That wouldn't have happened a few years ago, I thought as I picked my face up off the snow.

However, a few years ago I was living in Norway and skiing once or twice a week on the cross-country trails - or 'loype' to give them their Norwegian name - around Oslo, so I got quite good at controlling my speed down slopes on skinny skis with just a toe binding.

Now I was back on Scandinavian snow, at the resort of Hemsedal, north west of the capital, and feeling a bit out of touch, hence the close encounter with the white stuff.

As befits somewhere in the country that can probably lay claim to being the birthplace of skiing - a 4,000-year-old rock carving has been found in northern Norway depicting a cross-country skier - and which also gave the world what is known as Alpine skiing - Hemsedal caters for pretty much every activity you can do on snow.

Apart from a 210km network of loype in the dal - dale or valley - at a nearby plateau and on the mountain-tops, there are downhill slopes for all abilities, a snowboarding area, and a downhill black run used for World Cup races.

Another World Cup had come to town the weekend we were there - in ice climbing, with competitors trying to manoeuvre themselves to the top of a tower of ice and overhanging boards using only ice axes and boots with fearsome crampons. It looked like seriously hard work from down on the ground.

For the very youngest skiers, whose control - and fearlessness - put the likes of me to shame, the resort boasts what it says is the largest children's nursery area in Norway, complete with runs lined by markers in the shape of animal characters, such as badgers and bears, and instructors dressed in elk and lynx costumes adding to the fun.

The Alpine skiers in the party gave the thumbs-up to the slopes, with even the novices taking on a testing run or two by the end of the trip, after some intensive tuition from ski school staff.

Apart from the odd bruise, we all returned to the UK unscathed, quite an achievement, especially given the confession by a fellow traveller from Southampton that every time she had hit the slopes previously (clearly an avid skier), a member of her group had gone home injured.

And indeed, the morning we sampled some activities off skis (snowmobiling in this instance), it looked as though, finally, it might be her turn to come a cropper.

After a tour through the woods, we were taken to a circuit on a snow-covered meadow. As people's confidence and competitive spirit got up, a race developed, but the South Coast speed queen misjudged a corner and went off into a fence. Happily, apart from some dented pride and a cracked tip on a snowmobile ski, no damage was done.

Our next stop was a frozen lake, where teams of sled dogs were ready for the off and offered an action-packed way to see the countryside, with everyone encouraged to take a turn at driving. The dogs get the message to slow down when you step on the foot brake, but need just a word of command to get going, or a whistle from their handler to accelerate. And in case you were wondering, yes, sheer exhilaration.

Slightly more sedate was an evening excursion by horse-drawn sled into the forest to visit a lavvo - a traditional teepee used by the Sami people of northern Scandinavia as their home while they follow their reindeer herds.

A few reindeer skins keep out the chill during the journey, with the way lit up by burning torches on the sleds, and a tot of hot glogg - Scandinavia's answer to gluhwein - warms you up at the destination. For the hardier souls, the lavvo can even be rented for a night's stay.

However, we returned to our beds at the village's Norlandia Skogstad Hotel, a modern building in the village centre, with comfortable rooms, bars, a swimming pool and sauna.

As well as a buffet-style, self-service restaurant, the hotel offers an excellent a la carte restaurant where, I have to confess, I ate Rudolf - come on, reindeer is a popular feature of local menus and very tasty too...

Other eating options include the Oxen restaurant, near the Skisenter, another class act with fine food and excellent service, or the restaurant at the breathtaking Skarsnuten Hotel, perched high on the mountainside above the valley.

The hotel would be an ideal holiday destination for a Cotswold waller - to admire the huge drystone wall at the heart of the building, a true masterpiece of the craft.

Other options for eating include a branch of Peppe's Pizza - an institution in Norway - a range of cafes at the Skisenter and in the village, while the apres-ski (or after-ski as the locals would have it) bars encompass everything from quieter spots, lined with old photographs of Hemsedal before skiing arrived in the 1960s, to the Garasjen - Garage - bar, the place to go if you want to dance on tables to deafening music.

If hotels aren't your thing, there are several guest houses and a huge range of self-catering accommodation, from luxury flats to hytte - yes, that's a hut, though far classier than what you'll get at the garden centre.

Whatever you want from a winter holiday, you can probably find it in Hemsedal.

The resort has plans to expand over the next two decades, moving the Skisenter to a new site and adding extra lifts and runs to create capacity for 15,000 Alpine skiers and snowboarders a day.

However, the emphasis is on steady, sustainable development to ensure facilities keep ahead of visitor numbers and skiers spend time on the slopes, not stuck in queues.

* One word of caution on the accommodation front. It's worth checking with the hotel about nightlife on Fridays and Saturdays. Many Norwegians head out of the city on Friday for a weekend's skiing and a couple of nights' full-throttle partying. If you need your beauty sleep, ask for a room out of earshot of the nightclub, if the hotel has one.