 Poster: A snowHead
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Resort - Are, Sweden
Dates – 14-21 Feb 2016 (UK and Gothenburg half terms)
Who went - Intermediate family (Ma, Pa, 2 girls aged 12 and 15)
Where we stayed - Brunkulla apartments
Who we went with – Ski Safari
Plus points
Family-friendly resort with varied skiing, particularly suited to intermediates.
Few lift queues
Quiet pistes
The three ski areas offer different skiing experiences
Minus points
Not a lot of cruisy blues
Not a lot for beginners (didn't bother us though)
Can get windy
Expensive food and alcohol
Few too many T bars
The cast
Mrs and me are two vaguely competent but slow intermidiots plodding our way down the reds
Daughters are hooning around on pretty much any slope
We do about 4000-6000m of vertical per day, so not big mileage merchants, but like to spend most of the day skiing.
Met up with a couple of other Snowheads and we had a great time...big shout to Bedrock Barney and Dan (if he's on here....)
The cost
About £3700 for parking at LGW, flights, accommodation, hire car, petrol in Norway, ski hire and ski passes. Could have saved by booking ourselves, but Ski Safari had done a lot of leg work finding the resort, so we booked through them.
Flights
Flew with Norwegian from LGW to Trondheim. Flights about 30-60 mins late in each direction. Not most convenient flight times (arrived at Trondheim at about midnight). Who needs sleep, anyway?
Hire car
Rented an estate from Europcar. Didn’t use ski rack – just chucked skis in back of car. Used boot liner made from bin bags. Handy having the car to (a) make runs to supermarket and (b) to drive to Duved ski area (8km west of Are).
Drive to Are from Trondheim
Surprisingly easy. Two and a bit hours at 1am, even on snow/ice. Those winter tyres are fantastic.
Brunkulla apartment
We stayed at one of the Brunkulla apartments, about 10mins walk from the VM8 8-man lift, and about 10 mins walk from the town centre. Generally great. Enough space. Kitchen area with oven, hob, microwave, dishwasher, fridge-freezer, coffee maker. Dining area. Living room area. 2 bedrooms sleeping 2 and 3 respectively. Bathroom and sauna. Large hallway with boot driers/warmers and big clothes drying cupboard. Lockable ski store close to apartment. Mainly families but some noisy students (for one night only....must have had a talking to...).
Resort
Are is a small town spread along (and up from) a railway. Plenty of accommodation, restaurants and bars. Couple of decent sized supermarkets. State-run booze shop.
Ski hire and passes
Booked through Skistar website. Very quick service with kit because all of our vital statistics (weight, height, ability) had been provided when booking. Got 20% discount on kit and 10% on passes by booking early.
You get 8 days kit and pass for the price of 6 – useful if your travel plans allow you to make use of it, which ours did
The skiing
Great for intermediates. Lots of reds, not many greens, blues or blacks (subject to the usual comments about some runs being mis-graded).
Generally v quiet on the pistes and at the lifts. Only had lift queues on Saturday (probably due to many lifts being closed due to wind).
Three different areas - Are By, Are Bjornen and Duved.
Are By - main area - skiing above and below tree line. Above tree line, it can get blown out and runs can get icy. Runs above Ulladalen (left of piste map) are quite exposed. Rodkullen (left of piste map) and Sadeln (right of piste map) offer some blues to play on, but mainly reds otherwise. Nice to lap red 57 and 58 first thing in the morning when VM8 lift opens at 8am.
Duved - a quiet hooner's paradise. Nice wide reds above Duved chair. Linked by a couple of drags to Tegefjall which has a couple of quiet, nice reds. Pistes tend to be easier than in Are By. Blues above Tegefjall worth a few runs, but not 20 (flat). Stop for a sausage butty and hot chocolate at Mr. Bramwell's at the top of the Tegefjall chair.
Are Bjornen - kids area lined by lift to Are By. Great skiing in the trees - piste 120.
Ski school
Kids did an hour's boarding lesson. Learnt to zig-zag down a green in an hour, which was not bad.
The snow
Pretty good, apart from on pistes exposed to wind. Pistes got a bit scalped on a busy Saturday. Piste prep good.
The lifts
Not bad - still a few T-bars, but not too onerous. We even had Bedrock Barney's family on a few T-bars.....
