But What About The Skiing?

If I had written this entry after the 1st day skiing I would have sounded disappointed. But after getting to know the layout and which lift goes to which types of slopes; and getting used to the T-Bar lifts we would both give Sweden and Arè the big thumbs up.

The good things?

Staying on the mountain and being able to ski stright away. No 40 min drives up & down the mountain. No putting on chains in the mud with feeezing fingers.

The lack of crowds. There are very few people on the slopes. The lift lines aren't particularly long and everyone queuing is polite and patient.

No snowboarders! Well there are a few but it's basically 99% skiers. As it should be! :)

In the morning the slopes are pristine. It's like we have been dropped by helicopter onto a remote mountain.

You get the same instructor and same people in your lesson every day. There's a consistency and progression to what you are being taught. You get to build on things. I've progressed more this week than I ever have before. Perhaps it's just things finally coming together but it's been awesome.

(In the southern hemispere you get a different instructor most days and each one has their own techniques and exercises.)

We're doing fun stuff like skiing off piste and going through sections of forest. Speed control is bloody hard in narrow windy tracks with consecutive dips and jumps. I saw Carole somersault out of a forest today. Literally. I guess I should point out that I witnessed this from the ground after flying out of the same forest myself and getting a mouthfull of snow :)

They have little huts with fires where you can thaw out or cook sausages.

And well, it's all different and new.

The bad?

Not too much really. We chose the resort we are in because it is great for kids but it doesn't have any chair lifts. We could catch a free bus into the main area (15 min) or it's possible to ski across there via a few T-Bar lifts but we have a tight schedule:-

9.00 drop Ben at crèche.
9.00 - 10.30 ski
10.30 pick Ben up and get him ready for lesson
11.00 - 12.30 Ben's lesson
12.30 - 1.00 have quick lunch
1.00 drop Ben back at crèche.
1.30 - 3.00 our lesson
3.00 - 4.00 free ski
4.00 pick up Ben from crèche.

So it's easier to ski round our part of the mountain. But we've got used to the layout and schedule and it's been great. Tomorrow we don't have a lesson so in the afternoon we'll catch the bus to the main area and check it out and ski our way back.

The T-Bars took a full day to get used to. They are essentially a big anchor and one person sits on each side of it and it drags you up. You ski along. Extacting yourself is a challenge at first but we got the hang of it. Still strikes me as dangerous tho. You drop this anchor shaped t-bar and it gets dragged along through the drop off area before going up into the air. If anybody dawdled out of the the drop off area or falls they better look out out for flying anchors!

It probably sounds like T-Bars only is a bit lame but they go up a bloody long way. Over a kilometre. And the runs down are great with choices on both sides of the lift.

All in all, skiing in Sweden is awesome.

And I should point out that after a couple of cold days down around -30c it's been much warmer at -17c and -6c.

Night Skiing

Children's Apres Ski Fun