Norwegian Mountains, Sogn og Fjordane

Storehaugfjellet (Storehogen), Jan 31 2009


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Storehaugfjellet (Storehogen)

Storehaugfjellet (Storehogen)
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The first time I visited Storehaugfjellet (Storehogen) was back in November 2002 with my friends Petter and Jacko. It was indeed a memorable ski-trip, even though a white-out prevented us from enjoying the grand views that this mountain has to offer. We skied directly from the airport up to the Storehaugfjellet towers - assuming this was the high point. But later on, we became uncertain if we had been to the actual high point. Was the northern top (where we hadn't been) higher?

The maps did not provide clarity and a few years later, Petter contacted Anne Rudsengen who wrote about Storehogen in the Opptur Sogn og Fjordane book. Anne replied that she was under the impression that the north top was a few meters higher. I wrote down Storehaugfjellet on my (imaginary) redo-list, and I assume Petter did the same...

8(+) years after the trip, I visited Anne Rudsengen in Sogndal and she knew very well that I wanted to go to Storehaugfjellet and to find the answer to the Storehaugfjellet problem. "Stuff for nerds. Stuff that matters", as they say. But more importantly was Anne's most excellent company, the gorgeous weather, and a fine mountain awaiting.

It was not accidental that we chose Storehaugfjellet for this Sunday. There was a lot of snow in the Sognefjorden region, and breaking trail to Store Haugmelen the day before was hard work. As such, I was more than happy about choosing a mountain where we - almost guaranteed - would find tracks.

We left the trailhead at Sogndal Lufthavn 10:50am, and we did find tracks. After a while along the mountain service road, Anne pointed out the Haukåsen farm - location of the Farmen 2004 reality show (which I had a fun time watching). Thanks to the tracks, the route up the mountain was easy, and despite of the cold weather - it was a brilliant day.

  

 

On the way up Storehogen

On the way up Storehogen
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It's almost unforgiving to name this huge mountain (and tremendous viewpoint) Storehogen (the Big Hill), and I did not miss the chance to make a general remark about it. Being a fan of characteristic names such as Stav, Hest, and Kjeringi, I felt this mountain deserves a better name. Seen from above, the peninsula on which Storehogen is located resembles a fish. In my private corner, I now think of this mountain as Laks (Salmon)...

We arrived on Storehaugfjellet 1pm - 2h:10m after heading out. It was nice to be up here again - this time with views - and the fact that I was here with Anne was also quite amusing. We also found out that Petter, Jacko and I visited Storehaugfjellet on Anne's (big) birthday in 2002.

We took a short break in the shelter of the summit building. It was quite cold, but we had warm clothes and warm drinks and were okay. And I looked forward to get over to the north top and see what the GPS had to say.

 

The two towers on Storehaugfjellet

The two towers on Storehaugfjellet
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After an easy trip over to Storehaugen (the north top), we arrived at the summit cairn 1:37pm. I let the GPS run samples for 10 minutes - very curious about the outcome. In the meantime, I enjoyed the magnificent views from this top. Within just a couple of months, I've become quite "familiar" with the mountains in a 20km radius from Sogndal, and quickly recognized distinct landmarks such as Jostedalsbreen, Fresvikbreen, Hurrungane, and other fine mountain regions.

When it was time to leave Storehaugen, I looked at the GPS which said 1175m. From years of experience with this device, I subtracted 2m (the normal average difference between my GPS and the map heights), then 1,5m for being on top of the summit cairn - resulting in 1171,5m. This was so close to the official height (1169m), that there was no apparent reason to doubt it, and I looked forward to my next waypoint - at Storehaugfjellet.

 

Descending Molden

Anne and Loke on Storehaugen
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Storehaugfjellet did (unfortunately) not give me a good reading. The towers were probably blocking for too many satellites and accuracy seemed to be low. 1174m and 1169m were not consistent numbers, and it seemed that I would need to hand the Storehaugfjellet problem over to professionals...

It was just too cold to spend much time up here, so we got ready for the descent that we both had been looking forward to. The snow above 1000m was a bit tricky, but from then on skiing was pure delight...

 

Descending Storehogen

Descending Storehogen
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We were back at Sogndal Lufthavn 3:06pm - 4h:15m after leaving. I still didn't know which was the highest top, but now that I had been to both, it wasn't all that important. Storehaugfjellet is definitely off the redo-list...

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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To Storehaugfjellet

0A. Trip tracks 0B. GPS Profile 1. Sogndal Lufthavn Haukåsen 2. The parking and trailhead 3. Heading out 4. View towards Haukåsen 5. Haukåsen farm 6. Road junction. Turn right here. 7. Nano-break 8. The mountain service road 9. Hard work in places... 10. Lingesetfjellet and Skriki 11. Winter landscape 12. The tower comes into view 13. Almost up... 14. Properly dressed for a cold day 15. Skriki 16. Anne arriving on the top 17. The two towers

Wide-angle view from Storehaugfjellet

18. Wide-angle view from Storehaugfjellet

To Storehaugen

19. Kjeringi - recently visited 20. Storehaugen 21. On the way to Storehaugen 22. Below Storehaugen 23. On Storehaugen summit 24. On Storehaugen summit 25. Loke on Storehaugen 26. Sogndal (hi-res) 27. Hurrungane 28. Storehaugfjellet

Wide-angle view from Storehaugen

29. Wide-angle view from Storehaugen

Zoom views from Storehaugen

30. Zoom view from Storehaugen 31. Zoom view from Storehaugen

Descent

32. Descending Storehaugen 33. The two towers 34. The old tower 35. Sognefjorden 36. Yippie kay yay! 37. The fun begins 38. A road just wide enough 39. Good snow! 40. Stand back! 41. See ya! 42. Hmm... too focused? 43. A good day on planet earth 44. Go, girl! 45. Dingeling... 46. Storehogen seen from Sogndal 47. Volda bus station - next day

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