An hour after catching the 8:15 a.m. train from Bergen, I jumped onto the Voss platform, my train car equidistant from the Scandic Hotel, where I would spend the night, and the cable car that would take me to the resort’s slopes would bring. .
The lift didn’t open until 9:30am, so I had time to hastily drop off my bags at the Scandic, put on my ski boots (I had traveled from Bergen in my ski clothes, as had several other passengers who got off here) and take a a few hundred meters back along the platform to Voss’s new Ferrari-designed cable car. A few minutes later I was strolling along the snow-covered fjells.
This was the first part of a spectacular train journey through three Norwegian ski areas. Easily compared to Switzerland’s better-known scenic railways, which transport tens of thousands of skiers to internationally renowned resorts like Zermatt and Arosa every winter, Norway’s railways offer a lesser-known, much quieter and more remote experience.
Flee the city
Within minutes of leaving Bergen station, the train rattled along the shore of windswept lakes, past rustic farmhouses hugging deep green forests, with the occasional waterfall tumbling through the trees. High above the snow-capped peaks and crags whose faces, with a little imagination, resemble the gargoyle-like features of the trolls that, as all Norwegians know, live among these mountains.
The skiing at Voss, the first stop, is a winning mix of gentle, fun blue and red cruisers and steep, fast black runs – my favorite was the Utforløype, a thrilling black run that takes you all the way from the highest point of the resort. , at 964 meters Horgaletten, takes you to the cafes, restaurants and mountain huts in Bavangen, almost 700 meters lower.
Children and beginners are well catered for thanks to the many long, winding greens and the resort’s famous English-speaking ski school. If you want to enjoy freeriding, there’s no end to the wide open terrain between the pistes, along with some seriously steep challenges above Baviel.
A world-class winter wonderland
The next day I took a detour from the railway to Myrkdalen, using the free 30-minute ski bus service from Voss train station. The resort is known for having the heaviest snowfall in the world.
The snow-capped, round-shouldered mountains are reached by a mix of chair and drag lifts and although Myrkdalen offers a relatively modest vertical height of 600 metres, these lifts provide access to invitingly wide and gentle pistes, mainly of the red and blue variety . If you like to make wide turns, this is heaven.
The scenic journey back to Voss was followed by dinner at the Park Hotel in the center of the city, home to one of the best wine cellars in the world, with more than 40,000 bottles and some 6,000 labels from around the world. If you have €30,000 to spare to blow on a bottle of red wine, this is the place to do it; I spent about 1500 times less on my evening drink.
Untouched wilderness
My original plan had been to continue from Voss and go ski touring from the nearby Vatnahalsen Hotell, which is only accessible by train, but when I saw a bad local weather forecast and knew there were better snow conditions in the east of the country, I decided to ditch my original route and take the train to Norefjell, northwest of Oslo, before traveling to the Norwegian capital for my return flight to Britain.
The journey from Voss took me over Hardangevidda, Europe’s largest mountain plateau, as the train gradually climbed from 54 meters at Voss to a high point of 1,237 metres. The carriages crossed the plateau as dusk – and snow – fell on a primeval winter landscape; not so much the sheer, craggy mountains of the Swiss Alps as huge, remote and desolate whaleback peaks that reminded me of oversized versions of the Yorkshire Fells where I grew up; the word ‘fell’ is indeed derived from the Norwegian word ‘fjell’.
Avalanche barriers and tunnels provide protection from the relentless snowfall, and I was happy to be in the cozy warmth of the train car, from where even the least adventurous traveler has the chance to experience the white wilderness of Norway’s winter mountains.
The journey took me past the floodlit slopes of Geilo, one of Norway’s most popular ski resorts (and another stop on the trip for those with more time to spare) before finally pulling into Hønefoss, from where I took a cheap bus transfer to Norefjell.
Classic descents
Over the next two days I was able to enjoy the largest vertical drop in Norway, from the resort’s highest point, Ravnäs Mountain (1,188 metres) to the foot of the Norefjellheisen Chair at 178 metres. A thousand meters of ‘vert’ may not quite be on the same level as Switzerland (Verbier, for example, has 1,830 meters of vertical), but if you do it all without stopping, it’s enough to make your quads beg for mercy.
The descent is Norwegian skiing in a nutshell. Starting on vast, open hills with soft blue slopes, I made my way down to the mid-mountain range of traditional accommodation huts, modern Scandinavian-style apartments and the recently opened, über-cool Olympique restaurant (named after the 1952 Olympic giant slalom). piste located on the slopes of Norefjell).
I then fell into the increasingly steeper second half of the descent, where wide red runs weave between dense forest, before being catapulted onto black run number 9 (there’s also a gentler, blue option). I was able to get up to full speed earlier, with quads burning and cheeks tingling, and screeched to a halt just above the shores of the frozen white Krøderen Lake.
Two days of that kind of madness and I enjoyed my last train journey to Oslo, simply to get a chance to let my aching legs recover as I stared blankly at the glorious snowy landscapes of Norway drifting quietly by.
Must know
Ski Solutions (0203 7970575; skisolutions.com) offers the following four-star options at each of the resorts listed: seven nights B&B at the Hotel Scandic in Voss from £1,185; Seven nights at the Myrkdalen Hotel in Myrkdalen from £1,185; Seven nights at the Norefjell Ski & Spa from £1,145. They all include flights and private transfers.
You can fly from Gatwick to Bergen from £51 one way and from Oslo to Gatwick from £24 one way, both with Norwegian Air Shuttle (norwegian.com)
Essentials
Alf was a guest at Norway Home of Skiing. For more information on all resorts, visit: norwayhomeofskiing.com