Norwegian Mountains, Møre og RomsdalKrokhornet & Store Krokhornet, Feb 28 2009To the main Store Krokhornet page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
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).
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. |
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
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