An unexpected start to the new year in northern Norway…
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 29.12.25 | Stedjeåsen | 625m | 123m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 30.12.25 | Amlaholten | 508m | 265m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 31.12.25 | Stedjeåsen | 625m | 123m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 31.12.25 | New Year’s Eve | 439m | – | Sogndal, Norway | PB | – |
| 01.01.26 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 02.01.26 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 03.01.26 | Mosaksla | 527m | 449m | Brønnøy, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 04.01.26 | Tilremshatten | 318m | 262m | Brønnøy, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Stedjeåsen (624m), Dec 29 2025
Monday: A bit of a lazy day. I would be taking the entire week off from work but had to spend a few hours working in the morning.
Then I went for a hike to Stedjeåsen.
This forest is a bit less exciting now that there is only one open route (because of the storm “Amy” back in October).
On my way up, I talked to an American couple and some workers trying to rescue an old hay barn from trees collapsing over it.
On top of Stedjeåsen, Åsavatnet – where we skated last week – had a thin layer of snow.
I continued across the top and went over to the viewpoint. ‘the’ because it’s the only half-decent viewpoint in this forest.
Then I wandered a bit around in the upper forest before returning to the only open path.
All in all, a nice hike.
We spent the evening with good friends in Solvorn.
My mom returned home to Brønnøysund, through a sketchy Taxi ride from the hospital in Sandnessjøen, in bad weather and on icy and dangerous roads. My plan is to fly up on Friday and help her out for a while.
Trip statistics: 7km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:47m
Amlaholten (508m), Dec 30 2025
Tuesday: Anne wanted to come along on a hike and so we decided to go to Amlaholten.
For the first time, we took one of the bike paths, going up.
It’s always nice to be on Amlaholten. Always!
It was the last day of the world championship in Blitz Chess and “our guy” Magnus Carlsen was fighting for a place in the finals. Which was a bit unusual for him, so this year’s Blitz chess was particularly exciting.
From almost not qualifying, he did what he typically does – taking the trophy back home.
Way to go, Magnus! Your end games are out of this world…
Trip statistics: 4,4km, 300 vertical meters, 1h:01m
Stedjeåsen (624m), Dec 31 2025
Wednesday: My last full day in Sogndal. It’s been a really nice 11-day break (even if I worked 6 of those days). I have slept long in the morning, gone on nice hikes, done fun ice-skating and had a nice ski-trip.
I tried not to think about traveling home the next day and the flight to the north on Friday. The weather is not supposed to be good. I’ll deal with it when the time comes.
This hike to Stedjeåsen was top #421 in my activity log for 2025. If I hike a top, regardless of its height or prominence, it counts as 1. If I do more tops with prominence 100m+ on the same hike, they all count. Other hikes don’t count. There must be a top involved for the statistics.
Today, it was snowing or raining lightly. I just couldn’t tell. But that was only in the lower forest. It was all good on top.
Going down, I realized that this would be my last hike in Sogndal for a good while. I would probably stay in the north for a couple of weeks, and once back home, I would probably not have an urgent need to go traveling right away.
Trip statistics: 7,2km, 590 vertical meters, 1h:41m
My statistics for 2025 ended up being:
- 86 new tops where 67 had a prominence >= 100m
- 225 visits to my local tops
- 110 visits to tops (I’ve been to before) in other regions
- 421 tops visited, all in all (201 unique tops)
- 2134,6km on foot
- 145,8km on skis (very bad skiing year)
- 1624,8km on bike (mostly related to hikes)
- 13,9km on ice-skates
- 3919,1km in total
- 216105 vertical meters – a daily average of 592 vertical meters. In other words – this mountain, from sea level – every single day. That has helped on the “character building” and besides, I get strong legs as a bonus.
I am not posting these stats to brag or boast. I have friends who crush me on statistics. But the stats aren’t too bad as I am a full time employee (and then some…)
I wish each and every one of you that have found your way to this website – a happy New Year! May the world become a better place…
New Year’s Eve, Dec 31 2025
Wednesday: Like last year,we spent this evening with our friends Liv and Rein-Arne. A lot was the same as the year before. The food, decorations, and a few of us even had the same clothes. Liv said the Christmas tree even looked the same. It was a different tree, but pretty much the same decoration.
After dinner, we had a round of Liar’s dice. I just love this game!
For dessert, our guests had brought delicious cloudberries & whipped cream, while Anne had baked a lovely Wreath Cake (?) (Kransekake) and there were all sorts of liquor.
Then, the countdown began…
Eventually, 2026 arrived…
It’s hard to feel good about the new year when you feel everything is going to hell, but one has to stay optimistic…
Sogndal – Sunnmøre & Huldrehornet (271m), Jan 1 2026
Thursday: After breakfast, it was time to say goodbye to Sogndal for now. I had a really nice Christmas break and felt that my batteries had recharged. I was highly motivated to continue with my daily goal of 500 vertical meters.
