Local tops, counting down to Vietnam
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 07.09.26 | Laupsnipa | 562m | 380m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 08.09.26 | Løkeberget | 579m | 300m | Hareid, Norway | WCP | |
| 09.09.26 | Leinehornet | 364m | 364m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 10.09.26 | Melshornet | 668m | 560m | Hareid, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.09.26 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 13.09.26 | Storebroren | 620m | 177m | Hareid/Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 14.09.26 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 15.09.26 | Chanterelles | – | – | Herøy, M&R, Norway | – | – |
| 16.09.26 | Gjøna | 531m | 163m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 17.09.26 | Chanterelles II | – | – | Herøy, M&R, Norway | – | – |
Laupsnipa (562m), Sep 7 2026
Monday: It wasn’t fun to be back home at all. I wished I could have kept on peakbagging (ref. my trip to Brønnøysund the week before) for days and days.
The Monday weather wasn’t brilliant, but at least it wasn’t raining. Barely, though. I decided to hike Laupsnipa from Voldnes, just to start the week with 500 vertical meters.
The only pair of shoes that weren’t wet, were an old, worn-down pair with zero grip. That was not the best fit for this trip. The ground was wet and slippery after rain.
But slippery ground calls for a good technique, and I never complain about the conditions – unless the heavens open. That’s never any fun. There was a lot of water in the creek, but I’ve seen worse here.
After the somewhat boring forest section, I now had the mountain ahead of me. I looked forward to reaching the top, so I could enjoy the descent – plus getting back home. Motivation wasn’t sky-high today…
When motivation is low, it helps to pick a mountain that I like and I do like Laupsnipa. I also like the ocean view.
I reached the top and the hardest part was now over. I kept a half-decent pace down the mountain, congratulating myself for having such a good technique. Then I fell flat on my ass and spent the next 10 minutes figuring out what went wrong. I came to a conclusion. I placed a heel on the slippery soil, and the heel is always the most slippery part of the shoe. I adjusted my technique a little bit and had no further mishaps…
Trip statistics: 4,7km, 565 vertical meters, 1h:25m
Løkeberget (562m), Sep 8 2026
Tuesday: The weather wasn’t too bad when I finished my working day, and I decided to go to Løkeberget. But I would cycle from Haddal to make sure I got at least 500 vertical meters.
The bicycle trip went OK. I listened to the latest episode of “National Rap Show” and had a good time.
5 minutes after I headed out from Løset, I ran completely out of steam. There was nothing left. Very strange. The walk up the mountain was slow!
Things did not improve when I looked to the south and could see rain showers coming my way. But how fast were they moving?
The incoming rain did wonders on my physical condition, because now I was going really fast! I realized that the bicycle trip down Ringstaddalen would be a wet affair, but could I get to the bike before the rain got here?
Nope. I felt light drops of rain when I reached the top and a few minutes later, it was raining.
It wasn’t bad as long as I was walking, but when I got on the bike and had ~40km/h downhill, I got properly wet, through and through.
After a nice, warm shower – the unpleasantness was all forgotten about…
Trip statistics: 3,8km on foot, 10,3km on bike, 580 vertical meters, 1h:42m
Leinehornet (364m), Sep 9 2026
Wednesday: The weather was awful throughout the working day. If it continued like that in the late afternoon, I would spend the rest of the day indoors!
Around 5:30pm, the forecast said “just cloudy” while it was still raining. But I was hoping there was some truth in it and decided to drive to Leinøya and hike Leinehornet from Volsund.
It stopped raining just as I started walking. Bonus! The fog also begun to lift!
I regretted not bringing my camera…
The path was extremely muddy today. No wonder, given the amount of rain lately. The conditions were better as I was approaching the top.
And then I was back on Leinehornet…
I followed the path down to Leine…
… and then followed a path I hadn’t hiked in a long time. It was totally overgrown at the far end, so I had to descend through someone’s backyard.
Trip statistics: 3,7km, 355 vertical meters, 1h:14m
Melshornet (668m), Sep 10 2026
Thursday: In the morning, I went to Ulsteinvik for a measles vaccine, as preparations for an upcoming trip to Vietnam. I found no record of having it or being vaccinated for it and so I decided to just take it.
In the afternoon, I had to go to my office in Hjørungavåg (where I am never at) to pick up a new set of headphones before they closed the doors for the day. And since this was at the end of my working day, I decided to hike Melshornet from Hjørungavåg.
The plod up the forest was slow. I thought I had surplus energy, but I didn’t. Every step came at a cost.
It helped a lot to get above the forest and get some views…
It was only 14 days since I visited Melshornet, but then I hiked from Ulset. I would never have guessed that the route from Ulset and the one I took today was the same distance (in total). I thought this route was significantly longer. But they were both 6,7km, up and down.
I really looked forward to getting to the top. Not for the views, but for the downhill…
Finally, I was up.
The usual round of pictures…
And then some more…
This was nice, but I had to get going. I had a movie at the cinema to reach.
I took a different route down. It was overgrown and not at all pleasant.
Back at the car, I managed to send 8 crawling ticks out the window before I could relax.
Back home, I got a quick dinner before going to the Sjøbørg cinema in Ulsteinvik. I rarely go to the cinema all by myself, but I really wanted to see Kristin Harila’s “Nådeløse fjell” (“Savage mountain”) and Anne had already seen it on Sogndal.
She set the world record for climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in just 3 months, with her climbing partner Tenjen “Lama” Sherpa – who unfortunately lost his life in an avalanche on Shishapangma in 2023 – some time after setting the record with Kristin.
