Deep into the autumn…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 27.10.25 | Garnestua | 654m | 417m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 28.10.25 | Høgkubben | 450m | 62m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 29.10.25 | Garnestua | 654m | 417m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 30.10.25 | Blåtind | 697m | 697m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 31.10.25 | Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 01.11.25 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 01.11.25 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 01.11.25 | Lidafjellet | 200m | 47m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 02.11.25 | Laupsnipa | 562m | 380m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 02.11.25 | Vasshornet | 480m | 57m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Gardnestua (654m), Oct 27 2025
Monday: The week began with rain and low energy. Maybe the two were related? Anyway, the rain was of type showers and by design, there is supposed to be pauses between them. So, one can always hope…
I remember some years ago, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute got a lot of heat after forecasting rain showers, while the public experienced continuous rain. Their answer was that technically, it was rain showers, but the pauses in between were so short that it felt like continuous rain. I was thinking that it would be best to report something that would align with the general perception.
After work, there was indeed a pause between the showers, and I decided to drag myself up to Garnestua from Løset.
There was just no energy left. And then came the next shower.
But it would have felt far worse to not go on a hike. Maybe it’s a curse.
I got up and the hike down was much more pleasant.
Shortly after I got home, Anne came up from Sogndal – after having been a week on Crete with 8 other female colleagues.
Trip statistics: 5,5km, 460 vertical meters, 1h:20m
Høgkubben (450m), Oct 28 2025
Tuesday: What a day! I got up 4:05am to drive Anne to Hareid. She was heading for Trondheim on a daytrip. Back home, I couldn’t get any sleep and worked from home until 11am when I drove to Ålesund to celebrate the 60th anniversary of a colleague.
I finished work at 3pm and hadn’t eaten since early morning. It was raining today also, but I decided to hike Høgkubben from Blindheim.
For the nth time this autumn, there was fresh snow in the mountains. It comes, it goes, it comes…
Today, I took the northernmost of the 3 routes from Blindheim to Høgkubben. It’s been many years since I hiked here.
There was not nothing but grey to see in all directions, except towards the southwest. The view was just magnificent and now I got paid for bringing my Canon.
I hardly felt any rain in the forest and now that I got Høgkubben in view, I was happy. The hike up the forest was just hard. My body had quickly burned off the cake and now I was in limbo, waiting for the body to turn to the fat.
It was nice to be back, although I had been up here twice before already this year.
Last time was in April, which by now felt like a whole year ago…
Then it started to rain again, and I sat course for the gravel road route.
Back home, I had a good dinner, watched some TV and then I just wanted to hit the bed. But I had to stay up for several more hours as I had to pick Anne up at Hareid 10:50pm.
Trip statistics: 6,9km, 430 vertical meters, 1h:26m
Gardnestua (654m), Oct 29 2025
Wednesday: This hike is featured on a separate post…
Blåtind (697m), Oct 30 2025
Thursday: I logged off from work at 3:30pm, hoping to get to Blåtind in daylight and as far down as possible, before having to turn on the headlamp.
A few minutes were spent chatting with two hikers coming down the mountain. It’s always nice to talk to people on mountains I hardly meet people on…
That nice afternoon light in the distance would be long gone by the time I got above the tree line.
But I enjoyed a strange light shining on my neighbourhood.
It looked like rain was moving in and I was happy to get to lake Hundelaupsvatnet – still dry.
Now I just had to keep the momentum to the top. The trail was mixed dry and icy. I’d better be careful on my down!
Eventually, I reached the top. No more lingering nice light…
But – I got my first real moon sighting this autumn!
One more picture, and I headed back down.
It got properly dark by the time I reached the rockiest part of the trail, not too far from the trailhead. Here, I met Jostein Eiken – on his way up the mountain. We occasionally meet in these mountains from time to time. He would be descending towards Havåg and assumed there was less ice on that side of the mountain.
Crossing the meadow called for the headlamp, but I refused to turn it on. It wasn’t November yet!
Trip statistics: 6,1km, 620 vertical meters, 1h:44m
Hasundhornet (533m), Oct 31 2025
Friday: Didn’t get off work until 4:30pm and so I could kiss any colours in the sky goodbye.
As my left knee had been aching for a couple of days, it was clear that this afternoon’s exercise would be on a bike.
And as I wanted my daily dose of 500 vertical meters, it was easy to choose to bike from Haddal to Hasundhornet.
I put on a podcast and enjoyed the ride up Ringstaddalen valley. When I got to Løset, it was very tempting to turn on the headlamp (the front light on the bike was dead), but as I didn’t remember when I charged my headlamp the last time, I decided to try to get to the top without using it.
