 XC in Scandinavia in April
Bernd
April would normally be too late for reliable snow in Oslomarka.
I think the mountain resorts north of Oslo normally have snow until
late April. They are mostly at around 800m which helps. There is an
excellent train service from Oslo-Gardermoen Airport which runs up the
valley to the North. You can reach a number of resorts with a short
transfer form the station in the valley. The resorts can tell you
about transfers from the nearest station. Some of them are also served
by buses from the airport.
I know Sjujøen well, which AFAIK, is the most southerly of these. It
can be reached from Lillehammer station. It has 300k plus prepared
tracks. Many are prepared for skating. The latest I have been there is
the third week in April. There was heaps of snow and more fell while
we were there. However, the daytime temperature reached plus 15 C
some days. I wasn't trying to skate, and I don't know whether it would
be good in such conditions.
I don't know if the other resorts further North, which can be reached
easily by train, have good skating facilities. Names such as Fefor,
Skeikampen, and Gålå are often mentioned, but I haven't been there.
You should be able to find more info by googling.
Going further North, Bruksvallarna in Sweden is a possibility. I
haven't been there but I know people who have been there for race
training and it has Skating tracks. It is a resort that is used by the
racing teams because it has early snow, so I guess it would have late
snow too. You could fly to Gardermoen, and then fly or take the train
onwards to Røros. Hire a taxi from there.
Other possibilities are Beitostølen, near Trondheim, and Østersund,
in Sweden. I don't know them, but they hold races, so should have good
skating facilities, They are quite a long way North so I guess would
have late snow too.
Alex | 
