Oppdal

Oppdal was first settled some time before 600 CE, and by then there were about 50 farms in the valley, with around 20 more added in the Viking Age. The more than 700 grave mounds at Vang, which have yielded jewellery and other objects from the British Isles, show a community that was relatively wealthy and took part in Viking trade, much of its prosperity probably coming from game; reindeer trapping ditches can still be seen in the surrounding mountains. The name comes from the old Oppdal farm, Uppdalr in Old Norse, meaning the upper valley.

The valley lay at a crossroads of routes from Trondheim, the Dovrefjell mountains and the west coast, and in the Middle Ages it was a stop for pilgrims walking to St Olav's shrine at Nidaros. King Eystein had mountain stations built along the route to give them food and shelter. The Black Death hit Oppdal particularly hard: farms were abandoned, and long afterwards only 35 farms and about 350 people remained. People were still dying of hunger as late as 1742.

Fortunes turned in the 17th century. By 1665 about 2,200 people lived here, and the present church at Vang had been built. Population growth in the 19th century outstripped the land, and many emigrated to the United States, until the Dovre railway, completed in 1921, brought jobs and tourists. During the Second World War Oppdal was one of the locations of the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag 380. The first ski lift opened in 1952, beginning the growth of today's resort, and in 2018 the municipality became part of the new Trøndelag county.

Oppdal's identity is rooted in farming and the mountains. The local dialect is central to the work of the writer Inge Krokann, who was born here, and the village has produced a composer, a jazz bassist, a sculptor and a number of cross-country skiers and curlers. The coat of arms, three white triangles meeting in a Y, is nicknamed vegamot, the meeting of ways, after the three roads that join here — a reminder that the valley has always been a gathering place.

Since the 18th century the community has invested heavily in education, building small rural schools and, more recently, a high school, and archaeological finds suggest less pronounced economic divisions here than elsewhere in Norway, with communal efforts to share burdens through hard centuries. Oppdal lies on the Nidaros Path, the pilgrim road to Trondheim.

Winter sport shapes the calendar, with the ski centre at the heart of village life from winter into spring. Each autumn the culture house hosts Ramaskrik, a horror film festival with an international reputation. Constitution Day on 17 May is celebrated as everywhere in Norway, often with snow on the ground.

About 4,600 people live in the village (2024) and about 7,400 in the whole municipality, one of the largest in Norway by area and mostly mountainous, with large areas above the tree line. The population of the municipality has grown in recent years. The village is the administrative centre, with the municipal offices, a school, a mall and shops around the station and the E6.

The main industries are agriculture, tourism and some light manufacturing, and there is a slate quarry. Oppdal has the largest sheep population of any municipality in Norway: about 45,000 sheep are put out to graze in the mountains each summer on heather and alpine meadows. Around 1,161 square kilometres of mountain have been held since time immemorial as a common by local farmers, giving them the right to hunt, fish and rent out cabins.

The year divides into the ski season, when the slopes and holiday cabins fill, and the summer grazing and hiking season. The local newspaper, Opdalingen, first published in 1934, covers Oppdal and neighbouring Rennebu three times a week. In 2001 the municipality's drinking water was named the best in Norway.

Oppdal shares the food of Trøndelag. The region's festive dish is sodd, a soup of cooked mutton with meatballs of lamb or beef in a clear, fragrant broth; in the proper way of serving, the potatoes and carrots are boiled separately and added at the table, where everyone plates their own. It is served on festive occasions such as weddings and confirmations.

The other Trøndelag classic is karsk, a drink of coffee and home-distilled spirit, sometimes with a spoon of sugar. Tradition has it that a coin is placed in the cup, coffee poured in until the coin disappears, and spirit added until it can be seen again — although in practice the coin stays hidden.

With about 45,000 sheep on its summer pastures, Oppdal is sheep country. Norway's traditional breads include lefse and flatbrød. In the village itself, eating out centres on the cafés and restaurants around the station and the main road, which are busiest in the ski season.