NMK Skjåk, Skjåk aktivitetspark

In Skjåk, in the high Ottadalen valley, the NMK Skjåk lays out an outdoor karting track of six hundred and fifty metres within the local activity park. Run by club members as volunteers, the track opens to the public for rental during the summer, for two hundred and fifty kroner per ten-minute heat. Children drive from the age of seven, and the smallest ride in a tandem with an adult.

The track runs to the rhythm of the season, with drop-in slots on Tuesday late afternoons and on Sundays, and possible closures while the asphalt dries after rain. This mix of club and public access makes it a family outing at the heart of the mountains, open to beginners as well as to fans out to take on the clock. The mood stays that of a club of enthusiasts.

Skjåk lies at the gateway to great wild spaces, between the Reinheimen and Breheimen national parks, in a region of glaciers, peaks and deep valleys. The mountain roads towards Geiranger and the Jotunheimen pass nearby. The NMK Skjåk adds a dose of karting in the open nature there, in a typically Norwegian setting.

The dugnad way of running things, where the club's volunteers keep the track going, gives the place a warm, local mood, far from the big shopping centres. The tandem karts let the smallest discover the track with company. At the heart of the Ottadalen, between glaciers and peaks, karting adds to the many open-air activities of one of the finest mountain valleys in Norway.