Litj-kalkjin 1389 masl

Looming almost straight above Sunndalsøra and our house, Litj-Kalkjin is an excellent hike for those who want to get e great view of Sunndalsøra. The hike is not very steep compared to other hikes in the area and it does not take too long either. Of course the time spent on the hike depends on how fast one wants to walk and the conditions in the mountain. When I did this hike this summer it was still some snow on the way to the summit that we could not cross and therefore the trip got a bit longer. If you do not follow the marked path, as we could not do, you have to go through an area with rather large rocks. It wasn't dangerous or anything, but it takes longer and is more demanding.

The hike starts at the bottom of Haremdalen, a valley that one follows for the first hour or so. Walking up this valley is quit special because after a while you have to cross a river and then you have a river on both sides for the rest of the hike up the valley. As the valley is steep the rivers make a lot of noise and they are amazing and terrifying to watch. The water is so powerful!

Haremdalen, starting point

Before you leave Haremdalen, you get to a postbox where you can sign your name. At this place you leave the path to cross a rockslide before you get back on the path. Then you come to the most airy part of the trip. After that it is just up, up and up. You only have to be careful not to send a rock in your friends direction as there are some loose rocks on the path.

This year it was a bit foggy at the top, so we did not get the good view we usually do. But the hike is nice either way. You start almost at sea level and incline very quickly ending up at almost 1400 meters.

A narrow path through the most airy part of the hike

Finding a good way through the rocks

A lot of snow and low visibility

Due to the fog we only got a view up the valley

My dad and I at the summit. Usually Sunndalsøra is in the background

How the view how it is supposed to be. The photo is taken at an other occasion.

It was a good thing we had done the hike before.

The usual view from the summit. This year all we could see was white fog:/

Vinjerock

Vinjerock is a three-day festival for people who enjoy the outdoors. It is located at the boarder of Jotunheimen National Park at Eidsbugarden. At this height and being up in the mountains mean that one has to prepared for all sorts of weather and especially low temperatures. Another challenge when going to the festival is how to get there. Since I am living at a place with close to no public transportation and it is the same with Eidsbugarden, I was glad to get a ride with my friend, Cecilie, even though it meant an extra day of travelling. The detour ended up being very nice indeed; spending an evening at Cecilie's cabin and seeing new parts of Norway=)

It was beautiful at Cecilie's cabin:)

New roadblock: goats!

Since I got my ticket last minute, I had not have time to figure out who of my friends where going. But I knew there would be plenty of familiar faces, and it did not take long to see one of them. Already when we parked the car someone yelled my name=) And at the festival area it took ages to get to our camp spot because we ran into friends and people I haven't seen for ages every ten meters. It was very nice to see everybody, and the smile I got stayed on my face the whole weekend:) Neither was it difficult to get to know new people: everyone at the festival were smiling, being friendly and nice.

The atmosphere of the festival itself was also cosy. It did not seem people had come to binge drink, but to enjoy themselves. Of course there was drinking, but not too much. I did not see a single episode of arguing or fighting the whole weekend. Sadly this is abnormal for Norwegians after they've had some alcohol.
Most of the food and the beers that were sold at the festival was local and that influenced the atmosphere in a positive way. So did the art that was put up at every toilet too.

There were paintings at every toilet at festival. Made those nasty things a bit nicer:)
"A good conscience is a sign of bad memory"

Apart from the amazing program of artist who were playing, there were also arranged other activities. There was a library, a radio show, knitting courses, a multi-sport competition and guided hikes among other things. We chose to take a trip on our own to Gravafjellet on friday. It was a short, nice hike, but still some snow up in the mountains.

Ready for a hike:)

Do you trust me? jump!

Lunch at the top of Gravafjellet

And then of course a beer=)

A cold hairwash

Luxury 

Who's in?

At one of the pubs in the festival area, very nice indeed:)

Nothing but happy faces and smiles through the whole festival:)

Not bad for an after-party at this place. Too bad it was to freezing to play for long. 

One of the posts in the multi-sport competition 

An other post in the competition

A library, for those who feel for it:)

Locally made beer. Very tasteful!

Lerche singing before the electric equipment started working, impressive!

A big thank you to everyone making the festival so incredibly awesome!=)

Flaggnuten -a hike that challenges both body and mind

Flaggnuten is a viewpoint some 431 meters above sea level. There are two paths to the viewpoint that gives an excellent view of Sunndalsøra: the more humane one that is not very steep, but long and the scary one that is very steep, but fast. I have been to Flaggnuten several times, but all except one time I have taken the long route. The one time I managed to hike the steep route, I took the long one down... So it was about time I managed to take the steep route both up and down, and when my brother wanted to help me I could not say no. On the way up there are three places that are particularly difficult for me since I am scared of heights. At these places one has to use a chain to get up. Once I started to trust the chain the hike to the top was okay, but I started to worry for the hike back long before we reached the top. I really wanted to manage the hike down because it would be a personal victory, and with a lot of help from my brother who got his patience tested, I did it! But I was really scared a couple of times! What a feeling=)

Even though the hike is used as a daily exercise for many I would not recommend anyone taking the hike alone when they do it the first time, unless they are very familiar with airy hikes:) For those who are very fit the hike can be done in 20 minutes. What I especially like about this hike is that one has to use the whole body. The days after the hike my muscles were very sore and my arm and back muscles were aching the most.

We can see Flaggnuten from home

My mother getting past the first chain

Some are more relaxed than others

Sunndalsøra

On the safe side of the rock

Feeling on top of the world!

The long way back down...