 Poster: A snowHead
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Resort - Are, Sweden
Dates – 18-26 Feb 2017
Who went - Intermediate family (Ma, Pa, 2 girls aged 13 and 16)
Where we stayed – Forsa Fjallby apartments, Duved
Who we went with – DIY
Plus points
Family-friendly resort with varied skiing, particularly suited to intermediates.
Few lift queues, though a few bottle-necks
Relatively quiet pistes (apart from night skiing in Duved)
The three ski areas offer different skiing experiences
Very friendly people who speak English ridiculously well
Not as expensive as you would think, especially if you self-cater/eat in lots
Good value accommodation
Easy to book accommodation, skis, passes independently via SkiStar website.
Minus points
Not a lot of long, cruisy blues
Not a lot for adult/non-kiddy beginners
Hogzon (high zone) often closed due to high winds
Duved area not linked to Are/Bjornen
Piste preparation wasn’t the best
Not a large ski area (100km or so total) if that’s important to you
Who we are
Mrs Dobby vaguely competent but slow intermidiot plodding her way down the blues and reds
Daughters are hooning around on pretty much any slope
Me trying to keep up with daughters, especially No. 1 daughter
We do about 3000-7000m of vertical per day (depending on inclination, weather, conditions etc.), so not big mileage merchants, but like to spend most of the day skiing.
The cost
About £3400 flights, accommodation inc overnight at hotel in Trondheim on the Saturday night, hire car, petrol in Norway, ski hire and ski passes. Could have saved a lot by taking flights from LGW to Trondheim, but went for flights from Cardiff to TRD via AMS.
Flights
Flew with KLM from Cardiff to TRD via Schipol. Flights slightly delayed on way out and on way back. Some squeaky-bum moments re connections, but we made our flights, as did our luggage. Would probably not bother flying this way again, would probably use EasyJet from LGW to Are direct – would have been a lot cheaper.
Hire car
Rented an estate from Sixt. Seemed alright. Handy having the car to take all stuff from accommodation to lifts and to visit Are/Bjornen.
Drive to Are from Trondheim, and back
Easy if you take your time. Drive back was not great – in places the road had not been cleared well, which meant all you could see in the flat light was white. Where’s the road gone? Made me giggle when we crossed over the border form Sweden to Norway – as soon as you hit the border, the road had been cleared of snow.
Forsa Fjallby apartment
We stayed at one of the Forsa Fjallby apartments in Duved, about 10mins walk from the lifts in Duved. It was the bottom part of a lodge/house. 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 but no sauna. Hallway had room to dry/store wet kit/boots, but no ski store (dare say we could have left skis in the hallway). Left skis in the car overnight.
Duved was very quiet. And we had a deer that kept wandering past the apartment each morning.
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.
Duved is a smaller, separate village some 8km from Are. Has supermarket and a couple of bars/restaurants.
Ski hire and passes
Booked through Skistar website. Once again, 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
Our “intermediate” kit was generally good, although it’s worth making a note of the number on your skis or lock them up – skistar rent out a whole bunch of Head Rev 70s…..
Daughter No. 2’s kit was a bit manky – skis and boots were very old. I’m guessing that it’s because she is a “youth” which means she gets adult-sized kit at cheaper rates.
There is a ski hire shop in Duved – Fjallsports – which looks like a potentially good place to hire nice new kit…slightly cheaper than Skistar and kit looks nice and new.
The skiing
Great for intermediates, but not many long cruisy blues. Lots of reds, not many greens, blues or blacks (subject to the usual comments about some runs being mis-graded).
Pistes were not too busy (apart from night skiing in Duved).
Lift queues were not bad, apart from at key times of the day. Queues at Sadelexpress were quite long at 11:30 and 3pm as people tried to get back to Are from Bjornen. Rodkullen T bar queues were bad at about 10am. Queues at the VM8 could get bad if higher lifts are closed. Vargenliften (B42) is a PITA – slow button with kids falling off it, bless em – as an alternative ski down to the bottom of Bjornenliften and take that one to get to the top of Bjornen.
Lift queues in the Hogzon may be worse this year because one of the lifts has conked out.
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. We didn’t bother much with the Hogzon this time. Runs at Ulladalen and 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 – piste 14 is a lot steeper than 15. 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.
If you want some nice easy blues, then runs 32, 33, 34 and 40 around Rodkullen and Ulladalen are great, as is blue 119 in Bjornen. The blues from Sadelexpress are also good, but you do drop onto reds at the bottom. Blue 118 in Bjornen was shut, to store snow by the look of the huge mounds of the stuff on the piste.
For some hooning about, Duved is good. Some wide, generally quiet pistes. Piste 15 in Tegefjall is one of the easier reds in the Duved area. The reds above the Fjallgardexpressen lift are also good because you end up at a lift which is usually quiet.
