Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Vetehaugen on Lundsfjellet & Nøta, Oct 5 2008
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Vågen. Lundsfjellet to the right
(Click for larger image)
Ever since moving to Møre & Romsdal, the plan had been to visit
Vetehaugen on my way to or from Åndalsnes. But after quite a number of trips to
and from Åndalsnes, I still hadn't found the time to make the stop at
Vågstranda. But on this rainy and windy October Sunday, I decided to make the
(long) trip from Ålesund. Lundsfjellet was about to be bagged.
I was a bit concerned about driving across Ørskogfjellet while it
was snowing in the mountains. If the weather forecast was slightly wrong, snow
could fall on the road. With summer tyres, that could easily become a problem.
But the snow never fell below 700m, and the road was in good shape. And while
driving towards Vågstranda, the weather below that altitude was quite OK too. My
plan was to hike from Vågen, visit Vetehaugen first and
Nøta afterwards. I parked at Vågen and headed up to the nearest farm. As I
ususally do,
I rang the doorbell, but no one was home. I found a forest road behind the barn
and after a virtual coin-toss, I went to the right (I should have gone to the left).
The forest road led me to a pass. I
was now at the foot of Nøta, but decided to stick to the plan about visiting
Vetehaugen first. I turned north, and hiked off-trail towards
Vetehaugen. I had been looking forward to a possibly strenuous scramble up the
steep forest. But at the Brudeskaret pass, I came across a marked path that led me all the way up to
Vetehaugen. I had mixed feelings about this, as I was in the mood for a good
old forest struggle.
On the way up Lundsfjellet. Steep trail
(Click for larger image)
Because of the forest,
I didn't see much from the top of Vetehaugen, which I reached 12:07pm, 40
minutes after leaving the car. After a short stay at the top, I returned to Brudeskaret and
followed the forest road to see where it would lead me. It led me directly to
Nøta. The path to Nøta was difficult to follow upon ascent. I reached the top of
Nøta 12:45pm, and I couldn't see much from this top either. A shame
really. I felt cheated out of some fine Romdalsfjord views. But I did see a black grouse
take
off. Normally,
I just hear them (and skip a heartbeat or two). Man, these birds are huge. That
was something...
I was able to follow the path down
from Nøta and was back at the car 1:06pm, 1h:40m after leaving it. Which was
indeed shorter than
the 2h:30m drive from and to Ålesund..
Old, sad woman on Nøta
(Click for larger image)
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