One of Scandinavia’s newest ski resorts, Myrkdalen. It’s located half an hour outside Voss. You can reach this snow bowl by car or free ski shuttle bus. Twenty years ago, the first lift opened, and in December 2012, the Myrkdalen Hotel opened its doors.

As the first lift was set up after carving skis were invented, skiing here is very modern. Wide long sweeping slopes. Most of the skiing is above the timberline.

Myrkdalen is a well-known secret among the Norwegians living on Vestlandet. This is the valley of snow. Between 5–7 meters of snow falls here annually. Off-piste is accessible from the lifts, and easier than in Voss.

Perfect for newcomers in off-piste skiing

In the surrounding mountains there is more advanced off-piste to explore, this, however, requires hiking equipment.

If skiing in Voss is vintage Italian, then Myrkdalen is modern France, sort of micro version of Val d’Isere. The skiing here is mostly dark blue, leaning to red. There are red slopes. But they are, in fact, dark blue. The same goes for the black slopes, they are actually red. If you are looking for black slopes, look somewhere else. Voss, for example.

Similar to Voss, skiing here takes place on three different summits. Same number of lifts and same number of slopes. Abut the same vertical drop.

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Comparing the two ski maps to each other, you don’t notice much different. But, there is. in Myrkdalen, Wide carving slopes all over. Skiing looks small on the map, in reality it’s big.

Despite they’re looking the same on the map at a first glimpse, every slope feels different. They are not challenging as in Voss, and perfectly groomed. The two ski areas, Voss and Myrkdalen match each other. Together, they offer great variety and some of the best skiing Scandinavia can offer.

Skiing in Myrkdalen is pure fun

With a vertical drop of little more than 600 meters from top to bottom, and hardly no runs under 500 meters vertical. You could rest assured, you will get your amounts of turns here.

Slopes have some terrain, that’s just fun. The angle is just right for everyone to work on their turns.

Between the wide slopes, three different ski cross runs are constructed. They are not real ski cross, more like serpentine’s finding their way down the woods. Again, fun for everyone.

On our first day here we skied four hour nonstop in heavy rain. I can tell you, that wouldn’t happen if the slopes were not such world-class as they are. We skied with a stupid smile on our faces, burning legs, as we never skied before.

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Myrkdalen is not a town nor a village. It’s a top modern ski resort with new money invested. Owned by one of Norway’s biggest travel companies, called Norway’s Best.

There are no others than the resort owner running business here. You stay at their hotel and ride their lifts. All restaurants are run by the same company.

It gives you a feeling of being on a cruise ship all-inclusive. In a good way, service is good. The food and Café is above the average Norwegian. And there are after-ski facilities in terms of bowling, dart and shuffleboard. This is also necessary as there is no shopping and nothing else to do except wait for the next day of skiing.

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You can feel that this resort is well managed

The Myrkdalen Hotel is top modern, fresh and well maintained. Everything at this resort is managed in details. As an example, the poles that mark the slopes have the same color as the slope rating, Blue for blue, red for red etc.

There are a few on-slope food stops to choose from as well as there are a couple of restaurants in the hotel. Again, a feeling of being on a cruise ship. The one thing missing is an SPA area. There is a separate sauna a few hundred meters up the hill from the hotel, that’s it.

Myrkdalen has a bright future ahead

In my articles I like to find the soul of the current ski resort, talking a little bit of history. Being such a young resort, there is not much ski history except that Myrkdalen was the host for the 2013 Freestyle World Championship. It’s more fair to talk about the future at Myrkdalen instead.

Plans are to enlarge the ski system, new lifts are already bought. They are waiting for the final permit and hopefully, they are set up already for the winter 2026.

There is an SPA in the plan as well, which is necessary to draw a bigger public and for a longer stay.

People of Voss dream about connecting the two resorts by lift. If they manage to realize such a plan, Voss/Myrkdalen will offer Scandinavia’s largest connected ski area. That dream is actually just three lifts away after Myrkdalen has set up the lifts already in plan. Until then, it works fine to take the ski bus, it is after all, free of charge.

Want to explore more of the skiing in Voss? Click on this link for our next article.