Go Ski Norway

Published: August 15, 2023

In March I had the privilege of joining several of my friends on an incredible ski trip to Norway. I’ve procrastinated on writing a full trip report since March, and have accepted that it won’t happen - and the specifics aren’t actually that important.

We skied in the Lofoten Islands and stayed in Svolvaer. It was much less daunting than I expected it to be. Accommodations are plentiful. Everyone speaks English and is very friendly (Scandinavians reputation for being standoffish is greatly overstated, or at least it’s no worse than Seattle). We met a local group of skiers on a tour who joined us for the rest of an epic day of skiing and became fast friends. We skied hard every day and went back to warm food, a sauna, and ice-cold plunges into the fjord.

Most of the tours are road side, forests are rare, and the alpine generally starts within 100 vertical feet of sea level. You often are skiing directly to a Fjord. Much of the terrain is consequential avalanche terrain, but it’s a maritime snowpack not dissimilar to the west coast and they use the same type of avalanche forecasting as North Americans. Drive in any direction and scope lines, there’s also a fantastic guidebook. It can be purchased at an excellent climbing shop, where the author works as a guide.

The most involved part was probably getting there, with three flights (Seattle -> Frankfurt -> Oslo -> Evenes -> 3 hour drive), which means most of the other skiers are Europeans. We didn’t see another American group at all. We spent a little under two weeks on the trip.

Our guide, Andreas, was fantastic. He hired a personal friend of his who’s an IFMGA ski guide to come along and keep us safe, Helmut. They were a fantastic duo and I can’t recommend enough to reach out to him if you want to do a similar trip.

I absolutely want to go back in the summer. The mountains here are beautiful granite that provide amazing trad climbing and mountain biking.

We experienced unbelievable powder conditions in the prettiest place I have ever been. We also got to see some legendary northern lights, as you’re well inside of the arctic circle. I’ve included a handful of pictures below.

The northern lights in all their glory