Search crews recover body of third avalanche victim

UPDATED: Search crews aided by the Norwegian military have finally found the bodies of all three men caught in an avalanche on Senja during the Easter holiday week. More bad weather forced an end to the weekend search that resulted in the recovery of two bodies on Sunday. The search resumed on Monday and police [...]

Winter not over, more chills ahead

State meteorologists were warning on Tuesday that winter isn’t ready to release its icy grip, despite sunny skies in southern Norway and a calendar that reads “April.” Avalanche danger also remains extremely high in mountain areas, especially in the north, and the south may get more snow this weekend. The weather was looking deceptively spring-like [...]

Yet another avalanche hits Tromsø

Norway’s northern city of Tromsø, along with much of the northern region of the country, continued on Monday to be plagued by avalanches that have caused major emergencies throughout the Easter holiday week. Monday’s slide hit frighteningly close to home, in a residential area and close to a local school. The avalanche could be seen [...]

Three more caught in an avalanche

Yet another avalanche thundered down a mountainside on the large island of Senja south of Tromsø late Tuesday afternoon, just as three men were snowmobiling through the area. Two of them were brothers, all are believed to have been killed, and the community of Berg on Senja set up crisis teams while police issued more [...]

Avalanche danger dims sunny Easter

Norway’s traditional Easter skiing holidays in the mountains got off to a mostly sunny start, but the ongoing danger of avalanches hung over them like a dark cloud. Another man was killed during the weekend and a 12-year-old boy rushed to hospital after both were buried under mounds of snow in Tromsø and Sauda on [...]

Sled dog racer conquers Finnmark

Thomas Wærner, a 40-year-old musher from the mountains of Synnfjell in Oppland County, relished weekend celebrations after he logged what commentators called a decisive victory in this year’s 1,000-kilometer Finnmarksløpet, the long-distance sled dog race over much of Finnmark County in northern Norway. Wærner rode back into the far northern city of Alta on Friday [...]

Cold race awaited Birkebeiner fans

Thousands of eager skiers were ready once again to race their way over the mountains of southeastern Norway during the weekend, and they faced an especially cold ordeal. This year’s famed “Birkebeinerrennet” nonetheless was fully booked months ago even though it was being held on the same day as the men’s 50-kilometer World Cup race [...]

Red Cross wants mandatory guides

Another serious accident involving tourists who go skiing in potentially hazardous mountain areas has set off new alarms among search and rescue experts. A Red Cross chapter in northern Norway is now calling for mandatory use of local guides and stricter reporting requirements. The call from the Red Cross in Nordland County comes a day [...]

Oslo rolls out its Olympic plans

City officials have rolled out prospects for a Winter Olympics in Oslo in 2022 that would cost at least NOK 2o billion (USD 3.6 billion) and spur major redevelopment of the city’s semi-industrial northeast side. It would also play heavily on the success of the 1994 Olympics at Lillehammer, re-using facilities built in that area [...]

Flooding hits Northern Norway

Unseasonably warm temperatures and heavy rainfall continued to cause major problems over large portions of Northern Norway this week. The Helgeland Coast was hit especially hard, because of a combination of rain and melting ice and snow. More than 50 residents were left isolated at Borkamo after an earthslide cut off Tosenveien in Brønnøysund. The [...]

Tourists in Tromsø need ‘brodder’

Norway’s northern city of Tromsø has been welcoming record numbers of winter tourists the past few years, many of them coming to see the Northern Lights. Some wind up seeing entirely different sorts of lights instead, inside local emergency rooms after falling on the ice. Doctors now want the city or its hotels to help [...]

Massive support for refugee children

In a case where emotions are running high but principles weigh heavily, a little boy testified in court this week in a plea to let he and his refugee parents stay in Norway. Overwhelming public support for seven-year-old Nathan Eshete, especially from his hometown of Bergen, has put the government under severe pressure to grant [...]

Babies parked out in the cold

An age-old Norwegian practice of putting babies in their carriages and parking them outdoors to take their naps, also in the middle of winter, is now under scrutiny. Immigrant parents and a doctor at the University of Oslo are questioning the ritual, which has developed over the years with no solid medical research to support [...]

Skiers ready to hit the trails

Not all cross-country skiers seek merely the solitude and scenic beauty of a day on the ski trails: Fully 7,000 skiing enthusiasts were registered to take part this weekend in the annual “Holmenkollmarsjen” ski race in the hills above Oslo, while thousands of others are skiing in organized events all over the country and training [...]

Warmer winter weather turned fatal

After an extended period of bitterly cold temperatures, thermometers rose especially in southern Norway over the weekend. Fresh snow that turned to rain in some areas, however, led to slippery roads and extremely hazardous driving conditions from north to south. Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported multiple accidents and traffic that could only be described as chaotic. [...]

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