Cross-Country Skiing Through the Marka Forest

The Marka (Oslomarka) is the ring of forested hills surrounding Oslo — 1,700 square kilometres of spruce forest, frozen lakes, and open farmland that has been the city's outdoor living room for centuries. In winter, 2,700 kilometres of groomed ski trails run through the Marka, accessed via the T-bane (metro) from the city centre. Frognerseteren station, at the end of the Holmenkollen line, has a rental shop where you can hire skis and poles for an afternoon.

Cross-country skiing (langrenn) is not a sport in Norway. It is closer to walking — a fundamental mode of winter transport and recreation that Norwegian children learn at the same time as they learn to walk. The classic technique (diagonal stride) is biomechanically similar to walking on skis; most healthy adults can manage it competently within a few hours on the trails. The trails through the Marka are wide, well-groomed, and signed; a circuit from Frognerseteren around Nordmarka lake and back takes about three hours.

The Holmenkollen ski jump, visible on the ridge above Oslo, is the oldest ski jump venue in the world (competitions since 1892) and a remarkable piece of engineering — the ramp curves out over the hillside and the landing slope drops 130 metres below. Oslo itself is a compact, walkable, expensive, and deeply liveable city: the Vigeland Sculpture Park, the Munch Museum, the Norwegian National Museum (with Edvard Munch's The Scream in its permanent collection), and the transformed Bjorvik waterfront are all worth half-days.