Food, drink and apres
Manageable because we self-catered. Beer/cider is about £1-£1.50 a can from the grog shop. Drink in bars/restaurants is expensive - £5-7 a large (0.5l) beer, £3 for a soft drink, £3 for hot chocolate. Eating out can be expensive, but there are places that are not too pricey. About £11 for burger, chips and salad in the mountain cafe. £6 for a large sausage wrap at Mr. Bramwell's.
The people/language
Everyone was extremely friendly and everyone spoke excellent English.
Would we go back?
Definitely. Local advice was to check for dates of Swedish half-term - Stockholm week is busy, but Gothenburg is not.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@dobby, another great Scandinavian adventure and review!
Was it ok arriving so late at Trondheim then getting the rental car and getting into the apartment?
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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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@ster, sort of.....I was relieved to see that Europcar was still open - we were the last pick-up that night. The drive was easy - one straightforward road to Are. The apartment key was left in a letterbox outside reception. Always a relief when you find the envelope with your name on it. The main problem was not sleeping after drinking large amounts of coffee to stay awake. The first day's skiing after 2 hours' sleep was a little bit ropey.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yes, must be quite a relief to have seen that key, especially at stupid o'clock in a frozen foreign land.
At least you had a good excuse for lack of sleep as usually skiing after 2 hours sleep is from reasons other than drinking coffee!
Interesting to hear it wasnt busy at UK half term, a real plus.
Which parts did/can Ski Safari do?
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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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We originally wanted to go to Trysil but could not find accommodation. I asked Ski Safari to look in Trysil, but they couldn't find anything either. They then tried Hemsedal (which was pretty well booked up) and then suggested Are and the Brunkulla apartments. Ski Safari then booked the flights, hire car and apartment. To be honest, I could have done this myself online, but the bloke at Ski Safari knew his stuff and had done a lot of legwork by the time we had settled on Are so I thought it only fair to book through Ski Safari. If I went again, I would DIY it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I met up with Dobby and family whilst holidaying in Are at the same time. Great week. Really impressed with the resort and would definitely return.
We went down the DIY route and travelled via Amsterdam to Trondheim. Therefore more flexibility regarding arrival time.
Drive from Trondheim to the resort was an absolute doddle.
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Glad you enjoyed the trip to Åre and the weather wasn't too cold!
| dobby wrote: |
| We originally wanted to go to Trysil but could not find accommodation. I asked Ski Safari to look in Trysil, but they couldn't find anything either. |
Surprising but perhaps it is half term in Oslo area or something?
In general, DIY to Trysil, Åre etc should be very easy as you are only dealing with three companies; airline, car rental (or by transfer), and skistar for everything else, which is all in English.
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Oslo is off this week, I think. Possibly just the clash with Gothenburg. Trysil, Hemsedal etc are an easy drive from Gothenburg so very popular here.
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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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@Themasterpiece, @mgrolf, maybe the Gothenburg holiday explains it.
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@dobby, Thanks for a very thorough report
I am going with my 19 year daughter - she has been there many times, but has no idea about restaurants (except "MAX"), as she was on self catering trips.
We will live in Duved "Renen" breakfast hotel. (Looking at Streetview - looks like TwenPeeks)
Looking for advice off good restaurants in Duved and Åre -mountain restaurants as well.
Any advice welcome.
Dobby we will try Mr. Bramwell's 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@dobby, very helpful trip report- we're off there in 3 weeks. 
We're arriving late via the shuttle bus from Trondheim and have an apartment booked with Skistar- was that who yours was with? I know the name of the apartment but not where to find it or the Skistar shop where the key will apparently be.
Do you think you saved money booking skis and passes in advance?
Anyone got any experience of lessons here? two of us are planning on doing a few days boarding so would probably be looking for a few hours private lesson and also a friend is a beginner so may be looking for a ski lesson.
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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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@MCL, yes. Apartment was with Skistar - the key was in an envelope in a little drop box. Skistar are very good at answering questions through their online chat so they should be able to tell you. I booked before the end of November, and got a 20% reduction on kit and 10% on passes. If you are going at Easter, I'd book skis/kit beforehand - I understand that Easter can get busy.
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@dobby, thanks for the info. they seem to have a multi equipment hire deal where you can swap between skis, board and even cross country skis for only about £10 more than a weeks ski hire- that solves the problem of having to decide what we are doing and for how many days
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You know it makes sense.
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@MCL, multihire looks good if you like to chop and change.
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FAQ
