1936 On the Continent

from one place to another in winter, and from this sternly utilitarian origin ski-craft has grown as a sport with all the more vigour.
    Norwegian winter sports begin in December and continue well into May. Easter (Paaske) is the great national ski holiday, when everybody makes an exodus to the mountains to enjoy themselves in the snow and the brilliant spring sunshine. At the end of March the strong northern sun is giving fifteen hours of daylight, which has increased to twenty hours by the beginning of May.
    Though ski-ing can be had anywhere in the country in winter, there are two main areas in which hotels and accommodation in mountain huts and hospices are notably good. These are the mountain resorts along the Bergen-Oslo Railway; and those along the Dovre Railway, which leads northward through Norway to Trondheim. Both of these regions are easily accessible from England.
    On either side of Finse, the highest station on the Bergen-Oslo Railway (4,000 feet), there is a string of winter sports centres along the line; Myrdal, Haugastöl, Geilo, Ustaoset, and so on. They stand upon the very edge of the vast snowfields, surrounded by the gleaming mountain tops.
    Foremost among these snowfields is the Hardangervidda, a vast waste where the undulating sweeps of snow extend for long distances in every direction, from far above the tree-line down to the forest fringe. Tracks through the forests bring the ski-er to the valley villages.
    The
höifjell
(mountain) stations on the Dovre line bring one into contact with the Dovrefjell range, the great central mountain mass of Norway. Here, Hjerkinn, Opdal, Dombas and Fokstua are popular centres. But every place in Norway, from country village to busy town, is in effect a winter sports centre while the snow lies. One cannot go far wrong.
    Unlike the jagged, precipitous Alps, the mountains of Norway are humped and undulating. Their formation provides ideal ski terrain, and long trips may be undertaken in safety, lasting for a fortnight or longer. This journeying from one hut or mountain hotel or hospice to another is a wonderful way of getting close to the winter life of the country. Routes are carefully marked with stone beacons, and a winter stay at a Norwegian country inn is one of those satisfying experiences that one remembers through life. Big fires of birchwood burn in the open stone hearths. There is a warmth and homely friendliness about everything that no other type of winter sports holiday can give.
    For skating, all the larger winter centres have natural ice rinks; and the speed and figure skating events at Oslo, Trondheim, Lillehammer and Kongsberg draw the world’s finest skaters.
    The national ski-jumping competitions take place at Holmenkollen, just outside Oslo, in February. Oslo, indeed, is quite a good winter sports centre in itself. One can quickly get out of the city to the forest-covered hills where there are many good ski routes. Oslo also has a famous toboggan run, “The Corkscrew,” which starts high above the city on the forest edge and does not end until the first suburban tramlines come into sight.
Fishing
    The classic salmon and sea trout rivers are nearly all private property, and the rents charged for a length of bank are substantial. But for 25 kroner the foreigner in Norway can obtain a
fiskekort
(from the tackle shops or through the tourist bureaux) which gives him permission to fish anywhere over the State lands. And where a hotel owns a stretch of river or lake, as so many of them do, guests can, of course, fish without further charge.
    There are trout in every Norwegian river and lake. Not always very large, but they give the angler any amount of sport. The wet fly is used, or spinning from a rowed boat; and it is not considered undignified to use a worm, if you can better get your fish that way. The average weight of the trout in southern Norway, where the rivers and lakes are fairly heavily fished, does not run much above half a pound. Bigger fish are there,naturally, and the lucky anglers get them now and again. But on the whole the Norwegian lowland trout is smaller than his English or Scottish relative.
    There are still desolate tracts of the country where the waters are almost virgin from the fishing point of view. But one must trek and rough it a bit to reach them. Once there, however, fish of four or five pounds almost hook themselves on the fly. July is the best fishing month in southern Norway.
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