Oslo activity tip - Korketrekkeren sledding hill

Yesterday I spent with my 7yrs old son - and we got too busy to take photos - and then it got dark, my cellphone camera is even bad in the daylight, no point trying to take photos in the darkness. However, for any tourist in Oslo in the winter time this activity is highly recommended: tobboganing in Korketrekkeren! Combine an excellent view with some exciting, exotic - even crazy activity!

The views are very magnificent - on the way down the hills as well as on the metro there are views of valleys, the city, the sea, forest, of suburbs of Oslo. It's nice in the daytime and in the night as well. The best view is probably a bit further down, by the Holmenkollen ski jump. When we were done, we went by feet along skiing tracks down from Frognerseteren to Holmenkollen. In the night time from Holmenkollen, the border line between forest and city is crisp and clear ... we have succeeded to protect the local forests pretty well, the borderline between the civilization and the forest is called markagrensa, and it's protected by national law. I think it's very good ... it requires a heavy process that has to be raised both at local and national level to build something in the forest, this prevents one kind of "tragedy of the democracy" - local politicians may be elected for four years with a very narrow simple majority, and it's generally very easy for them to allow just one more house to be built - this may take land away from the commons irreversibly for many generations, maybe hundreds of years - however, if they disallow construction works that's a decision that can easily be reversed in four years time. Such asymmetries can eventually ensure there is only less and less area available for the commons.

The hill is part of the commons, it's free to use for anyone. Anyone can use any kind of equipment there, though one should think a bit about safety. Most people using the hill rents equipment locally, there are three outlets for it, we used Akeforeningen, located in a separate building below the restaurant, and paid NOK 130 for a "family rodel", helmets included in the price. In addition one would need a season ticket or day ticket for the Oslo transportation (well, technically it's possible to ride for free on the metro as well, controls are pretty rare). The restaurant at Frognerseteren is really quite expensive - one thing we did once was to bring food with us in a white plastic bag and leave it in the snow behind a bush at the top of the hill.

The hill is prepared in the mornings. On days with lots of snow, the hills tends to become bumpy - as we really experienced yesterday. The bumps beaves a bit like waves in the wind - they become bigger and bigger the more people are crashing into them. My son also commented that riding down the hill was a bit like trying to ride with planing speed in the dhingy with too big waves. The bumps makes for an uncomfortable ride, they kill the speed (which is sometimes quite bad as the hill is not always going steeply downhill), and when they get big enough they can outright stop the sleight completely. (Waves in the sea also tend to kill the speed fwiw).

It feels a bit unsafe, so many people going fast down the hill with little control and heavy equipment, but I'm pretty sure there aren't a lot of serious accidents, or the hill would for sure have been closed or heavily regulated long ago.

The ride down takes around 15 minutes. and goes from the metro station Frognerseteren to the metro station Midtstuen. If travelling quite fast the timing is perfect, one can go over and over again without having to wait for the metro. In more moderate speeds one will be some few minutes delayed for the metro, and will have to wait for around ten minutes at Midtstuen metro station. The ride up the hills takes around 15 minutes, it's good view from the windows, but tend to become a bit boring when doing the ride over and over again.

Only two photos, one from when people with sleights are leaving the metro at Frognerseteren, the other a random pic of the view from the metro window. A good tourist spending the whole day at Frognerseteren and Holmenkollen would take some hundreds of pics...

A final warning: it's very easy to lose things from the pockets while riding. Even if the person at Akeforening warned me specifically to put the cellphone into a pocket with a zipper and close the zipper, my cellphone disappeared previous time I was in this hill. This time I think I lost nothing but an orange and a pen, despite doing my best to keep my pockets zipped all the time.