 Poster: A snowHead
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Family keen to go to Norway this year for a change - late Feb.
We are a bunch of inters (mum and dad like pootling on blues and easy reds), elder daughter likes belting down blues and reds and younger daughter like pootling with Mum and Dad.
I have looked at some resorts and Hemsedal, Geilo and Tyrsil appear to be the best options - I like the look of Hemsedal because appears to be concentrated around one village/base and not strung out along a valley. Also, I am a lazy so and so, and Crystal goes to Hemsedal.
Of the other resorts, Beitostolen looks like the skiing may be a bit easy (especially for the elder daughter).
Any thought or gen from those who have skied Norwegian resorts?
Cheers
Dobby
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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damobloke1, thanks. I'd seen your excellent report. We're lifts at Tyrsil mainly drags? Or we're there a few chairs?
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Hemsedal would be my choice. Great spot for families.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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dobby, There was a mixture of chairs, dregs and the dreaded t-bars. There were always lifties on hand to help with the latter, thankfully. I did find it hard to tell from the piste map what lift I would find when I got there so was a bit surprised to find t-bars up the side of a steep black or drags over the crest of the mountain....to be fair, once on, they were quite sedate, although boarders might disagree ?
Not been to Hemsedal so can't comment. Trysil was ideal for families. The skiing is all across one mountain with 3 easily linked areas, not a valley. Try the SkiStar website for good comparisons as they own both Hemsedal and Trysil resorts. I went for Trysil as it had a bigger ski area.
http://www.skistar.com/en/
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I would thoroughly recommend Trysil. We did a week there in March 2011 with my seven year old daughter and a week in February 2012 with same daughter, her older brothers and some friends. Perfect place for intermediate families who don't want to go mad and don't need the huge French or other european resorts.
A few drag lifts but mainly chairs as I recall.
We stayed in the Trysil Knut Hotel in the town (there is a regular bus to the slopes included with ski pass).
Easy to arrange, get flights into Oslo Gardamoen airport, there is regular ski shuttle to resort (pay on bus), link is on Trysil Resort website, Deal with hotel by email, resort website is easy to sort passes, hire, lessons etc. Any problems just telephone, they all speak perfect english.
The manager at the hotel is Ralph, very accommodating. Food bought separately from B&B is expensive but extra for half board is not overly expensive. Also do a deal to officially make lunch from (excellent) breakfast buffet which you can then eat in the various warming huts around the slopes. Hotel has interesting ski museum attached to it that is free for guests and which has a ski jump simulator (daughter spent hours on it trying to better her distance).
People are very family friendly indeed.
If you want a half day off skiing, a dog sled trip was an amazing experience.
Hope this helps
Raggerty
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I would look at Sweden rather - Åre would be the place to go.
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I've skied Trysil and Hemsedal. I enjoyed both but much prefered Trysil. It felt like there was more variety and more sense of travel. One of my main issues with Hemsedal was the fact most slopes fed into the same home run, except for a few blacks, so this got crowded. There are more choices down in Hemsedal.
Slopes in both were well groomed with a good selection of easy runs.
We could ski to/from our apartment in Trysil, which was great. Not sure if there were similar options in Hemsedal.
I think the mix of drags and chairs was similar in the two resorts.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@janeed, I experienced the home run crowding issue this year at Hemsedal. I think we may try Trysil this year.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Skied the Lilliehammer area this year, and if you hire a car you can ski 4-5 different resorts over the week on the same ski pass. A good bit of variety with nothing to extreme unless you go looking for it. Oppdal offers something different but is best saved for an Off Piste week.
Like others have said Hemsedal can get crowded when skiing back into the center, but there is some nice long runs. If blue and red runs keep the family happy then Geilo is a good option and can be much quieter than Hemsedal as you have 2 sides of the valley to choose from. Not skied Trysil yet but heard good things.
As mentioned above Are in Sweden is also worth a look. A lot of runs and you can also have the option of staying in Duved which has a nice quite feel to it. Kinda feels like 2 resorts for the price of one ticket. In Are itself there is some great ski in/out accommodation.
With what ever way you go, the exchange rate to Scandinavia at the moment is great and certainly makes it much cheaper than in previous years.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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We have skied Geilo many times and whilst we enjoyed it immensely, mainly because it was quiet at british half term, it is small. The bus across the valley is ok and works fine for those who want more acreage to ski. The only real hassle is getting there. We did BA to Oslo and Ryanair to what they called Oslon then either train or hire car/bus but it was a long transfer. Train was great but had a load of hassle trying to get one back in time to meet flight so booked taxi(bus) back for us.
We did like the resort and stayed at the Geilo Vestilia which had cabins and a posh hotel all yards from the ski lift. Really good lessons and kids groups.
Just getting there is a pain.
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