Trysil
Trysil: the back story
The back story
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © This image was produced by me, David Castor (user:dcastor). The pictures I submi · CC0 via Wikimedia CommonsAbout Trysil: the back story
Trysil calls itself the world’s foremost ski village, and the claim has history behind it: the first ski club was founded here in 1861, the year the poem about Trysil-Knut made a forest skier a national hero. Sixty years ago this was a forestry village; today Trysilfjellet carries Norway’s largest ski resort.
The ski village
“Trysil is the world’s foremost ski village,” says the ski historian Thor Gotaas, quoted by Destination Trysil. Here in the forests of eastern Norway, close to the Swedish border, the first ski club was founded in 1861. The same year Bernt Lund published his poem about Trysil-Knut, the Tryslinger who travelled the country on skis, and it became a national epic about the joy of skiing.
Cross-country roots
In the 19th century everyone in Trysil skied on long skis, or on andor, one long ski and one short, made for covering great distances over rough ground. When Elling Rønes won Holmenkollen’s 50-kilometre race in 1906, he first skied 95 kilometres from the forest in Nord-Trysil to the railway at Elverum. Hallgeir Brenden, Olympic champion in 1952 and 1956, stands in bronze in front of the municipal hall in Innbygda.
A forestry village that taught Norway to ski, now home to the country’s largest ski resort.
Building the mountain
Sixty or seventy years ago Trysil lived by forestry. The first permanent lifts came to Trysilfjellet in the 1960s, beginning with Familietrekket, and in the 1970s local landowners planned the first cabin plots and lifts at Holla and Håvi, while Fageråsen developed on the north side. In the 1980s the two sides were joined over the top with a common lift pass, and the mountain has grown ever since into four linked areas: Turistsenteret, Høyfjellssenteret, Høgegga and Skihytta.
The mountain today
SkiStar now lists 41 lifts and around 70 slopes, with 81 km of groomed pistes, a 685-metre vertical and a longest run of 5.4 km. There are three large children’s areas with the snowman Valle, a kilometre-long snow park planned with the freeskier Birk Ruud, evening skiing on floodlit slopes three nights a week and, new this winter, a gondola at Turistsenteret. Over 500 km of cross-country trails run through the mountains and forests, and early tracks open at Trysilfjellet Arena from late October on snow saved from the winter before.
Every budget
With most cabins and hotels within ski-in, ski-out distance and ski buses linking the areas and the town, Trysil is one of Scandinavia’s most family-friendly resorts. SkiStar prices its SkiPass by date, so booking early online is cheapest, and children up to six ski at no charge.
Our advice: stay at Turistsenteret for the liveliest base, in Fageråsen for high-mountain calm and views, or in the town for restaurants and value, with the ski bus in between. For a quieter, sunny day, ski the south side from Skihytta.
Why it's on our list
- World’s first ski club, 1861
- Trysil-Knut, a national legend
- First permanent lifts in the 1960s
- Norway’s largest ski resort
- Over 500 km of cross-country trails
Trysil in brief
From SkiStar (skistar.com) and Destination Trysil (trysil.com), October 2026.
The four ski areas · 4
Turistsenteret: the lively centre, with the gondola, Høyfjellssenteret and Fageråsen: high-mountain calm, Høgegga: the steepest, black runs, Skihytta: sunny and slower-paced
Milestones · 4
1861: the first ski club is founded; Trysil-Knut published, 1960s: the first permanent lifts, 1980s: the two sides joined over the top, 2026/27: a new gondola at Turistsenteret
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Trysil: the back story before you go.