What happened to winter?
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 15.12.25 | Garnestua | 654m | 417m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 16.12.25 | Blåtind | 697m | 697m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 17.12.25 | Lidaveten | 592m | 439m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 18.12.25 | Høgåsen | 240m | 240m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 20.12.25 | Nyken | 800m | 44m | Jølster, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 21.12.25 | Skjeggen | 738m | 25m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Garnestua (654m), Dec 15 2025
Monday: I had to go hiking by myself this afternoon. Anne would team up with Lena and Tordis to make potato lefse, a traditional Norwegian flatbread made with potatoes, flour and butter. It’s cooked on a griddle, called a “takke” in Norwegian.
As the weather was OK, I decided to hike Garnestua from Haddal. It was already getting dark when I left the trailhead. I put on a podcast and plodded up the forest.
I had brought my camera, hoping to get some OK pictures. But it was windy and the pictures didn’t turn out the way I wanted.
Despite the wind, it was a nice hike. It’s always good to start the week with a 600m (or higher) top.
When I returned to the ladies, they had done their best to clean up the kitchen, but the floor needed not only washing, but scraping too…
But the lefse tasted good!
Trip statistics: 5,6km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:48m
Blåtind (697m), Dec 16 2025
Tuesday: My 62nd birthday and I hadn’t even gotten my coffee before Anne handed me her present.
It was a great present. Ice skates that I can use with my skiing boots. How practical isn’t that? Can’t wait for the next ski-trip where there are possibilities for some skating on a mountain lake!
My working day continued, and then my friend Morten came over for lunch and brought cakes.
A perfect day so far, and when my (slightly limited) working day ended, the icing on the cake would be to get Anne along on a hike to Blåtind. How could she refuse?
We headed out from Havåg. I left work a little earlier than normal, to get some extra daylight.
Anne had forgotten about this route (my favorite route to Blåtind) and told me she enjoyed it a lot. (again)
Then it got darker.
But there was still enough light to hike without the headlamp.
I had brought my Canon but didn’t expect to use it much. It was a bit windy, and the pictures would have to be taken from the forest.
Light rain came and light rain left. The weather was overall OK. I only used my headlamp when taking pictures of Anne.
It was a very peaceful and nice hike. Anne was having a very good day on the trail and showed no signs of the fatigue that randomly hits her.
And then we got up. I wanted to take a selfie and asked Anne to stay still for 0,25 seconds. That was clearly a tough ask…
It was even windier on top, and any after-dark pictures didn’t turn out anywhere near how I wanted them. But that’s life. You get some, you lose some…
We took the Eiksund route down. Anne only had a small headlamp, and it would be better for the overall progress if I gave her my Moonlight lamp. It was a flood light in comparison and she was quite happy.
When I got back home, I noticed (to my delight) that there were no congratulations on Facebook. I don’t advertise my birthday. My best friends call me. But would it last?
Then one of my very best friends (Jorun) – in addition to calling me – posted this picture on my wall. And then other gratulations kept coming in.
Anne and I enjoyed a nice dinner with some fun TV shows and after dinner, something sweet would be nice. But we didn’t have any. Then I got a message that friends of us had left cookies at our front door (my doorbell is broken). How convenient was that!
All in all, I had a most enjoyable birthday!
Trip statistics: 9km, 700 vertical meters, 3h:03m
Lidaveten (592m), Dec 17 2025
Wednesday: In terms of work, I had the opportunity to get a bit farther away from the computer this evening and decided to hike Lidaveten from Steinnes.
I haven’t done this route in several years but remembered that the path was hard to follow. I was however prepared for some route-finding in the dark.
Things went OK in the beginning.
I repeatedly lost & found the vague path but didn’t think much about it, as long as I was heading upwards. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my Canon and when I tried to get a cell phone picture using a small tripod, the tripod broke. So, all pictures would have to be handheld from now on…
Eventually, I was up.
The top was very windy. Bringing the Canon would not have guaranteed a good picture towards Ørsta. A handheld picture would have to do for now.
After a short stay, I took the Berkneset route down. I enjoy being all alone up here. No podcasts today. Just music while going up. Total silence (with headphones still on) on my way down.
I enjoyed this hike very much. When I got down the road, I had 1,3km along the main road back to the car.
Trip statistics: 6,4km, 590 vertical meters, 2h:02m
Høgåsen (240m), Dec 18 2025
Thursday: It was raining all day and when I ended my working day, I was determined not to go hiking. I was tired and rested for half an hour.
I didn’t have a good night’s sleep. I woke up at 4am, looked at my phone and noticed that I had been thrown out of my company’s office applications. I wondered why and checked if there maybe was an IOS upgrade I had missed. There was one, but that wasn’t the reason. But I didn’t know that then.
The IOS upgrade was finished half an our later and I was hungry. I enjoyed a very early breakfast before trying to get some more sleep. At 7am, I was a wreck.