For some harder reds, try the reds in the Hogzon and the lovely reds above the VM8 lift or those above the VM6 lift. Get there early for some nicely groomed pistes. Get there later for some sugar-on-ice action.
The weather
Sunday rained. Yes, rained. Felt like Cardiff. Then it cooled and snowed. And snowed. And the wind blew too.
Piste conditions
Nowhere near as good as last year. Pistes lovely early on, but ice always lurking underneath the surface. Did for my daughter who had her first proper fall (yard-sale, face plant, off the side of the piste proper fall…)
Food, drink and apres
Not expensive IF you don’t eat and drink out much. Beer/cider is about £1-£1.50 a can from the grog shop. Decent craft ale about £2-3 in grog shop. Drink in bars/restaurants is expensive - £5-7 a large (0.5l) beer, £2-3 for a soft drink, £3 for hot chocolate.
Eating out can be expensive, but there are places that are not too pricey. About £13 for burger, chips and salad in the mountain cafe. £7 for a large sausage wrap at Mr. Bramwell's.
Pigo’s in Duved is a friendly, warm and inviting bar/resto. Pizza for about £10, huge mega burger with trimmings and chips about £15.
Jensen (??) in Duved is a nice café-bar which was good for quick bite to eat before leaving on Sunday. £10 for burger and chips.
The people/language
Everyone was extremely friendly and everyone spoke excellent English.
Would we go back?
Yes, but may not go back next year. So many places to ski and so little time.
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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, We've been there a few times, and will be there in less than three weeks again. I think that is a very fair and even review of a place we love. If possible, with your permission, we will just add a couples perspective (staying in Tegefjall self catering) to your excellent thread when we get back.
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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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Sounds good. Enjoy åre. We got lucky with snow - a couple of locals said it has been a bad winter.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Not been down 121, but just from recollection I think those trails in Bjornen are (ski) paths next to the roads. So depend on snow conditions. Could have bits of grit. Probably slow. But this is conjecture. You could email Copperhill and ask?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@vjmehra, I skied the lower part of the dotted-line 121 last year to get to the B40 lift and @Themasterpiece is right - it is a trail/path and, IIRC, snow cover was a bit sketchy. I cannot remember if it was flat. The other option is to get onto blue piste 119, cross over the kiddy area (this is quite flat - you'll probably have to walk with your board) and drop onto blue piste 112 (which is OK, but usually a bit scraped and icy, especially at the bottom close to the B40 lift).
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Well I certainly can't improve on the excellent and thorough TR @dobby, posted, but I will add some news of our trip. ,
Costs.
Flights £480 return Manchester to Ostersund vis Arlanda with SAS, two 23kg bags plus 23kg ski bag included, flying out Saturday
18th, return Sunday 26th.
Accom. £520 in Tegefjall
Food. £95 big shop, then a further £30 for top ups.
Drink £70 spread over one evening out, bottle of Mintu and some wine from system, and some Limencello we took with us.
Lift passes. £405 for two (pay for 6 days-get 8 days)
Transfers £100 basically £25 per adult each way with Flygtaxi
As our apartment was about 50m from the piste, we often lunched in, and on other days took sandwiches as the weather was pleasant. On the first day we did have lunch in the big restaurant in Tegefjall. They do a kind of buffet thing, lots of salad things, sourkraut etc, and various warm options including delicious pork loin, pizza, goulash, potato dishes amongst others which was 145SEK (£13) with a bottomless tea, hot chocolate or coffee and as many repeat trips to the buffet as you liked. It wasn't cordon bleu, but it was as good as most of what is available in the Alps, and I think actually good value on a skiing holiday.
One night hotel Granen £125. As we were arriving on a Saturday and not in our apartment until sunday we needed this.
Total above spend was £1825, total holiday spend including treats, prezzies, snacks, hot chocolate, waffles etc, £2270 for 7 full days skiing and 9 nights away(including parking and 1 night in the Radisson Blu at Manchester airport)
Travel.
We went the route we did because by the time we had travelled to Gatwick for the Easyjet flights we would have saved very little and would not have been able to do 7 days skiing, just 6. Also on the last day we would have had to get up very early, whereas with SAS our transfer coach was 9.45 and 50 yards from the apartment.
Travelling via Stockholm was no problem at all for us, though a young family might find that the 2-3 hours at Stockholm makes the journey too long.
Apartment.
It was great. Clean with a well equipped kitchen, a decent lounge area, and a small but excellent sauna. (If you want to look it up on skistar website, it was Nedre Alpen 3D in Tegefjall). We only used the double bedroom, but there was two other small rooms, both with bunk beds. It was very handily placed, with the Tegefjall chair and the main bus top both about 50m away, along with a small convenience store and the skistar shop where we had to check in.
