Glorious weather week…
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 19.01.26 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 20.01.26 | Blåtind | 697m | 697m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 21.01.26 | Garnestua | 654m | 417m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 22.01.26 | Melshornet | 668m | 560m | Hareid, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 23.01.26 | Helgehornet | 623m | 545m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 24.01.26 | Skagetåa | 315m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | |
| 24.01.26 | Rjåhornet | 421m | 68m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 24.01.26 | Storevarden | 430m | 430m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 25.01.26 | Leinebjørnen | 271m | 108m | Herøy, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 25.01.26 | Leinehornet | 364m | 364m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 25.01.26 | Djupvikvatnet | 17m | – | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 25.01.26 | Aspevikvatnet | 4m | – | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Rjåhornet (600m), Jan 19 2026
Monday: I looked forward to getting back into my usual routine – with 600m tops after work. I decided to start off with Rjåhornet – from sea level at Leikong.
I was not so happy when I headed into the fog…
But when I got above the fog, I was quite happy!
After 18 days in January, I had only been to 6 different tops. Highly unusual. One different top every 3rd day. That was surely about to change.
I was also relieved about the lack of snow. I mean, I’d like winter to be winter, from a “earth health” perspective, but I do like the fact that I can hike on Ytre Søre Sunnmøre and go skiing in the Ørsta/Volda mountains – when I want to. Albeit not right now. Skiing conditions are poor now.
I was curious about the weather ahead. I had 12 great weather days in Sogndal last year, and I had 16 days of great weather in northern Norway. Could I be so lucky that I would get 2 weeks of good weather back home?
Eventually, I reached the top. It was good to be back!
It was also nice to experience extended daylight! I hadn’t switched on the headlamp when I reached the top 5pm. In Brønnøysund, it would be dead dark at 4pm.
And it would get brighter and brighter, day by day – at least for the next 6 months!
Trip statistics: 6,2km, 610 vertical meters, 2h:12m
Blåtind (697m), Jan 20 2026
Tuesday: I got off work 3:30pm (started at 7am) and decided to hike Blåtind – the high point of Hareidlandet island. The weather was mediocre, but at least it stopped raining when I got to the trailhead.
I was happy about being back in the 6-700m mountains, making up for not meeting my vertical meter goal last week, being in the north.
It was really nice knowing that I would reach the top without switching my headlamp on. I just love the end of January, when it’s considerably more daylight than what we’ve been used to in November and December.
I’m not saying it wasn’t dark, but at least I was able to see where I was putting my feet. The below picture is interesting. It looks like early afternoon, but the lights in the background indicates that it’s actually quite dark. That’s what ISO-100 and some exposure times adds to the picture, I suppose…
When I reached the top, it was quite foggy. When I turned my headlamp on, I hardly saw anything.
The descent from the top went OK, but as I was passing Grøthornet, I completely lost my sense of direction and when I realized I didn’t know where I was, I had to resort to the GPS. I wasn’t far off track, but enough to make me feel lost. It was the combination of the headlamp and the blinding fog that did this. Plus, the fact that the path was only visible in places.
After getting back on the right track, I didn’t have any further navigational issues…
Trip statistics: 7,8km, 700 vertical meters, 2h:29m
Garnestua (654m), Jan 21 2026
Wednesday: I slept OK until I didn’t and the time was 5:30am. I was logged in at work at 6am and had a pretty OK working day. Close to 3:30pm, I decided to log off and go for a hike. The choice ended up on Garnestua – from Haddal.
I didn’t stop for pictures until I had crossed the tree line, and got a glimpse of a nice, red shine in the distance.
The colors captured by a system camera depend a lot on where you put your focal point.
As I had been away for a month, it was good to see that Ringstaddalen valley was still there…
There was a bit of snow between the forest and the upper mountain. Slightly strenuous, actually. But towards the top, the snow was rock hard!
It was windy, so I assumed that all my pictures would come out as crap. It was too “dark” to do handheld pictures, so I put the camera on a cairn, selected F-11, ISO-100 and let the camera take its time. If this takes a long time, then pictures from a windy mountain seldom turn out ok. But today, I was lucky.
This is my favorite winter conditions on Ytre Søre Sunnmøre. Some (hard) snow that reminds me that the climate hasn’t completely gone off its hinges. It’s OK with a couple of good dumps of snow every now and then, just for the skiing part. But not more than 2. I can easily go to Volda or Ørsta for skiing.
As I moved over to Flåna, it was starting to get dark.
I found shelter behind the Flåna cairn and got away with a couple of half-decent pictures of Dimnøya and Ulsteinvik.
Then I headed down to lake Garnesvatnet.
I was enjoying this hike a lot!
Arriving at the lake, the ice looked thick and I decided to cross the lake. It felt solid. But suddenly, I noticed water on the ice and I heard the ice started to crack under me. I quickly moved over to more solid ice. This must have been weak ice, related to the drain, and it gave me a good scare. I don’t think it was very deep, but I didn’t fancy being soaking wet at 426m elevation.
