Trysil – Norway’s Largest Ski Resort and a Year-Round Mountain Base

SummitClimbs Field Note: Trysil is a large forest municipality in Østerdalen, Innlandet, right on the Swedish border, and home to Trysilfjellet (1,132 m), Norway’s largest ski resort. The mountain lies just west of the village of Innbygda, about 210 km or roughly 2.5 hours by car from Oslo. Around it, low pine- and spruce-covered ridges, the Trysilelva river and a long ski history make it a year-round mountain base rather than an alpine objective.

Trysilfjellet: the Mountain and the Resort

Trysilfjellet rises to 1,132 m. Its summit is quartzite, with sandstone on the slopes, and a fault ringing the mountain at around 800 m marks the change to granite below. The ski resort on the mountain is the largest in Norway: according to Norwegian Wikipedia it has 69 runs, 78 km of pistes and 32 lifts, with the highest lift point at 1,095 m and a vertical drop of 685 m. Runs are graded from green to black, there are two terrain parks, and more than 100 km of cross-country tracks surround the slopes. The steepest piste, Eksperten in Høgegga, reaches about 45 degrees.

The resort has two main areas. Trysil Turistsenter lies only about 2 km from Trysil centre, with two six-seat chairlifts up the mountain. Trysil Høyfjellssenter at Fagertoppen, in the Fageråsen area about 10 km from the centre, is a little smaller and well suited to families with small children.

Trysil at a Glance

• Location: Trysil, Østerdalen, Innlandet; bordered by Sweden to the south and east
• Trysilfjellet: 1,132 m, just west of Innbygda
• Ski resort: Norway’s largest; 69 runs, 78 km of pistes, 32 lifts, 685 m vertical drop
• Cross-country: more than 100 km of tracks around the resort
• From Oslo: about 210 km, roughly 2.5 hours by car
• Municipality: 3,014 km², about 6,500 inhabitants; villages Innbygda and Nybergsund on the Trysilelva

A Long Ski History

Skiing runs deep here. The Trysilgutten ski club, founded in 1861, is one of the oldest ski clubs in the world, and a race held in Trysil on 22 January 1862 is described by the historian Roland Huntford as “the first truly modern ski race”. The municipal coat of arms, granted in 1991, shows two ski poles, and the legend of Trysil-Knut belongs to the same tradition.

The modern resort is much younger. Development began in 1966, when the Søgaard brothers started building cabins in Fageråsen on the north side and opened the first lift, “Familietrekket”, on 26 December 1966. Landowners on the south side opened their own ski centre in 1976. In 2005 the ski and golf business was bought by the Swedish company SkiStar.

Forest, River and Wildlife

Away from the slopes, Trysil is a landscape of gentle ridges covered in pine and spruce, where only the highest tops rise above the tree line. The Trysilelva was one of the last rivers in Norway used for timber floating, which ended only in 1991. Moose are common, and wolves and bears pass through at times, along with beaver, capercaillie and black grouse. Trysil has an inland climate with fairly little precipitation, cold winters and warm summers.

History is close by too. The village of Nybergsund was bombed by German aircraft on 11 April 1940 while King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olav were staying there, and Trysil bygdetun in Innbygda, founded in 1901, is one of Norway’s oldest open-air village museums, with 21 buildings showing life in the 1700s and 1800s.

Before You Go

• Check the resort: lift and run numbers change from season to season; check the resort’s own pages for what is open.
• Weather: inland winters are cold; check the forecast on yr.no and dress for well below freezing.
• Summer: the gentle terrain suits easy hikes; carry a map, as forest ridges can look alike.

The SummitClimbs Take

Trysil is not a peak to bag but a base: Norway’s biggest ski mountain, a deep ski tradition and quiet forest country along the Swedish border, all within about 2.5 hours of Oslo. Come for the skiing in winter and the forests and river in summer.

Facts from Norwegian Wikipedia (Trysilfjellet), Trysilfjellet skisenter, Trysil and Wikipedia (Trysil Municipality). Always check current conditions before you go.