Norwegian Mountains, Sogn og Fjordane
Smørhovden & Øyrafjellet, Nov 13 2010
To the main Smørhovden page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
Smørhovden seen from Storehogen
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Snow had fallen in the Sogndal mountains, but I was not yet in skiing mode, so Anne and me decided to do a hike instead. I wanted to visit Smørhovden, which I had seen from Slakkafjellet a month earlier. We looked at the map and found that Skarsbø would be a good starting point. At Alpen, we stopped and talked to a local who suggested that we should start out from Alpen instead. He explained the route, and by 12:18pm, we were on our way.
Just as we were leaving the trailhead, we noticed a curious stout. I didn't see it at the time, but on one of the pictures (see further down), it seems that the stout has a rodent in its mouth. Besides this, the stout looked quite cute...
The stout
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We followed a tractor road until it ended above Alpen. A forest path led us to another tractor road, and this road went all the way up to Alpastølen. We reached snow above 500 meters, but it was only a thin layer. The weather was gorgeous and the view from Alpastølen was brilliant. It was good to be outdoors!
Alpastølen with Skriki in the background
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On the way up Smørhovden, Anne discovered splinters at the foot of a tree. Upon closer inspection, we found a cleverly built nest (had to be accessed from below), made by a Greenpecker (we think). For all we know, it might not have been a nest after all (it was a strange time of the year to build one?). Perhaps the bird was just looking for food? I would just have to check if there is a woodpeckerfordummies.com site on the net...
Pecker work
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We arrived at the top 1:20pm - 1 hour after heading out. We didn't get a summit sensation in the middle of the forest, but I really liked this area. The view was for the most part obscured by trees, but we got a good glimpse of Torstadnakken and Tylderingen.
It was tempting to walk to Sogndal via Stedjeåsen, but we ended up with aiming for Øyrafjellet and to see if we could find a descent route close to the cliffs. After walking 1km along the forest ridge, we arrived at the Øyrafjellet trigonometric point and met a deer hunter at the same moment. It was a bit scary. Suddenly he was just there, coming out of nowhere. Once he was gone, we enjoyed the views while discussing where to descend.
On Øyrafjellet
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From Øyrafjellet, we headed straight down and kept to the right when we reached the top of a big cliff. Anne had a bad knee and this steep descent was painful for her. We were back at the trailhead 2:40pm and checked if the stout was still there. Perhaps it was, but it didn't come out to see us. Back at Fardal, we stopped and took a look at the icy Fardalselvi waterfall.
Fardalselvi waterfall
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