The rest of the hike went fine, and I was happy to “clock in” more than 700 vertical meters on this hike. In 3 days, I had almost caught up with the 560 vertical meters I didn’t get to do last week.
Trip statistics: 7km, 710 vertical meters, 2h:37m
Melshornet (668m), Jan 22 2026
Thursday: When it finally got light, I could see that it was yet another gorgeous day. After work, I decided to drive to Hjørungavåg to hike Melshornet. I hadn’t hiked from here in 6 years, so it was about time.
I couldn’t locate the Kaldalen path and had to ask around. A few minutes later, I was on my way.
The forest part was no fun at all, but I was listening to an interesting podcast and I was fine.
I really looked forward to getting started with taking pictures. The surroundings are gorgeous.
Finally, I got on the ridge and looked forward to a less steep ridge hike.
The sun was setting and the timing was perfect.
It was still too bright to spend a lot of time photographing, but I took some pictures on my way up.
Eventually, I had the summit ahead of me.
The snow was hard as ice, but my ice cleats had a good grip.
And then I was up!
I just went over to the circular viewfinder and started shooting pictures.
Oh, that golden light in the horizon…
But it was still too bright as long as I wasn’t looking towards the sunset…
But all of a sudden, it got dark.
I headed back down…
…and enjoyed myself big time.
I wanted to take pictures all the time and had to restrain myself.
After the Hareid picture, I put the camera in the backpack and took a different route down to Hjørungavåg.
Trying to locate the car, a spike on the GPS track sent me to the wrong street. I talked to a couple out walking but they couldn’t offer any short-cuts. They were hugely impressed by the fact that I had hiked Melshornet in the dark – or rather – coming down from the mountain in the dark. I found it a bit strange, as I do a lot of hiking in the dark. But then I realized that most people don’t. Too bad, I would say. Darkness brings a whole new dimension to it.
Trip statistics: 7,7km, 690 vertical meters, 2h:46m
Helgehornet (625m), Jan 23 2026
Friday: I wasn’t able to spend my vacation days in 2025 and when I got 5 days transferred, the problem would only get bigger in 2026. So, I decided to take the day off. I had things to do, including a visit to the car repair shop in Ørsta.
After the car service, I decided to hike Helgehornet.
I parked by the Helgehorn tunnel and followed the “corridor” from the trailhead. The snow was hard and nice to hike on.
Then I took a short-cut up to the upper tractor road, and I regretted it right from the get-go. But I made it up the forest and was glad when I got Helgehornet in view.
There is always a snow difference between Ytre Søre Sunnmøre and the mainland, on the other side of the Eiksund tunnel. Here, there was snow at the parking, but higher up, the amount of snow was similar to the coastal mountains.
I knew I was 10-15 minutes early, in terms of the pictures I wanted, but it couldn’t be helped. It was slightly cold – maybe -4 ° C and some wind. I had also forgotten to bring my dune jacket in my backpack. So, waiting for 10-15 minutes on top was out of the question.
It was nice to reach the top.
It was a gorgeous shine towards the sea, but it’s difficult to get good pictures when pointing the camera towards the sunset.
Towards Ørsta, it was almost bright as day.
Looking towards Snøhornet (1309m), I quickly found that it’s no point in bringing the skis anytime soon.
Then it got a little bit darker…
I was cold and decided to get going. I decided to head down the south ridge and get a round-trip hike.
I got a glimpse of Volda and reckoned that I would be hiking Rotsethornet in the near future, if we don’t get a major snowfall. My prediction is that winter comes in March, so I have another month for hiking.
It was less wind – hence less cold – in the forest. I enjoyed myself.
My plan was to descend to Håskjold but the amount of “debris” after forest harvesting made me change my mind. I followed a tractor road to the shooting range road, then I followed another tractor road and then snowmobile tracks, which led me to the path from the shooting range. I got almost 100 extra vertical meters through this detour.
Eventually, I joined my ascent route and took the same route back to the car. A very nice hike!
Trip statistics: 7,9km, 660 vertical meters, 2h:33m
Skagetåa (315m), Rjåhornet (421m), Storevarden (430m), Jan 24 2026
Saturday: I didn’t have any plans for this Saturday, other than maybe doing a local hike and wait for Anne to come up from Sogndal. I hadn’t seen her since Jan 1st, so I looked forward to seeing her again.
But in the morning, I got a message from an old buddy – Geir, asking if I wanted to come along on a hike on Nerlandsøya. I hadn’t seen him since our Breitinden ski-trip back in 2007, but we’ve stayed in touch on-line, like modern people do.
I tried to time my arrival with his ferry schedule (he was traveling all the way from Molde), but then I learned that the ferry had problems docking at Hareid. So, I had some time to kill in Fosnavåg.
Then I decided to drive to Koparstad and wait there…
Eventually, Geir arrived and we were on our way to Skagetåa 10:54am.
