A marvellous afternoon hike
| 25.08.26 | Langenestinden> | 1206m | 216m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Tuesday: Anne left in the morning. She had a book discussion group to host at her place in the evening. It’s really a book club – they all read a book and discuss it, but I choose to call it a “discussion group”. “Book club” sounds too much like “Bokklubben” – a commercial institution in Norway that saw the light of day before I was born. “We’ll send you the book of the month unless you cancel the order”. There are many Norwegian families with books they never wanted.
But this meant that I didn’t have to think about dinner time this afternoon, and as the weather was just stunning (18 °C), I simply had to go the Sunnmøre alps and do something narrow and airy. It was clear that I would be going to Standaleidet, but would I be hiking Nonshornet, Sylvkallen or Langenestinden? I ended up with paying Langenestinden a revisit.
It was really nice to be back on Standaleidet!
I parked by the Fladalen trailhead and considered if I should bring my bicycle. It’s a steep road and in the end, I decided to go on foot.
I took a shortcut which I regretted a lot. I have various allergies and whatever was in that shortcut was one of them…
But I had good views and I was one happy bloke…
I had been to Langenestinden twice before. The first time was in 2007, with my dog Troll and the second time was in 2019, with my dog Karma. I was also on Geithornet in 2015 with Anne and Karma.
I had completely forgotten the part between the end of the forest road and lake 752. But, oh well…
I still had amazing views…
Life was so good that I didn’t need music or a podcast to make it better…
Up to my left was Sætretindane. I have been to the north top (1365m) on skis – but I haven’t been to the south top. It’s a difficult one. I really would like to visit it one day, but I can’t do it all by myself. If I can’t get a skilled buddy to get me up there, I might have to rent a guide, and the ascent will probably be in spring – when the gap between the (small) glacier and the rock is at the minimum.
As I closed in on the lake, I could not understand where the ascent route was. I remembered that I picked the wrong route back in 2019, and this time, I would really focus on the path.
Finally, I got the route in view, and the path led me right to it…
Soon, the route got steep…
As it got steeper, I felt that my balance was a bit off. It happens every now and then and it doesn’t help to have a camera in the hand. It didn’t take long before I wondered how the heck – I got Karma up here in 2019…
The terrain got easier higher up, except for a “gully crossing” where I remembered I really struggled with guiding Karma. I should not have guided her of course, but I didn’t really trust her either. She typically chose the opposite of my suggestions…
I looked forward to reaching the top. Maybe I could do some more scrambling once up there?
A distinct pinnacle caught my attention, but there was not a fibre in my body that assumed this was something I could climb…
I continued to the top. The ascent is not difficult by any means, but I still wondered what I was thinking – bringing a dog to this summit…
And then I was up!
I really looked forward to the panorama pictures…
I also took a panorama with my Canon that I stitched using Autostitch…
Then I just let the camera fire away…
I really want to visit Nordre Sætretind in summer. That’s definitely on my agenda now…
Then I started to wonder – could I reach the 1067m point, south of the summit? I just didn’t know exactly where it was…
Time would show…
It’s been way too long since I visited the other side of the Hjørundfjord. I need to do something about that….
Holmshornet is also on my wish-list. The ridge itself doesn’t look too bad, but how do I even get on the mountain?
OK, wrapping up the pictures. It was time to move on…
I went over to the northwest top. The scrambling was easy enough…
It felt safer to stick to the ridge crest, than exploring the steeper side to the south…
I noticed a top that I didn’t know what was. It turned out to be Høgenipa…
Then I returned to my ascent route and figured I might as well take a look at the pinnacle that I previously ruled out as an option.
I gave it a go without the backpack. I got up and could place both my hands on top. Then I went back down to repeat the route – this time with the backpack – with my GPS tracking app inside it…
Then I headed back down…
But at the first “gully fork”, I decided to go back up – thinking this route would lead me to the the 1067m top…
The route to the top looked daunting at first, but was altogether very easy…
I reached the top, and could look back on the pinnacle I just scrambled – 40 meters further up…
But was this the 1067m top? Most likely not. It turned that I had been scrambling a top at around 1150m that was of no interest whatsoever…
Now, I definitely wanted to go down…
On my way down, I met two ladies. One of them was a former colleague and we had a nice chat. I told her (Louise) about the pinnacle and hoped that she would give it a go…
Minutes later, I met two other ladies – trying to catch up with the ones I previously spoke to. It was “ladies’ night” on Langenestinden!
Later on, I took a picture towards the top, and it seemed like Louise was giving the pinnacle a go. But, I sent her a PM later on and she told me they didn’t go all the way up…
But at least, all of them reached the top!
I continued my descent with my camera running “hot” …
Eventually, I reached the lake…
… and began my descent down Fladalen valley….
It was indeed a nice revisit!
On my way home, I stopped a few more pictures…
A very memorable afternoon!
Trip statistics: 8,3km, 1040 vertical meters, 3h:57m