Hovden, day 2
| Date | Trip |
| 08.07.26 | Otrosåsen |
| 09.07.26 | Storenos, Veggine, Syni, Mjåvasseggi, Stemtjørnnutan |
| 10.07.26 | Svånuten, Hovdenuten |
| 11.07.26 | Hartevassnutane |
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 09.07.26 | Storenos | 1206m | 34m | Bykle, Norway | – | MAP |
| 09.07.26 | Veggine | 1341m | 230m | Bykle, Norway | – | MAP |
| 09.07.26 | Syni | 1322m | 126m | Bykle, Norway | – | MAP |
| 09.07.26 | Mjåvasseggi | 1283m | 146m | Bykle, Norway | – | MAP |
| 09.07.26 | Stemtjørnnutan | 1300m | 78m | Bykle, Norway | – | MAP |
Thursday: The goal for the day was a hike across the P100 tops Veggine, Syni and Mjåvaseggi – above Hovden, Agder. As Anne was struggling with Plantar fasciitis, she wanted to take the chair lift from the skiing centre and up to Storenos.
I was a bit nervous, as I hate chair lifts. I fell out of one when I was a young boy, and maybe I’ve done it once since then. But since I understood that it was important for Anne to get a good start, I just had to suck it up…
It’s the getting on and off that feels awkward. I don’t mind the actual ride…
The trip up the mountain went just fine and now we had a long and good hike ahead of us…
We entered a protected area and Anne felt right at home (she’s a nature ranger/inspector)
We hiked up to point 1198m, where I stopped for a couple of panoramas…
Then we continued up to Storenos – the first named point for the day.
Next, we sat course for Veggine…
We turned right just in front of Stemtjørnnutan, which felt just “wrong”. I hoped we (or I) could visit this top on our way back…
Next, we sat course for the Veggine ridge…
… and at Krossloskaret, we header for the gully with the snow (below picture)
It was our assumption that the hike across Veggine would be through easy terrain…
While the hike to Veggine’s eastern top (1333m) wasn’t at all complicated, the hike to the main summit was more “bumpy” and the distances were constantly longer than we interpreted from the map.
And when we thought we had the summit ahead of us…
… we didn’t.
It wasn’t difficult terrain, but it wasn’t Denmark either…
But eventually, we reached the top of Veggine…
A couple of panorama pictures…
Did I feel like we were hiking on Hardangervidda? I wasn’t quite sure. It kinda did, but on the other hand not. Hardangervidda is a tad wilder, isn’t it? But what is the actual difference?
We were 30km southeast of Store Nup – which is one of the Hardangervidda tops with a massive drop facing south. This wasn’t quite like that, was it? The road across Haukelifjell is a natural divide between Hardangervidda and Bykleheiene, but it’s just a road. Does the terrain really change?
I think the answer is that the terrain doesn’t really change radically from Lærdal in the north and the southern Agder uplands. Unless I’ve missed something obvious. There might be radical geological shifts, of course, but maybe not easily seen from a bird’s perspective. It’s just a constant, gradual shift from very dramatic landscape to not so dramatic, but without those distinct divides.
Maybe I had visualized “Langfjella” for the first time in my life. You know – the name they always mention on the weather forecast but doesn’t exist on the map…
Confusing enough, there was another “Veggine” top a bit further west…
We stopped by a small pond and cooled down our feet …
… before moving on towards our next top – Syni.
It wasn’t obvious how we should approach Syni. Head on looked very steep…
Anne suggested that we should approach this top from the east. I asked her how she able to determine that from reading the map. She just had a hunch…
But first, we checked out the possibility of scrambling directly up Syni. In the end, we agreed that this was not something we wanted to do…
Then we followed Anne’s suggestion and found a perfectly easy route up the mountain.
And now the views really opened up…
Without any hard scrambling at all, we were on top of Syni!
More panoramas…
To return to the gradual shift in the terrain I mentioned above, one could look at mountains with a high prominence. Let’s take 1000m as the cut-off. There are 85 mountains in mainland Norway with a prominence of 1000m or more.
Agder has 0. Telemark has 0. Buskerud has 0. And the terrain is gradually rising in elevation. Then you get to Vestland and something changes. The former Hordaland County has only 2 P1000+ tops, as the plateaus just keep connecting.
Entering former Sogn og Fjordane County, with 7 P1000+ tops, the shift is even more distinct. And then one can discuss how far you can still go in the high country – defined as the drainage divide following the crest of the Langfjella ridge.
Maybe all the way to Jotunheimen but for me, that’s where it ends. I need to take a closer look at this. The topic is too big for this blog and I find myself guessing. But it’s stuff for nerds. Stuff that matters…
It was really nice to be up here!
The lakes Skyvatn and Øydeskyvatn were so gorgeous. The desire to go camping came upon me…
We could see far into the Hardangervidda (national park) mountains…
Great stuff! But we had one more P100 mountain to do – Mjåvasseggi. We descended “Anne’s route” – the route we came up…
Mjåvasseggi was just across the valley. We just had to determine our ascent route.
We decided on a boulder field directly below the summit…
A Grouse (or Ptarmigan) wanted to play the usual game with us…
I just love a good boulder field, but Anne not so much. And while she struggled…
… I was Ferdinand the bull…
Finally, we got on the Mjåvasseggi ridge…
… and could aim for the high point.
A few panoramas from the top of Mjåvasseggi…
We had now visited all the 3 P100 tops we sat out to do and now we just had to decide on our return route.
I suggested that we should hike across Mjåvasseggi’s eastern top…
… and Anne agreed.
But where should we descend?
After a little while, we found a good passage down the mountain…
It was a little steep in places, but not difficult…
… and soon we were down in the valley…
Next followed a “hard” ascent back up to Krossloskaret.
Back on our ascent route, I determined that I wanted to visit Stemtjørnnutan and catch up with Anne on the other side.
Shortly after, we were reunited…
The both of us were a bit tired at this point and looked forward to getting back to the hotel…
But we passed Stølskardnuten (1271m) when we came up the mountain and I didn’t want to pass it on our way down. It was a minor detour from the path…
*Finally*, we returned to the top of the ski-lift and could begin our hike down to the parking.
Our legs were hurting, but it helped to see the car…
Hovdenuten was on our definitive to-do list. Hopefully, already the next day…
After more than 8 hours on the trail, it was *really* nice to get back down. I was very impressed by Anne. Accomplishing this long walk with a bad leg was a feat. Hopefully, it wouldn’t ruin the rest of her (and our) vacation…
The time was almost 7:30pm when we reached the car and we decided to just buy a frozen pizza in the store. Our hotel room was equipped with an oven. In fact, it was an apartment, but the hotel rented us the room as a regular hotel room, which meant we wouldn’t have to clean it upon departure…
Thanks to Anne for joining me on this wonderful hike!
Trip statistics: 20,6km, 1160 vertical meters, 8h:11m
