountain I know quite well, and I suggested that we should meet at Grøndalen. Jukka had visited Daurmål (1462m) earlier in the day, and so I didn’t expect to leave me in the dust.
We soon found a pace that suited both of us. Steady, not fast.
As we hadn’t seen each other in 5 years, we had some catching up to do.
We headed out near Grøndalsstølen at 5:10pm and I thought we would only need a little more than 3 hours on this hike. Karma and I had done this route back in 2023, and we did it in 3h:11m. As I had invited Jukka to my place after the hike, I hoped that we would reach the 9:30pm convoy through the Selvåg tunnel. The next convoy was at 11pm. So, if we just kept my 2023 pace, we would be good.
When we reached lake Fantekrålvatnet, the route turned west and took us to the southeast ridge.
It was a long hillside. Jukka is in the mid-40’s, as fit as they come. My best years are behind me, but I didn’t feel I was slowing him down.
The hike was nice, the weather was stunning, and we looked forward to getting to the top.
We both enjoy hiking on rock, so the rocky landscape near the top was only welcomed.
It was actually a little chilly in the shade…
Finally, we reached the top. But it took us 2 hours to get there. Not 1:45, which was the time Karma and I had back in 2023. I found it a little odd.
In any case, we spent a good 20 minutes on top, taking pictures and enjoying the views.
The views are just outstanding from this mountain.
I knew most of the peaks we could see, and I gave Jukka a short 360 degree introduction…
I had a feeling the 9:30pm convoy would be out of reach, but I still wanted to get going.
It was a little cold in the shade, so we decided to take a little detour just so we could stay in the sunshine.
I was a bit surprised to see how little snow and ice there was on the mountain! It was almost snow free!
We took the same route down and I suddenly realized that we were gradually running out of daylight. I told Jukka that the darkness comes as a surprise to me, every autumn.
We arrived at the cars 9:36pm, 4h:26m after heading out. That was far from 3h:11m! Now, I was a little worried about not making the 23pm convoy. I asked Jukka to hurry up, but he had his procedures to do first.
I checked Google Maps, and it told me that we would be at the tunnel 10:40pm. All good. Jukka was driving a bit slower than me and when I checked again a bit later, the arrival time was 10:50pm! What the heck??
When I checked for the 3rd time, the arrival time was 10:55pm. Now, I was about to panic. I believed the next convoy was in the middle of the night.
But it turned out that I had forgotten to press START, and so Google maps was computing from the position where I turned it on. OMG. Facepalm…
We arrived at the tunnel 10:40pm and only had to wait 20 minutes. While waiting, I looked at the 2023 hike, and I saw that there was a whole lot of snow back then (in June). Obviously, we had avoided the snow going up, but used every inch of it, on our way down. It took Jukka and me 2h:19m to get down. It took Karma and me only 1h:10m. That sort of explains it…
Anne called and said she would be going to bed, as she would be leaving in the morning. She had made dinner for Jukka and me before going on a hike across Huldrehornet with our friends Lena and Tordis.
We arrived at my place 11:20pm and we enjoyed the nice meal Anne had prepared for us. I had prepared the guest room for Jukka, but he wanted to sleep in his car. I completely understand him. I don’t have a fancy camper like he has, but I would also be more comfortable in my own car, especially when being on a road trip, with all my stuff in there.
I hit the bed 1:30am. Looking forward to a few hours of sleep. Thanks to Jukka for good company and a good hike!
Trip statistics: 11,8km, 1060 vertical meters, 4h:26m