This was her second attempt. She had previously climbed 12 of the mountains but was denied entry to Tibet. In her second attempt, she had to start all over again. She has also set other Himalayan records.
This was an extraordinary achievement, of course. But that was not my motivation for seeing the movie. I wanted to get into her mind, to maybe understand what extraterrestrial driving force she has, to put her through all this hardship and pain. Maybe I understood. Maybe I didn’t. Some people are just built different than others.
But it was a really good movie!
Trip statistics: 6,7km, 650 vertical meters, 2h:10m
Huldrehornet (271m), Sep 11 2026
Friday: Anne came up for the weekend but found a wreck when she arrived. I was suspecting the measles vaccine the day before. I felt so incredibly tired – and weird – but managed to pull off a walk up and down my local forest top Huldrehornet.
This was probably not a good idea, because the next morning was really terrible. When I don’t even consider going hiking, something is way, way off.
I felt a bit better in the evening and hoped that I would feel even better the next day.
I didn’t though. I was a total wreck throughout Saturday.
Trip statistics: 2,2km, 250 vertical meters, 0h:43m
Storebroren (620m), Sep 13 2026
Sunday: I was very tired on Sunday morning but felt significantly better that the previous morning. I worked a couple of hours, then we had breakfast before going through the recommended inventory list for the trip to Vietnam.
Later in the afternoon, we went on a bicycle trip together. We started from the waterworks building in Ulsteindalen (on Hareidlandet island)
The bike trip up to Litlevatnet (Lisjevatnet) was very hard. It’s a steep hill but I managed to bike it without getting off the bike once.
Then we proceeded towards lake Mosvatnet.
After 4,5km and 350 vertical meters, we arrived at Mosvatnet. From here, I would be hiking Storebroren while Anne continued biking somewhere else. I think she wanted to join me, but she has a bad foot and probably didn’t want to risk anything before our trip to Vietnam.
I decided to follow the west shore and join the ridge path from Sarshornet.
1,9km later, I reached the top. I was totally convinced that rain was moving in and I was quite happy reaching the top before it started raining.
The weather to the north looked OK.
The weather to the south raised questions. But so far, I couldn’t feel a drop of rain.
I decided to return to the car via “Mørdarbakken” and Skeide. I had to restrain myself as there were quite a few hikers coming up.
After passing Skeide, I sent Anne a message. She replied that she was biking towards Flø and so I did the same.
After a while, I met up with her, and we sat course for the sandy beach at Gåsneset.
It was time to be kids again…
The big splash and the loud scream I was “hoping for” never happened…
In desperate pursuit of a good picture involving a wet girlfriend, I kept on pushing. She got wet shoes in the end, but that was it…
It was time to get back home, and we took the shortcut along Ulsteinelva river.
It’s a fun route which we both enjoy and it was really nice to feel the body working again. I didn’t meet my weekly goal of 3500 vertical meters, but 3140 isn’t too bad, given the crap weather most of the week and the crap shape after the vaccine.
Trip statistics: 3,6km on foot, 17,3km on bike, 740 vertical meters, 2h:41m
Rjåhornet (600m), Sep 14 2026
Monday: Anne left in the morning, and I spent half the day at the car garage in Ørsta. Periodic maintenance.
After work, I decided to go to Rjåhornet (on Gurskøya island) and just for variation, I decided to hike via the farm in the forest behind Leikong.
There was a pine forest and as I like hiking in pine forests, I took a chance to see if I could find an interesting route up the forest.
I didn’t and to avoid a complete nightmare, I went up to the path that runs up to Bakketua.
The path was overgrown. I didn’t make this easy for myself.
Things got easier when I got above the forest.
Fortunately, it wasn’t raining this afternoon.
On my way down the forest, I completely lost the path (it was a path I don’t hike very often, and it was overgrown) and I ended up in just terrible terrain. I couldn’t see the ground under my feet, because of high grass.
But I got down without falling, which at least was a good thing.
Trip statistics: 6,4km, 620 vertical meters, 1h:56m
Chanterelles, Sep 15 2026
Tuesday: The afternoon weather was absolutely awful and if it hadn’t been for the fact that I came across a field of chanterelles the day before, I would have stayed indoors.
It didn’t seem that anyone would pick these and so I decided to go back there
When I decided to finish, I still had hours of work ahead of me. I would cleanse the chanterelles and let them dry before going to Sogndal on Thursday.
I had Facetimed her in the forest and she was ecstatic. We’ll be enjoying this batch for a long time.
Trip statistics: 1,4km, 130 vertical meters, 1h:41m
Gjøna (531m), Sep 16 2026
Wednesday: The weather was just as bad as the day before, but today I was determined to hike up Gjøna, just to get the vertical meters. This would be my last hike back home for the rest of the month.
The route was incredibly slippery, and I was wearing my most worn-out shoes (saving my new ones for the trip to Vietnam). The descent could be a challenge.
The weather was horrible on top. Pouring rain and wind. I was wet through and through.
I stayed on top for exactly 5 seconds…
The descent was a challenge. I tried to stay in the grass alongside the path, but I lost count of how many side splits I was in the process of achieving.
But, incredibly enough, I made it back down without falling.
Trip statistics: 3,1km, 520 vertical meters, 1h:07m
Chanterelles (part II), Sep 17 2026
The long trip from my home on Sunnmøre to Vietnam had begun. The first task was to get to Sogndal and get the chanterelles into Anne’s freezer.