But then it stopped raining and I went for a short hike up and down Høgåsen on Dimnøya island. A short hike is better than no hike.
It was windy. I took 6 pictures to be on the safe side and 5 of them were a total disaster.
I took the same route down and was happy that I did the walk…
Trip statistics: 3,2km, 220 vertical meters, 0h:59m
Nyken (800m), Dec 20 2025
Saturday: Travel day to Sogndal. I was determined to stop for a hike along the way, especially as I didn’t go for a walk the day before. Yesterday’s weather was super-miserable (pouring rain) and I was quite busy with getting everything in order before leaving for Sogndal the next day.
On the list of chores was delivering Christmas presents to friends and cutting down a pine tree for Christmas in my neighbour’s forest. It’s a tradition since I met Anne – to bring a pine tree from my backyard – and when I ran out of trees – my neighbour’s forest. In the beginning, they were free. Now I insist paying a little for them.
The driving conditions were alright. Dry roads except for some light rain. I decided to go for the usual round-trip from Dvergdsdalsdalen, across Hamnanova and Nyken. I hadn’t done this hike since September.
I headed out from the quarry. There was another car at the trailhead, and I was curious if I would meet someone. It’s always nice with a short, good chat.
I love the green forest in the lower part of the mountain.
I also love what they’ve “done with the place” higher up. You can get to the top of Hamnanova without getting your feet wet.
Not too far from the top of Hamnanova, I caught up with a guy. When he turned around, I could see that it was Joar – an old buddy. I hadn’t seen him in 11 years. The last trip we did together was a mighty fine ski-trip across Bjørga.
Joar doesn’t like to be photographed and I respect that. He didn’t like it back in 2015 either, but I got away with a couple of pictures…
It was really nice meeting him again. We have a lot of common acquaintances and had a lot of catching up to do…
I used to hike Orkja when I was doing the Sunnmøre – Sogndal commute. It is a nice top with nice views, and I could do the hike up and down within the hour.
But I also enjoy the Hamnanova – Nyken roundtrip very much…
Joar (77 years old) isn’t moving as fast upwards as he used to, but of course I would do this hike with him, once I learned that he planned to do the usual round-trip hike.
I took another Kjøsnesfjord panorama from Nyken and I cannot make up my mind which of the two viewpoints (Hamnanova – top picture and Nyken) I like most.
In the distance (towards the Sognefjord), the light was nice.
The descent down the forest was no problem for Joar and not once did I get the feeling that I was hiking with a guy, much older than me. It was on automatic for him. He’s been hiking, scrambling, skiing and climbing all his life.
Back at the trailhead, we parted and I sat course for Sogndal. I had to stop in front of the Frudal tunnel to get some final pictures…
Trip statistics: 4,2km, 400 vertical meters, 1h:35m
Skjeggen (738m), Dec 21 2025
Sunday: I spent most of the daylight helping Anne with cleaning her flat. Around 2pm, I was free to go on a hike. The windshield on my car was frozen and when I started scraping it, I got the biggest surprise of the year.
What the heck was that? According to AI, this could be freight label, glued to the windshield and following the car from its factory and all the way to Norway. There was no label when I got the car. I would have noticed…
And, according to AI – these labels only occur in conditions where the windshield is frozen. I’ve had this car for 6 months and this was the first time I seriously had to scrape the windshield. I will send a TEXT to the salesman in the morning, asking for the best cleaning advice.
Then I sat course for Skjeggen.
I took the route I always do, starting from “Folkehøgskulen”, across Røvhaugane and Åberge.
Then I followed the path toward Bjellastølen…
…passing Kjørrdalen…
… before turning right onto the Ljøtaholet path.
After turning left in the next junction, I followed the path up to Skjeggen and had a nice view towards Sogndal.
It wasn’t quite as dark as I had hoped, but I didn’t want to wait. I would have to do with the light I had.
We didn’t exactly have the Christmas feeling in western Norway, but at least there was snow for skiing if one is willing to carry the skis for a bit.
From Skjeggen, I decided to wander a bit around, without knowing exactly where I was going. I just enjoyed being out.
But eventually, I had to check my GPS, and I was on my way in the wrong direction. I corrected my course and joined my ascent route after a little while.
I went down to my regular Sogndal viewpoint just below Åberge. Now it was a little too dark for my taste, but I would have to work with what I had…
Back down by the fjord, I decided that I wanted a picture of the Loftesnes bridge. I was quite happy with the result.
I decided to take some more pictures, but I didn’t find motives like the bridge. The “skyscrapers” in Sogndal doesn’t make a great motive.
Then I took a picture of the “Christmas tree” by “Folkehøgskulen” and got part of the bridge. I enjoyed looking at it, but it wasn’t much of a motive for pictures. Still, I decided to keep it.
All in all, a very enjoyable hike. Then it was time to go back to Anne’s flat and continue with preparing for Christmas.
Trip statistics: 12km, 850 vertical meters, 3h:19m
