Beitostølen is a village in Øystre Slidre Municipality in

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The village is located at an elevation of about

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

on the southern edge of the

Valdresflye Valdresflye, also spelled Valdresflya and Valdresflyi, is a mountain plateau in the easternmost part of the Jotunheimen mountains in Norway. The plateau lies in Innlandet county, mostly in Øystre Slidre Municipality, but a small area extends in ...

mountain plateau. The villages of

Skammestein Skammestein is a village in Øystre Slidre Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located on a hillside overlooking the east shore of the lake Hedalsfjorden. The village of Beitostølen lies about to the northwest and the vill ...

and Hegge lie about to the southeast of Beitostølen. The lake Øyangen lies a short distance to the southwest of the village. The

Norwegian County Road 51 County Road 51 ( no, Fylkesvei 51) is a highway which runs north–south between Vågå and Gol, Norway. Part of the road runs concurrently with E16, between Leira and Fagernes. The section across Valdresflye is designated a National Tourist ...

runs through the village. The village has a population (2021) of 358 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of .

Sports

Beitostølen is largely a tourist area, with many holiday cabins and hotels serving various

winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold area ...

facilities. The village has hosted

FIS Cross-Country World Cup The FIS Cross-Country World Cup is an annual cross-country skiing competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1981. The competition was arranged unofficially between 1973 and 1981, although it received provisional recogn ...

and

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 Biathlon World Cup, 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 Biathlon World Cup, 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons ...

competitions. Beitostølen is a year-round destination, and although the mountain village is best known to many as a winter sports destination due to its local alpine ski slopes, it also has

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

trails totaling . July is the month with the highest tourism rate due to hiking in the nearby

Jotunheimen National Park Jotunheimen National Park ( no, Jotunheimen nasjonalpark, "Home of the Giants") is a national park in Norway, recognized as one of the country's premier hiking and fishing regions. The national park covers and is part of the larger area Jotunhe ...

to the north.

References

Øystre Slidre Villages in Innlandet Ski areas and resorts in Norway {{Innlandet-geo-stub