Hemsedal Ski Center celebrated its 45th Anniversary on Saturday December 9th. That date in 1961 was the big opening day of the resort’s first ski lift.
To celebrate the opening all the school children in the village got the afternoon off so that they could use the new lift (the Totten lift was a Doppelmayer drag lift) free of charge and ski as much as their hearts desired.
Marketing Manager at the Hemsedal Tourist Board Mr Odd Holde was 12 years old at the time, and remembers the opening day as a great milestone in the history of Hemsedal as a tourist destination. Odd is now the proud owner of his 46th season pass in Hemsedal Ski Centre, and goes skiing as often as possible.
The investment in the first ski lift in Hemsedal was NOK 360.000, and since then enormous amounts have been invested in Hemsedal Ski Center which is rated as one of the very best ski centres in Scandinavia.
The anniversary weekend became the best ever pre-Christmas weekend in the 45 year history of Hemsedal Ski Centre. Unlike most of Europe including large parts of Scandinavia, the snow conditions were (and remain) superb with 70 cm of snow up in the mountains and around 60 cm down at the base.
There is so much snow that skiing is possible everywhere and again, unlike most destinations in Europe, Hemsedal is fully open. From the top of Totten, which is the highest alpine point in Scandinavia (1497 meters above sea level), and down to the base there is an elevation of 810 meters. This is the first time in 10 years that all the lifts will be open so early in the season.
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