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Hey TT - My fiancee and I are planning a trip through Norway April 6 - April 30, but need some help figuring out if our plans will work considering weather conditions. We are planning on renting a car and doing a BIG triangle from Oslo to Bergen to Trondheim and back to Oslo, camping and hiking along the way. Questions:

Will the snow be melted enough during any of this time period for decent hiking, between Bergen and Trondheim specifically (ie, Trolltunga, Slogen, etc)? Or will the tops of hikes be snowed in?

What could we expect for road conditions? Any road closures we should lookout for?

How about ferries? Will we find that most do not operate outside of summer time? And therefore be restricted in what we are able to see and explore? For example, I know the Geiranger Ferry doesn't start operating until May 1...

Thanks so much fellow TT'ers for your help. I am really trying to make this trip special for my fiancee as it will be our last trip before getting married. We're fine with winter camping... rain camping, etc... just trying to get a feel for how much snow there will still be.

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Will the snow be melted enough during any of this time period for decent hiking,

April is generally the month of maximum snow depth in the mountains. Skiiing is possible into May. There is a thread somewhere about winter hiking, check it out. The most oceanically exposed coastal areas like around Bergen and Stavanger do not generally see much snow lying on low ground, but it carries on snowing on higher ground to around mid-April so the snow depths keep piling up, though there may have been some thaws in the milder warmer valleys.

What could we expect for road conditions?

You need to be aware of the possibliity of intermittent disruption due to snow, especially on higher ground and further inland, and also some frosty mornings.

Any road closures we should lookout for?

All winter-closed passes will still be closed.

How about ferries? Will we find that most do not operate outside of summer time?

Many ferries are general infrastructure and run all year. Ferries targeting tourist traffic ferries are summer only. Timetables are available on the web, but there are quite a lot of local companies, so you need to search a bit.

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Have skied in Norway at Easter before and used trains to get to and from Geilo from Bergen.

Snow was up to what would be regarded as the first floor (UK version) - second floor (US version) of the hotel at Finse railway station.

If you've seen The Empire Strikes Back, the snow scenes were filmed in this area.

Harrison Ford apparently had to get to Finse on a NSB snowplough and if the extras doing the fighting look like they know how to use weapons, that's because some were reportedly from the UK's Royal Marines who were using the area for winter training.

Campsites may be open, but offering small huts for accommodation rather than a camping ground.

Have gone over to Norway in October before and rang up the day before my flight out - one in Geilo had been flooded and the one in Voss was closing that day.

Fortunately the Voss campsite stayed open for me - first and only time that's happened!

Youth hostel accommodation is worth considering depending on where you end up visiting.

Bergen - Oslo in winter is one of the Great European Rail Journeys by the way - still trying to persuade GF to head over to Norway in the winter, but she's not a cold weather fan and besides, she knows that I've had gloves freeze across there whilst cross-country skiing (I had two spare pairs of gloves in my pack, just in case).

Edited by scribblersback, spelling!
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(ie, Trolltunga, Slogen, etc)? Or will the tops of hikes be snowed in?

Those sites are for experienced steep terrain skiers at that time, they might even be inacccessible to them as the avalanche risk may be too high. In general you enjoy skiing in the mountains and high valleys in april or: You enjoy hikes in the coastal areas and lowlands looking for anemones, enjoy the earliest leaves sprouting, the beginning of the fruit blossoming, watch rivers big with snowmelt.


Eat strawberries. Watch sunset. Talk, kiss and dance. And always remember to bring dry socks.
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