When I got to the start of the mountain gravel road (200 vertical meters to the top) it was really, really dark.
Eventually I reached the top, and shortly after, a young woman arrived, on her E-bike. We chatted a little and I borrowed her my cell phone tripod. She appreciated that.
Then I went back down. It felt challenging to bike fast in the darkness, even with the headlamp on. A few holes in the road came as a big surprise. I had a good flow down Ringstaddalen and with the safety on, I almost reached 50km/h.
Trip statistics: 18,8km on bike, 530 vertical meters, 1h:31m
Rjåhornet (600m), Huldrehornet (271m), Lidafjellet (200m), Nov 1 2025
Saturday: The Stikk Ut! season ended yesterday and it was time to take down the signs and signposts from the local mountains. I typically care of the higher mountains we look after, and the others in the trail group take care of the trailhead signs.
Rjåhornet is one of the higher mountains, and after breakfast, I got on my bike and biked to lake Stemmedalsvatnet (4,6km).
Then I followed the Stemmedalen route up to Rjåhornet.
The weather was OK, but I expected it wouldn’t last. There was also a strong wind on the mountain.
When I got to the top of Rjåhornet, taking down the plate the sticker was on, was quite chilly!
It wasn’t the plan, but now I decided to do a round-trip hike across Huldrehornet and Lidafjellet, bringing home as many signs as I could.
I allowed myself a little fun, with scrambling up the steep side of Huldrehornet.
It was windy on Huldrehornet too!
Only one more top to go before I could call it a day.
I crossed over Lidafjellet and had to endure some nasty off-trail in order to get on the trail to lake Stemmedalsvatnet. Then I had to follow the Rjåhornet trail a little bit, as – instead of leaving the bike at the start of the route, I had pushed it 200m higher up.
On my way back home (on the bike), I felt raindrops. But I got back home without getting wet. The “catch” was 1 plate, 4 signs and 3 wooden arrows.
Trip statistics: 8,1km on foot, 9,2km on bike, 950 vertical meters, 3h:17m
Laupsnipa (562m), Vasshornet (480m), Nov 2 2025
Sunday: It was raining in the morning, so I didn’t have any ambition about any outdoor activities. Instead, I started to plan indoor activities. But then it stopped raining…
I quickly decided to do a round-trip I’ve never done before – Voldnes – Laupsnipa – Vasshornet – Almestad and on bike back to Voldnes. I knew every single part of this route quite well, but I hadn’t done this particular round before.
I headed out from Voldnes, listening to podcasts that I had selected for the occasion. I took it slow and easy and enjoyed the day. As I thought it would be raining all day, this was a bonus!
Laupsnipa is one of my favourite mountains on Gurskøy island. The hike is nice, but not so much more. But skiing down, is a totally different thing.
Moreover, the hike *from* Laupsnipa and towards Almestad (or Drageskaret) is very nice. I was looking forward to hiking the ridge.
I reached the high point and enjoyed the Rovdefjorden panorama and the Vanylven tops.
The panorama towards the high tops on Gurskøya wasn’t all that exciting, but no complaints!
Then I continued towards Laupskeipen.
I really like this top and it’s just the beginning of the nice ridge westbound.
Just after having passed Laupskeipen, I got a message from a friend, telling me that they had to let their oldest dog (almost 15 years old) go today. This was a Barbet, just like Karma. My friend has been following us on Facebook, and I have been following them. While it wasn’t totally unexpected, it was still sad. And a lot of memories from Karma’s last day came back.
Not having Karma around is not so painful anymore. Time is a healer. I tend to lean more towards thankfulness and appreciation, than towards sadness. It was an era, and the era is over.
I realized that I wasn’t paying attention to what was being said on the podcasts and turned it off.
A little bit later, I arrived on Vasshornet.
The descent to Almestad was longer than I remembered it to be. I would not be running out of daylight, but the hike would be longer than I had planned for it to be.
I also like Vasshornet, but more coming down from it, than going up.
After 8km of hiking, I reached my bike at the Vasshornet trailhead at Almestad. Now, I had a 10,9km bike trip back to Voldnes ahead of me. I put my headphones back on, this time with music, and started biking the long hill up to Leikongeidet.
From the high point on Leikongeidet, it was much more fun. I followed the main road down to “Lysløypa” and followed the gravel road down to Vonheim, before returning to Voldnes via paved roads. All in all, a very enjoyable trip!
Trip statistics: 8km on foot, 10,9km on bike, 970 vertical meters, 3h:04m