Hemsedal markets itself as the "Scandinavian Alps" and it's Norway's second largest ski resort after Trysil. There are 53 slopes served by 20 lifts, reaching up to 1450 metres.
It wasn't always like this. The first ski lift appeared in 1959 - a 350-metre rope tow behind a guesthouse at Ulsåk. It lasted two years before being torn down. The modern ski centre opened at Holdeskaret in 1961, and the first chairlift came in 1983.
The Swedish company SkiStar bought the resort in 2000 and has expanded it steadily since. About 70 percent of visitors come in winter, though summer is growing with hiking, mountain biking and Via Ferrata climbing.
One early tourist was the polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who visited in 1898 and stayed at Bjøberg Fjellstue.