Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Krokhornet & Store Krokhornet, Feb 28 2009


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Store & Lille Krokhornet

Krokhornet & Store Krokhornet
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The last day of February seemed to be a good one. I took the Larsnes - Åram ferry, expecting to bag a number of Vanylven tops. The sky would be the limit, so to speak. Little did I know that this was to be taken literally.

Store Krokhornet was the main goal, but I didn't know where I ought to head out from. At this point in time I had still not aquired the Turkart Vanylven map (I have now), so I looked for people while driving from Åram towards Syvde. A woman was about to enter the main road in a car, and I successfully delayed her in doing so. After stating my business, she said she would drive ahead of me and give me a signal when I should turn left. At Sighaugvika, her brake lights came on, and I turned left.

My GPS confirmed that there was a path here, and it didn't take long before I had located it. I parked the car and headed up the mountain 10:30am. The hike upwards was enjoyable. I made swift progress and the view towards Stadlandet was excellent. It wasn't until I reached Lake Sighaugvatnet that I discovered that something ugly was moving in from the south. I realized that the sky was indeed the limit and hurried towards Krokhornet (not the main top).

  

Krokhornet - a windy place

Krokhornet - a windy place
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Visibility would certainly be diminishing, and the odd thing was that I was running out of GPS batteries. I had a handful of used batteries (from the headlamp), all tested OK on beforehand, but not very well received by the GPS device. I normally use new batteries, and had bought new batteries for this hike too, but I accidently left them in the car. The odd part was that a friend of mine had recently reported a similar story - low on batteries on a mountain in bad weather - and I had asked him how he could no new batteries along? Lately, I seem to be handing out all sorts of good mountain advice, only to look like the fool on the hill in the end. There's a lesson to be learned, I suppose..

The big question, as I reached Krokhornet, was whether I should continue or not. Store Krokhornet was only 1km away, and I decided to go for it. I was a bit tense about it, as the weather got quite rough. But there was still some visibility and I assumed I would make it to and fro, before the hike would get really tough. But finding a way down from Krokhornet wasn't directly easy. There were a lot of north-facing cornices and the light was totally flat. In the end, I found a safe way down the northeast ridge.

I reached Store Krokhornet 12:12pm and didn't stick around for long. I could still see Krokhornet and I decided to follow my tracks - which had almost disappeared. Back on Krokhornet, it was evident that I had plenty of time before the incoming snowfall would cause bigger problems, and so I decided to follow a different route down to Sighaugvatnet. Crossing the lake was tempting, and once again, the axe was a good helper. The ice seemed safe enough. Soon, I was back on my ascent route, and below the rugged weather. While my original plan was to continue towards Litlekrokhornet, I decided to call it a day and return to the trailhead. And by 1:20pm, my Vanylven hike had come to an end.

On Store Krokhornet

On Store Krokhornet
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Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 450D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6.

 
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The hike

0. Trip tracks 1. Rivjehornet on Stadlandet 2. Sighaug trailhead 3. View up the mountain 4. On the path, looking down 5. On the path, below Sighaugvatnet 6. Stadlandet 7. Excellent path 8. Coastline view 9. View from Sighaugvatnet 10. Brudevikvatnet 11. Stadlandet seen from Krokhornet 12. Krokhornet - a windy place 13. On top of Krokhornet 14. A neighbour top 15. Store Krokhornet 16. Store Krokhornet summit 17. Crossing Sighaugvatnet 18. Signpost by Sighaugvatnet 19. Rock face

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