With Norway being so far North, the ski days are short. Certainly in December and January, it will get light late and dark early. Luckily, floodlit pistes mean you can still enjoy the experience of a full day’s skiing.
Norway’s Skiing.
Norway has more Winter Olympic medals in its cupboard than any other nation. Obviously, this means winter sports are extremely popular with Norwegians. Norway doesn’t possess the spectacular high peaks of the Alps, but the Northern latitude ensures excellent snow coverage.
Norway’s ski resorts are quite small and dotted around the centres of population, mostly in the Southern part of the Country. Most have a backdrop of glaciers, deep fjords, harbours and lakes. The ski season is long, often starting in November and continuing through until early May.
Overview of Norway.
- Capital: Oslo.
- Area: 385,000km2.
- Population: 5.4million.
- Telephone: The international dialing code is +47.
- Mobile/Data: Norway subscribes to the EU Roaming Regulation.
- Time: Central European Time Zone (CET), 1 or 2 hours ahead of GMT/UTC.
- Languages: Norwegian.
- Driving: On the right.
- Visas: Norway is part of the Schengen Agreement, meaning that most tourists either don’t need a visa or get one on entry.
- Currency: Norwegian Krone (NOK), although credit and debit cards are as widely accepted as in any other European country.
- Tipping: 10% to 20% is usual in restaurants. Taxi drivers are not normally tipped.
Skiing in Norway.
Ski resorts have often grown up out of small rural communities and retain that charm. For families and beginners or for groups including non-skiers, who still enjoy the snow, Norway offers lots of snow related excursions.
Trysil is Norway’s largest ski resort and is very popular with families and those learning to ski.
The 1994 Winter Olympics were hosted by the city of Lillehammer. The downhill skiing events were held at Hafjell, just 15km from the city, whilst Kvitfjell was purpose built for the event.
If you are a serious skier considering a trip to Norway you may want to consider a multi-centre trip. Distances between resorts are not huge and you can ski out most piste maps in a day or two. Of course, if you are venturing off-piste that’s a whole different matter.
