Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Høgehornet from Vartdalsætra, July 20 2008


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The route

The route
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I find the Høgehornet - Sveddalstinden - Raudfonndalstindane - Høgehornet (Mannen) - Kjerringa mountain range quite fascinating. It reminds me a great deal about De Syv Søstre - the seven sisters, located outside Sandnessjøen in northern Norway. The thought of these mountains always makes me long back Nordland - where I was born.

On this beautiful July afternoon, I would make acquaintance with this string of peaks, but "unfortunately" only one of them. Romedalstraversen - the traverse across all of these peaks isn't really a one-man project. Arriving at Vartdalsætra felt a bit strange. Only last month (June), I hiked Masdalhornet from here, together with my little buddy Troll. Sadly, Troll isn't around anymore, and I missed him. 

But for this hike, being on my own was the only way. I wouldn't have done this hike/scramble with Troll in his observation spot in the backpack. I was heading for rough terrain. I headed out 3pm, followed the path up to Skjerva, and then headed directly for Litle Kuven, opposed to following the path along the stream between the two Kuven hills. One part was a bit steep, but offered no problems. I passed Litle Kuven 3:45pm, and noticed something strange in Ørstaskaret. What in earth could it be?

It turned out to be a hiker and his dog (standing completely still), coming from Langedalen. We had a nice chat before we went in separate directions. I was very eager to get up on the ridge to see what was ahead of me. A picture I took of Høgehornet from Ådalstinden made me think this peak was unaccessable from this side. But a friend told me that it was quite easy. Many adjectives fit between easy and unaccessible, and I was very, very curious about what these adjectives would be.

The ridge to Høgehornet

The ridge to Høgehornet
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My first impression was that there would be no significant exposure until I began the final scramble towards the summit, but this turned out to be a false assumption. The scrambling became more and more exposed, and when I reached the top of point 967m, I wasn't tempted to stick to the ridge crest any longer. I went back down from the top and found a route that bypassed the most exposed part of the ridge. This section would be much easier to ascend than descend.

The hillside down to Langedalen wasn't so gentle any longer. From now on, I was bound to the ridge. The need to focus became stronger. I enjoyed the scrambling very much, but sensed I was moving too fast, becoming slightly sloppy. During the bypass of point 967m, I had to pass a rock which blocked my way, on the outside. In the middle of the critical move, I realised I hadn't checked if it sat firmly. One doesn't necessarily have to pass this rock, but this is where my choice of route led me.

Point 967m

Point 967m
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Upon ascending the final ridge to Høgehornet, I had a feeling of climbing towards the sky on "stairs" that only got more and more narrow. It was an amazing feeling. But then a 4-meter gap in the ridge quickly brought me back to reality. I wasn't truly happy about this part of the ridge. I backtracked to see if I could bypass this section, but the hillside was just too steep. I went back onto the ridge and decided to take an even closer look at the gap. Closer is good, and now I could see that the climb down to the gap was rather trivial. Upon advice from my friend, I crossed over to the southwest ridge, which was less steep. I found a good route up to the top, which I reached 5:48pm.

The final ridge

The final ridge
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Høgehornet was a delightful place to be! A fun scramble to a beautiful peak, beautiful weather and the view! I looked at the ridge towards the south. I expect to visit all of these peaks within the next 12 months. Individually, I guess. Unless someone invites me to do Romedalstraversen. Sveddalstinden looked very hard from this side, and has to be ascended from the south, it seemed.

After a nice stay on top, I headed back down. I could move rather quickly now that I was familar with the terrain. I went down to Ørstaskaret and followed the path back to Vartdalssætra. A big chunk of sea-fog came sweeping up Årskogdalen, and caused a temporary white-out when I was walking on snow. That was an odd attribute to the hike; gorgeous weather and a short white-out. I was back at the car 7:32pm, very, very happy about the afternoon.

Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 300D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6

 
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To the ridge

0. Trip tracks 1. Vartdalsætra 2. Romedalstinden 3. Romedalstinden 4. Towards Litle Kuven 5. A man and his dog in Ørstaskaret 6. Vartdalsætra 7. The ridge

To Høgehornet

8. Langedalen and surrounding peaks 9. Romedalen peaks 10. Høgehornet 11. Moving on 12. Steinstøylen 13. Kolåstinden 14. Høgehornet 15. Romedalen 16. Høgehornet neighbours 17. Høgehornet 18. Narrow section 19. Point 967m 20. Looking back 21. The sky is the limit 22. The final leg to the top 23. The crux 24. The crux 25. Just below the summit 26. The summit cairn

Wide-angle views from Høgehornet

27. Wide-angle view from Høgehornet 28. Kolåstinden and Romedalen

Zoom views from Høgehornet

29. 85mm zoom view from Høgehornet 30. 85mm zoom view from Høgehornet 31. 61mm zoom view from Høgehornet

Other pics from Høgehornet

32. Åvasstinden 33. The way I came 34. The crossing between ridges 35. Sveddalstinden 36. The other Høgehornet 37. Sætretindane 38. Romedalstinden 39. Molladalstindane 40. Romedalen

Descent

41. The ridge towards Sveddalstinden 42. Weather change 43. Middagshornet 44. Incoming fog 45. Romedalstinden 46. Åvasstinden

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