Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Aregjell w/Bjørn Skoge, Mar 15 2009


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Aregjell & Gursken area

Aregjell & Gursken area
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I had just hiked Sandfjellet (Sandfjelltua) above Koparnes, and was now on the Koparnes - Årvik ferry. The plan was to continue to Haugsbygda and hike Saursegga, then drive to Gursken and hike Aregjell, which I hadn't been to before.

Onboard the ferry was also Bjørn Skoge, with whom I had talked on the phone in 2007. He recognized my car from pictures on my site, and came over to chat. It turned out that not only had I spoken with him on the phone - I had also called his wife during my research prior to visiting Nystøylhornet. It's a small mountain world...

We had a good chat, and I told him about my plans for the day. Since the day already was packed with coincidence, I wasn't very surprised when Bjørn told me that Aregjell was his local mountain. He invited me to come along for a walk, and I gladly accepted. It's nice be guided from time to time.

Armageddon on Aregjell

Armageddon on Aregjell
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Bjørn told me that the Argjell forest was severly rampaged by the Jan 1 1992 hurricane, and that the forest was difficult to move in. Having seen a number of forests damaged by the same hurricane, I suspected that he was exaggarating a bit. After all, I had been scrambling across dead forest on my way to Myklebosthornet in 2008. But when we approached the Aregjell disaster zone, I had to admit that he was indeed right. One does *not* hike through this kind of devastation.

Locating the high point was virtually impossible, at least within the time I had allocated for this walk. We found a spot which both of us believed to be the highest, but there was no way of determining if this was the high point. It would have been fun to know if there is a marker, then at least there was something one could look for. I would gladly go back on such a mission, for the sheer insanity of it...

On or close to the Aregjell high point

On or close to the Aregjell high point
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It took us only 21 minutes to get to the high point, and Bjørn suggested a round trip. We proceeded west along the ridge, across Litlefjellet and to a cool forest meeting point above the Gursken school. There was a gapahuk and ropes strung between trees. Kids will have a field day here! I asked Bjørn to demonstrate how the ropes should be used, and he did the whole route in .. seconds. I strongly suspect that not only kids have field days up here...

 

Forest fun

Forest fun
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We continued throughout the forest ridge (almost), and turned around when we could look down on the Myklebust Verft yard. Then we headed to Bjørn's house, and he drove me back to the starting point by Skogevatnet. The hiking distance was almost 4km, and it was raining lightly. I decided to drop Saursegga and headed for my local top Huldrehornet instead. Many thanks to Bjørn for good company and a good hike!

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. The trailhead 2. Into the forest 3. Approaching dead forest 4. Forest litter 5. On top of Aregjell 6. Seriously dead forest 7. View towards Almestad 8. Bjørn with home view 9. Forest meeting point 10. Gapahuk 11. Bjørn demonstrating the ropes 12. For those with head for heights 13. View towards Saursegga

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