Students run over the mountains

Sporty college students from Norway’s two leading business schools were competing with each other this weekend in a long-distance relay race over the mountains between Bergen and Oslo. The route roughly follows the NSB train line called Bergensbane, hence the race name BergeNSBaneløpet. It combines running and cycling in 110 various laps, and while the [...]

Hiking boss hits a new trail

Kristin Krohn Devold, a former defense minister who’s headed the national mountain trekking organization DNT (Den Norske Turistforeningen) for the past eight years, is setting off on a new career path this autumn. That’s when she’ll take over as head of the tourism division at national employers’ organization NHO. “This will be very exciting,” Devold [...]

Lure of ‘marka’ hits UN recruiting

Norwegians’ easy access to the great outdoors, combined with good pay and benefits, is making it difficult to convince them to apply for or accept work abroad, not least at the United Nations (UN). Foreign ministry officials say Norwegians are underrepresented among staff at the UN, and it’s not always a reflection of their skills or [...]

Norwegians urged to stop bragging

So much for Norwegian modesty: New research shows that Norwegians are now seen as bragging about their affluence, strong currency and lifestyle so much that their Nordic neighbours want them to shut up and calm down. Norwegians have generally been viewed as humble and modest folks who like a simple life, weekends away at their [...]

Great outdoors at the ‘cultural core’

After a week of media debate over what comprises the core of Norwegian culture comes an answer based on 17,000 votes and 500 proposals submitted by the readers of the country’s largest newspaper: Norwegians thrive best when they’re trekking through the country’s great outdoors. The debate itself was criticized for being set in motion by a [...]

Forests targeted by farmers’ party

The small but powerful political party best known for representing Norwegian farmers chose an unusual weekend to roll out its latest, often unpopular demands. Just as organizations promoting hiking and conservation were urging folks out into the great outdoors, a top Center Party official was saying that the forests were less important than agricultural land, [...]

‘Too many fish’ in Finnmark lakes

Many freshwater lakes in Norway’s northernmost county of Finnmark have a problem that likely would be considered a luxury most other places: They’re so full of fish that local officials worry they’re becoming “overpopulated.” There just aren’t enough people out fishing. Calls have thus gone out for both residents and tourists to grab their poles [...]

Queen opens new coastal trail

Around 250 hikers followed along with Norway’s Queen Sonja when she formally opened a new coastal trail on the island of Vannøya north of Tromsø late last week. The area has a rich history of settlements dating from the Stone Age, and the queen cycled there last summer. This summer she returned to officially unveil the [...]

A summer’s night in Krokskogen

There’s been a lot of heavy rain all over southern Norway this summer, making it somewhat less appealing to head into the local hills and woods after work and go on a hike. But every now and then there’s been a break in the seemingly constant downpours, and then the still-long summer evenings invite for [...]

First national park turns 50

The majestic, almost moon-like peaks of Norway’s Rondane National Park have drawn hikers and climbers for years and now they have a reason to celebrate once they get there. This year marks 50 years since Rondane became Norway’s first nasjonalpark, and the festivities have already begun. Jubilee treks, concerts and other cultural arrangements are taking [...]

Mountains open for the high season

Record numbers of Norwegians are heading for the mountains this summer as the high season for hiking, cycling or simply gazing at the scenery gets underway. Recent surveys indicate that a vast majority of Norwegians are more keen on the great outdoors than ever before. Nine out of 10 Norwegians questioned in this year’s edition [...]

Norwegian trees survived Ice Age

There’s no question that Norway has a lot of trees. New research now shows that the abundant Norwegian spruce and pine have been around much longer than previously thought, since before the last Ice Age ended 10,000 years ago, and aren’t just relative newcomers from Russia. The new findings by a large team of international researchers [...]

Gorgeous gorges of Hauktjern

PICTURE STORY: The forest on the eastern side of Oslo, called Østmarka, offers lots of popular trails, scenic vista points, accessible lakes and the capital’s most unusual rock formations. They’ve long been a major attraction for climbers but are open to hikers of all ages via well-marked blåstier (trails marked in blue). The closest trailhead [...]

Autumn trails in the Oslo hills

PICTURE STORY: Autumn treks are popular past-times in Norway, before snow and ice cover the hiking trails. A relatively gentle blåsti (a hiking trail marked in blue) into the hills of eastern Nordmarka from the parking lot next to the Hakadal train station, north of Oslo, leads outdoor enthusiasts through refreshingly open pine and spruce forests [...]

Scenic valley’s fans win award

The scenic valley of Maridalen in Oslo is known as a rural oasis on the fringe of an urban environment. Now its biggest support group has won this year’s “cultural landscape prize” for its work to promote cultural development in the protected scenic area. The group Maridalens Venner (Maridalen’s Friends) won the prestigious award from the [...]

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