Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Ulsettua from Hjørungdalen, Sep 4 2006

For Information, maps, trailhead and route descriptions, click HERE.


Trip report, Sep 4 2006

Animal Planet

The rain was pouring down as I left work in Ulsteinvik this Monday afternoon. My dog "Troll" was laying on his back in the passenger seat. He seemed very comfortable and gave me this special look. It was almost as if I could hear him saying:

- Man, it's RAINING!
- Sure glad we're not going hiking today.
- What's for dinner? HAH! Joke! You and dinner... Giggle...
- Any plans for the night?
- Hey, why don't I watch Animal Planet while you work on your computer?
- And a chocolate to go along? ... Perhaps?...

Within the hour, he would be on top of Ulsettua, wet to the bone. Within the hour and the next 5 minutes, his face would be glued in the mud, after rocketing out of the backpack as I fell into a mud-pit. It's a dog world out there...

Farmers...

.. our LAST resort. Our fortress. When everything falls to pieces, you can rely on the farmers. The nation's backbone.

I stopped a farmer out on his tractor in the pouring rain. I asked if there was a path to Ulsettua. He nodded and pointed in the direction of Ulsettua. "Next road to the left", he said. No further questions. This was all I needed to know. Short and concise messages. My kind of language. I could picture him walking that path since he was 4 years old. Learing to become a MAN. I could picture him wander about in the fog, learing the territory, going fishing in the local lakes. Even sleeping at the top on a fine summer's night.

But there was no path.

Only bog, mud and wetlands. I left the car 16:15PM with Troll in my backpack, traversed back and forth, forth and back, WANTING to find the path that the farmer had described. But I found none. I got soaked within the next five minutes. I hadn't brought any raingear, so I didn't complain. And since I didn't have to go into the forest, everything was really quite alright.

Ouch..

I reached the top of Ulsettua 16:55PM. Although being wet as a ... hrk .. dog, I was in good spirit. After all, I wasn't walking around in fog, trying to establish the location of the high point. I stayed on the top 5 minutes while the rain made taking pictures somewhat difficult. On the way down, I took a short-cut, stepped into a hole, Troll rocketed out of the backpack and got buried in mud. I had only -felt- soaked up to this point, but now I really was soaked. I hauled Troll out of the mud-pit and laughed when I saw his genuine miserable face.

The remaining descent was swift, and we were back at the trailhead 17:19PM. Troll took a leak next to the car. That was the only muscle he used throughout the hike.

The crew

Naturally, I missed the ferry by 1 minute. That gave me ample time to work on my frustration about taking the ferry between Sula and Hareidlandet. During my years in western Norway, I have traveled by many ferries, and none have given me any kind of grief. But that was before I moved to Ålesund. Already on my first trip to Ulsteinvik, something was wrong. I was one of the first cars onboard the ferry, but one of the very last to get off. This turned out be the rule, more than the exception.

I have gone through (personal) mental therapy to cope with this situation. After all, queue management is something most people is concerned about, in every day life. When you shop groceries, when you buy a train ticket, when you try to get a good seat for the Rolling Stones concert, etc. But on this ferry, no one seems to CARE!

My general impression of the ferry crew is that they don't give a RAT's ASS about the passenger cars. I recently asked the conductor about why they couldn't handle the traffic in incoming order. I had to make sure the question was polite and gentle. Otherwise, I couldn't expect a sincere answer.

"Because we don't give a damn"

the conductor answered. I gave him 10 points for the sincerity and 0 points for content. In Norwegian, this reads "fordi vi gir faen", as their only interest was to get the cars off the ferry.

I always get tucked away in a side-pocket on the ferries. That's OK, as long as they let me off in fair order. On a recent ferry trip to Molde, the same thing happened, and with obvious irony, I addressed the conductor as I was paying - this means I'm gonna be the last car off the ferry? "No", he replied: "this ain't the Sulesund - Hareid ferry..."

Back to reality, which means the Sula - Hareidlandet ferry, I realise I have to dive into ADVANCED MENTAL THERAPY, as I plan to stick around here for quite some time. There is of course a light in the tunnel. Literally. Some day, there will be a tunnel. And I'll be smiling from the minute I enter until the minute I leave...

Pictures from the Sep 4 2006 hike

1. Ulsettua (126KB) 2. At the trailhead (141KB) 3. Off-trail in boggy terrain (286KB) 4. Ulsettua high point (137KB) 5. View towards Kongsvollen (135kB) 6. View across Storfjorden (158KB) 7. View down to Ulset (124KB) 8. Hjørungavåg (142KB) 9. Hornet (123KB) 10. Troll, after the hike (166KB)

No Javascript:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


westcoastpeaks.com Other Møre & Romsdal mountains Other Norwegian mountains