NORWAY

NORWAY

You’ve skied the Alps and mastered the off piste: now it’s time for Norway. The feeling of creating the only tracks as far as the eye can see, with no lift, restaurant, or crowd in sight can only be achieved through ski touring. Northern Norway’s mountains and islands (yes, islands) are ideal: with adventurous, knowledgeable guides you can pretty much pick a mountain and go.

If snowmobiling and dog sledding are more ‘you’, then head to Tromso, where pretty clapboard villages welcome you for snow-filled exploits. The archipelago of Svalbard, home to polar bears, whales, and icebergs is a great place to look out for the Northern lights, and cruise the edges of the North Pole in boat built especially for that purpose.

And what about summer? Kayak through the fjords of Bergen and hike along the dirt roads and cliff-top paths on a long summer’s day for strikingly impressive scenes. You’ll soon understand why the Vikings were so hardy.