Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Hestehaudet round-trip, Oct 23 2007

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The route

The route
(Click for larger image)

 

I was pretty starved for a sunny hike this Tuesday evening. The weather, ever since July, had been plain terrible. By leaving work a bit earlier, I figured I had time to do a fun round-trip on Hestehaudet. My colleague Arngeir provided information about the local routes, and I decided to go for the classic "Haudet" round-trip.

Ascent:

The dog and I left the trailhead at Synnalandsvatnet 14:50PM. The dog walked across the dam and called it a day. So with my little racoon safely tucked away in the backpack, I was on my way to a very pleasant hike. I followed the path towards Store Hestevatnet, and turned left (Ryssdalen) at the Ryssdalen/Hesten trailsign.

I followed the ridge path up Fremste Synnalandsheia, but the path seemed to bypass Fremste's high point. I headed over to the small cairn on Fremste Synnalandsheia (the time was 15:30PM) and tried to figure out exactly where the path up to the Hildrehesten plateau went. According to Arngeir, this was the normal route from Brattvåg to Hildrehesten in former days. Nowadays, most people head up the northwest ridge - Grønebakken.

I couldn't find a path from Fremste's high point, so I headed towards the pass between Ryssdalstjørna and the unnamed lake. I could see a faint track leading up to a distinct area where a landslide probably had gone. I could see tracks in the sand, and I followed them up to 560m elevation, where they vanished. It was too steep to continue on this route. Especially while carrying a dog. I moved over to an adjacent gully and found tracks leading up to the plateau.

Close to the spot where I surfaced, i found a tall cairn - built by Stig Gribbestad. From here, it was just a short walk up to Hestehaudet summit, which we reached 16:20PM. Taking pictures involved some stress, as the dog (now back on ground) was constantly moving towards the steep drop to the east. Poor bastard, turning more and more blind as the days go by.

Descent:

The plan was for Troll to walk all the way back to the trailhead. I had to help him across some rocky sections on the gentle plateau just north of the summit. In Grønebakken, he managed more or less on his own, although in places, it was steep for a small dog.

At 400m elevation, I realized that we were on the wrong path. This path was surely heading towards Hildrevatnet, and I had no intention on going there. We followed the path down to 350m, where I put the dog in the backpack and headed off-trail towards Lake Litle Hestevatnet. Down by the lake, I found a path along the lake and I followed it around the lake until I reached the path from Hestehaudet - the path we should have been on in the first place.

Troll was now back on the ground and struggled on the path towards Lake Store Hestevatnet. The path wasn't very distinct (wet ground), and he was constantly getting off-trail. He could have handled the being-off-trail situation in two ways: a) quickly responding to my NOT THAT WAY command, and immediately move back on track - or: b) dwell, ponder, reflect, consider and give thought to the situation. He chose option B. When this scenario repeated itself every 20 seconds, my patience got tested to the fullest. Give or take, I think I passed the test.

Eventually, I was able to steer him with a mild touch from my foot. I made a mental note about start using a hiking pole for that particular purpose. For outsiders, viewing us from distance, it might have looked ugly. Word may go around about this hiker who kicked his dog across the meadow north of Hestehaudet.

Walking along Store Hestevatnet was nice. There were significant waves on the lake, and I made another mental note about this place being a good camp-site. Back on the Synnalandsvatnet - Store Hestevatnet trail, things got easier for Troll. Now he had a defined route to stick to, and the pace got increased. We were back at the trailhead 18:05PM, and it had been a good hike.

The Brattvåg locals are truly blessed. I do hope they know! Superb hiking terrain all over the place. Easy paths on Synnalandsheiane, steep and challenging terrain on Bergetindane, nice hikes to tops such as Storfjellet, Hellandshornet, Urfjellet, Hildrehesten, Tinden and Skulstadhornet. Skiing/walking/bicycling terrain in Synnalandsdalen, and a short ferry trip to Dryna - with subsequent access to a number of tops on Midøya and Otrøya.

Like Arnold says; I'll be back.

 

Pictures from the Oct 23 2007 hike

Slideshow:

Early morning

1. Early morning (128KB) 2. Early morning (135KB)

Map of the route

3. Map of the route (350KB)

To Fremste Synnalandsheia

5. The trailhead (271KB) 6. Synnalandsvatnet (248KB) 7. The path to Store Hestevatnet (487KB) 8. Trail fork (399KB) 9. On path to Fremste Synnalandsheia (418KB) 10. Urfjellet and Bergetindane (344KB) 11. View towards Store Hestevatnet (710KB) 12. Drynjahatten (206KB)

To Hestehaudet

13. Hestehaudet seen from Fr. Synnalandsheia (453KB) 14. Tinden and Skulstadhornet (512KB) 15. Ascending Hestehaudet (390KB) 16. View down (398KB) 17. On the Hildrehesten plateau (279KB) 18. The gully I came up (317KB) 19. Soft clouds (97KB) 20. Soft clouds (96KB) 21. Godøya (128KB) 22. On Hestehaudet (182KB)

Wide-angle views from Hestehaudet

23. Wide-angle view from Hestehaudet (949KB) 24. Wide-angle view from Hestehaudet (504KB)

50mm views from Hestehaudet

25. 50mm view from Hestehaudet (519KB) 26. 50mm view from Hestehaudet (528KB)

Zoom views from Hestehaudet, 3 parts

27. Zoom view from Hestehaudet, part 1 of 3 (868KB) 28. Zoom view from Hestehaudet, part 2 of 3 (1105KB) 29. Zoom views from Hestehaudet, part 3 of 3 (860KB)

Other pics from Hestehaudet

30. Sukkertoppen seen from Hestehaudet (102KB) 31. Brattvåg (1204KB)

Descent

32. Descending (339KB) 33. Descending (436KB) 34. Descending (317KB) 35. Airplane in for landing at Vigra (289KB) 36. Hestehaudet (285KB) 37. Gamlemsveten (150KB) 38. Hestehaudet (244KB) 39. Nice sky (99KB) 40. Dam at Store Hestevatnet (275KB) 41. Dam at Store Hestevatnet (321KB) 42. Hestehaudet (194KB)

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