It’s a steep path and the ice didn’t make it any easier.
The route was clear. First Skagetåa, then Rjåhornet and finally Storevarden – giving us a nice round-trip island hike.
It was nice to be back on Skagetåa. I hadn’t been here in 6 years.
It was such a nice day. We both got the spring feeling.
None of us looked at the snowy mountains and regretted not going skiing. The snow was bad, all around.
There’s always a time for a nice coastal hike and today was definitely that time.
Next stop – Rjåhornet.
We decided to go for a slightly aggravating off-trail route up to Rjåhornet.
We’re both very familiar with the Sunnmøre mountains and none of us needed the panorama info board to know what we were seeing in the distance.
Then we continued towards Storevarden.
I was supposed to be “the guide” on this hike, but we chatted and I didn’t pay attention to the path. So, we ended up in off-trail terrain and a shortcut across a small lake.
Eventually, we reached Storevarden.
I invited Geir to come to our house for dinner and stay the night (knowing he would continue hiking out here the next day), and while he appreciated the offer, he was determined to spend the night at Runde Fyr – the lighthouse at Runde island. I kind of envied him. I’ve never spent the night there and I expected to be especially amazing in this weather.
We hadn’t met in 19 years, but we picked up right where we left off. I am tempted to say that guys can do that easily, but I’m sure girls can too.
An unthinkable tragedy had recently struck Geir’s family and it was immensely difficult to bring it up. But Geir was OK talking about it. I just cannot imagine what it is like going through what he had to do.
He mentioned that he was interested in pursuing collecting tops with a prominence >= 100m in Møre and Romsdal county, so I look forward to seeing him back in “my backyard”.
We descended between Skoghornet and Hestinghornet, giving us only 0,9km along the main road – back to the trailhead.
Great hike. I looked forward to seeing him again on our next hike together! That happened sooner that I had thought!
Trip statistics: 8,4km, 710 vertical meters, 3h:17m
Leinebjørnen (271m), Leinehornet (364m), Jan 25 2026
Sunday: Knowing Geir (from yesterday’s hike) would be hiking along in my “backyard” today, I sent him a message – proposing to hike across Leinebjørnen and Leinehornet. He quickly responded “thumbs up” and let us know approx. ETA for when he would return from the Runde lighthouse – after having enjoyed a nice sunset and a pleasant stay for the night there.
We met at Nærøy fork and chatted a bit before heading out. Geir and Anne had never met before.
We followed the west ridge up Leinebjørnen and we were not alone here today.
Even if we had done a good hike the day before, we still had lots of things to talk about.
It was only natural to stop by “Bjørnehiet”, take in the views and chat with other hikers.
It’s a nice viewpoint!
Then we continued to the top.
There is a desire to remove the old trig. points, and we were more than willing to participate. Just not today…
Then we sat course for Leinehornet…
I enjoy this round-trip. I’ve done this very exact route a number of times in recent years.
On top, I figured we had earned ourselves a selfie.
Nice views all around.
I felt lucky about the weather. I had nice weather most of my 11-day stay in Sogndal (late December), nice weather most of my 15-day stay in Brønnøysund and nice weather nearly every day since I got back home. This month (+) will surely help when the bad weather sets in. Whenever that happens…
We enjoyed a short break at the top, before following the regular path down to Leine.
Back at the car, we parted. I think Geir perhaps would do a quick hike to Hornseten before returning to Molde. Anne and I had some ice-skating to do…
Trip statistics: 7,4km, 550 vertical meters, 2h:53m
Djupvikvatnet, ice-skating, Jan 25 2026
Sunday: After the hike across the Leinøya tops, we drove to lake Djupvikvatnet (17m) for some ice-skating. Unfortunately, the ice wasn’t very smooth.
That said, we found some nice pockets of good ice here and there.
Skating with a loose heel takes some getting used to, and while I don’t necessarily look like Bambi on ice, me on skates is not a pretty sight.
I peaked out at 21km/h, afraid of falling flat on my face due to the humps and bumps.
But we were ice-skating, not speed-skating and we enjoyed our trip.
Closing the report with a short reel…
Trip statistics: 7,4km, 5 vertical meters, 0h:46m
Aspevikvatnet, ice-skating, Jan 25 2026
Sunday: As it wasn’t dark just yet, I proposed that we should drive down to lake Aspevikvatnet (4m), just to have skated on that lake too.
The ice wasn’t much better here.
Still, it wasn’t half bad!
I really like ice-skating. I hope to do a long distance run one day, preferrably on a fjord.
Then we came across the drain from Høgsetelva river. Why not explore parts of it?
Not knowing anything about the ice quality, we expected to end up in the river at any given time, which made the trip all the more interesting.
After 300m, we decided to quit while we “were ahead”. It would have been big fun to see how far we could possibly get. Maybe some other time, when we know that the ice is solid enough.
Again, closing the report with a short reel…
Trip statistics: 3,3km, 5 vertical meters, 0h:31m
