The launch platform
A sixty-metre drop beneath the jumper's feet.
Ralf Roletschek โ CC BY-SA 1.0 fi ยท Guillaume Baviere from Copenhagen, Denmark โ CC BY-SA 2.0 ยท Erik Eskedal from Oslo, Norway โ CC BY-SA 2.0 ยท Erik Eskedal from Oslo, Norway โ CC BY-SA 2.0
An old saying holds a Norwegian is born with skis on their feet โ skiing was historical survival (essential winter transport) before it became sport, and Holmenkollen itself hosted the first public race in 1892, founding a sacred national tradition. Cross-country skiing's top prize (the crystal globe) is treated almost as a holy relic โ winning it rivals a prime minister's fame.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet โ be the first.
Holmenkollen is Norway's holiest winter temple: a ski jump crowning Oslo's hill since 1892 (rebuilt 19 times, most recently 2010 in modern steel), remaining the most historically visited ski jump on earth โ over a century of consecutive World Cup races drawing a hundred thousand spectators yearly at its season. The museum in its base โ the world's oldest ski museum (1923) โ tells Norwegian skiing history from wooden Viking skis to today's Olympic suits, with polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen (a skier before his ice expeditions) among its exhibits. The glass lift raises you to the launch platform itself: standing where the jumper stands, the valley plunging sixty metres below explains the sport's madness instantly โ its view of Oslo and the fjord among the city's greatest, especially on clear days. Half an hour from the centre by direct T-bane (line 1).
A sixty-metre drop beneath the jumper's feet.
The polar explorer before his ice.
Kongeveien 5, 0787 Oslo