The venue for four Olympic alpine skiing events in 1952, it is located northwest of Oslo, 90 minutes away by vehicle.

[1] Oslo was awarded the 1952 Winter Olympics in June 1947, with Norefjell responsible for downhill and giant slalom.

[2] The Olympics led to a series of infrastructure upgrades, both to the venue and the community, which had a positive impact on local quality of life.

Major facilities included constructing a bridge in Noresund, a new road from Noresund to Fjellhvil, a telecommunications building on the hill that included 12 communications lines and facilities for the race director, 30 telephone lines along the course, and construction of the Norefjellstua hotel.

[8] Norefjell was selected as the central Alpine skiing venue for Buskerud and Vestfold in 1972, which eased access to state grants.

Costing NOK 1.1 million, it served as a good source of income for Kørdsherad IL's Alpine group.

There were two possible venues for Alpine skiing: Norefjell, or a combination of Kvitfjell and Hafjell, which had been used for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

[12][13][14] In the 2022 bid proposal, Oslo is also planning to use Hafjell and Kvitfjell in an attempt to maximize the reuse of existing venues.

[15] The first competition at Norefjell was arranged by the Norwegian Ski Federation on 16 January 1939, as a training race ahead of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1939,[1] After the World Championships, a national competition was held in Norefjell, which was won by Johan Kvernberg.

Slalom was planned to take place in Rødkleiva, but lack of snow in the capital forced the discipline to be moved to Norefjell.

The 1951 edition was an Olympic trial event; the season saw heavy snowfall and the race was difficult to arrange because of a blizzard.