But there were challenges: a) today was travel day, b) tomorrow would be travel day and c) I wasn’t sure how long my stay up in the north of Norway would be. Would there be too much snow? Too bad weather, etc.
In any case, I had a nice drive from Sogndal.
I just had to stop the car every time I saw nice scenery and light combined. If this were to continue, the drive home would be really long.
The weather had been OK ever since I arrived in Sogndal on Dec 20th. At some point, my luck would run out. Would it be on this trip?
Yup. When I reached Jølster, it was snowing. I feared the trip back home would be extra-long, given the current driving conditions.
It stopped snowing as I start driving up Utvikfjellet (pass at 600m. elev.) and the rest of the drive back to Sunnmøre was OK. From Olden, there was no more snow on the roads.
So – what about my daily 500m? I was tired after the long drive and had to dig deep to find motivation to go up Huldrehornet.
It doesn’t show on the pictures, but it was really cold and windy above the forest.
Back at the car, I had only 250 vertical meters to show for my efforts, so I had to go back up one more time.
If you think I’m weird, I won’t hold it against you…
Trip statistics: 5,1km, 510 vertical meters, 1h:18m
Huldrehornet (271m) + travel to Brønnøysund, Jan 2 2026
Friday: Today, I would be travelling to Brønnøysund in the north. My 80-year-old mother has returned home after spending Christmas in the Sandnessjøen hospital, with a prolapse. She would need help and so I just bought a one-way ticket.
So – what about my daily 500m?
Well, I did have time to repeat the Huldrehornet x 2 route I did the day before and 9:15am, I reached the top.
9:53am, I reached the top for the second time.
I was quite happy about the start of the new year, although I could have wished for some higher tops.
I had planned my travel to Ålesund airport Vigra carefully, but then text messages started to come in from the company operating the ferry. First, one departure got cancelled. Then another. That stressed me and so I just got in the car, way earlier than I had planned.
When I got to Hareid, a ferry was about to depart but I got on it as the last car. One problem solved!
That meant that I got to the airport 3 hours before departure.
While waiting, one flight got cancelled. Two others were delayed. That made me a bit nervous. I didn’t have time for much delay if I were to catch the next flight from Trondheim to Brønnøysund. But the flight to Trondheim was on time and then we were on our way…
It was near impossible to take pictures from my seat, but managed to get some impression of passing Trondheim…
The next flight was even better. I don’t think I’ve ever flown to Brønnøysund without strong winds, but today, the flight was smooth. But the landing was just like any Dash-8 landing is. Hard and controlled.
Which made me think of a something I said many, many years ago. #2 on my things-I-don’t-want-to-hear list is “We’ll give landing a try”. #1 on the list is “We’ll try one more time“.
My good friend Jorun was waiting at the airport and drove me to my mom’s house. Mom was happy to see me. And she seemed to be in better shape than I had feared.
Trip statistics: 5,1km, 510 vertical meters, 1h:17m
Mosaksla (527m), Jan 3 2026
Saturday: The day started with errands for mom in town and I bought myself I new 27” monitor, now that I would be working from Brønnøysund for a couple of weeks.
Afterwards, I decided to get 500 vertical meters also today, by hiking Mosaksla. I had no idea how much snow there would be, but at least the south face didn’t have a lot of snow.
There was maybe 10-15cm of snow down in the forest and for the first time, I used the handrails…
I was wearing ice-cleats, which was overall quite practical.
When I got to the first plateau, I could take in the beautiful sky.
I still had a bit of mountain left to do…
The ascent was a bit strenuous. The snow was deep in places (windborne), and the ice was also a bit cumbersome at times. But finally, I had the upper mountain ahead of me.
I was still enjoying the views…
An air ambulance helicopter kept hovering across lake Mosvatnet. I hope that they weren’t looking for anyone in the water…
I looked forward to reaching the summit. The choice between deep snow and a rocky ridge wasn’t a hard one…
And then I was up. Man, what a delightful view!
The light was beautiful, but precious. The time was just past 1pm, but I already felt that daylight was quickly running out.
Mosaksla is the only top in the near proximity of Brønnøysund that can give me 500 vertical meters, but I didn’t plan to be hiking this top every day!
Time would tell. I didn’t even know what the weather forecast looked like.
The descent went just fine. I had a couple of near accidents on the ice, but my reflexes are still good.
The time was 1:49pm when I reached the car and when I drove back to Brønnøysund, I had a feeling it was 3pm, based on the amount of light back home on Sunnmøre. At 3pm in Brønnøysund, it was quite dark!
Trip statistics: 4,7km, 510 vertical meters, 1h:47m
Tilremshatten (318m), Jan 4 2026
Sunday: This hike is featured on a separate post…
