Travel

Hitting the slopes Scandinavian style

Heading to Oslo for the rescheduled Nor-Shipping? Here’s some winter sport tips

For the intrepid making it to Scandinavia next month, there’s vast amounts of winter sport on tap. It’s time to swap the sunglasses for ski goggles.

Skiing Norway is generally for more adventurous powderhounds looking for something completely different. Whether it is a traditional and fun ski resort near Oslo or Bergen, summer glacier skiing overlooking fjords, or remarkably wild and remote ski touring above the Arctic Circle like Narvik, Lyngen Alps (Tromso) and the island of Svalbard, Norway has it all.

Ski resorts in Norway are generally smaller and lower than those in the main European ski destinations of Austria, France, Italy or Switzerland. That said, there is no need for a ski resort to be high elevation this far north of the equator. You can breathe easy while skiing in Norway as most ski resorts summits top out at less than 1,200 m above sea level.

Norway’s largest ski resorts are all within a 400 km radius of Oslo and the coastal city of Bergen. Trysil ski resort gets the chocolates for Norway’s biggest (and busiest) skiing area. It has over 70 km of ski trails and 30 modern lifts across its 700 m skiable vertical. Second is Hemsedal ski resort with over 44 km of trails, 18 lifts and a healthy vertical of 830 m. Norefjell, closer to Oslo, has the highest skiable vertical of over 1000 m.

Classic Norwegian ski resorts in the Telemark region near Rauland and north of the Winter Olympic host town of Lillehammer, including Hafjell and Kvitfjell, are worth a look too. East of Bergen are two great little ski resorts called Voss and Myrkdalen.

Perhaps Norway’s snowiest ski resort, Roldal, gets a not too shabby 11 m of snow every year - enough for a snorkel to be required on occasions. Above the Arctic Circle in the land of the midnight sun and the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) the intriguing Narvikfjellet rises above the fjords in dramatic style. One can even ski in summer at the quirky Stryn Sommerski Centre or the Fonna Glacier ski resort.

To get the most out of Norway’s ski terrain, long late spring days and gorgeous coastal scenery, getting away from the ski lifts is essential. Ski touring in Norway opens up countless mountains where solitude, beauty and unsullied powder reign supreme.

And for those for whom time is limited from the exhibition floor, head on out to Holmenkollen, a ski resort that is a short tram trip from Oslo central. ●

“Skiing Norway is generally for more adventurous powderhounds looking for something completely different”