The skiing.
Well it was awful. We had to put up with crowded pistes
Horrendous lift queues
and no off piste fun
As you can see, the weather was rubbish too.
Seriously though, those photo's are from the first 3 days, the weather did close in later in the week, and from day 5 onwards for us, the top of the area (basically most of what is above the treeline) was closed due to high wind, but that is only 6 lifts so not too much of a problem. In our experience though, when the top is open, go there because it often closes. Our week was the first week after the four week" winter holidays" in Sweden, so things were quiet, worth bearing in mind.
The snow.
It was spot on all week. Perfectly groomed on piste and from day two onwards, between ankle and shin deep powder off piste, and every morning we were able to lay fresh tracks both on piste on perfect corduroy and through the trees in powder off piste. We know from previous trips that in Åre By , the pistes get very chopped up by lunchtime, but in Tegefjall they were great most of the day, and when we skied to Bjornen, Ulladalen and Rodkullen, we found they were in good nick too.
Additional things.
There are many x country routes around Åre, but they aren't tracked routes and some of the downhill parts looked tricky even for the experienced Swedes and Norwegians.
Åre is a family friendly resort for the most part, and we did see someone getting a bollocking off a big Viking for skiing too fast, too close to his family. When the lad protested others joined in. Excellent.
In Tegefjall there is the vildmark stigen, designed for little kids, though for non Swedish speaking kids, the various talking and singing exihibits will be of limited interest.
In Rodkullen there are often quite a few disabled people in or on a variety of equipment with as many minders as required. There is a ski school based there that specializes in disabled access to snowsports, but sadly I don't know it's name.
People looking for endless off piste, never having to ski the same piste twice, serious steeps, or those who cannot do less than 60mph, apres junkies and alcoholics, this resort is not for you.
According to skitracks, we did between 18.4 and 33.6 miles ski distance everyday.
Summary.
For families, or intermediate couples Åre is perfect, if you are looking for extreme go to Chamonix, if you are looking for Apres, go to Tignes or Val Thorens. If alcohol is important, you need to plan or go somewhere else.
But if you just like to ski and want something different to the alps, try it. We worked out that a party of 6 could have a very cheap trip travelling from Gatwick with easy jet if they stayed where we did (accom £86 each)
And when was the last time your skiing was interrupted by a herd of reindeer?
We love Åre, but we know it's not for everyone.
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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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Great info. Cheers
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@thecramps, great report. As you said, if you are a reasonable intermediate, don't want anything too taxing and your main interest is skiing (and not going on the lash), then Are is a good call. A good place to do a first DIY trip, too, because it's so easy to book and when you are there everyone speaks excellent English.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Great reports, thanks @dobby and @thecramps. If you want some accessible and fairly 'easy' offpiste, then there is good opportunity for that in Åre when the high zone lifts are open. If you want to jump off a cliff, then you can do that also on Blåsten or Östra Ravin, but there is, of course, more of that elsewhere.
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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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Good advice from @thecramps re high zone. It does get "blown out" quite a lot, so if it's open, head up there (can get a few queues now that one of the high zone lifts is shut). Also, accommodation in Are (and Scandinavia in general) is often better value than in other countries.
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@dobby and @thecramps, how does the overall cost for you in Åre compare to a trip to the Alps? We can normally do a week in Åre for £2k (book cheap internal flights early, have our own equipment), but I think we spend £1-1.5k more for a week in the Alps.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Themasterpiece, I know you didn't ask me or about Salen  but I am expecting everything to come in at £3000 once we factor in food etc. Obviously time will tell but I couldn't see a way of achieving any where near that cheap compared to the alps mainly due to how expensive flights were (for BA) on release. That isn't saying that we couldn't have got a reasonable deal of EasyJet or another airline as we had out heart set on Sweden for next year.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Themasterpiece, never tried to DIY in the Alps. I imagine that we would be able to get somewhere in the Alps for a similar price if we DIY'ed and if we booked the flights early enough. But we've found that the accommodation we've had in Scandinavia has been far bigger and better than the self-catering accommodation we've had in France (our only comparison). Having said that, I was looking for a cheap DIY solo getaway earlier this year and Are looked very, very good, price wise.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@skitow, Easyjet does fly into Ostersund. Until the end of March (that's what they did this year). 2017's flights came out in June 2016 (just after I'd booked...grrrr). Must say that Are looks good for a summer hols (but not enough guaranteed sunshine and heat for the three women in my family....)
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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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EasyJet flights are available to Åre Ostersund until returning 16th April this year - I guess to catch Easter week (was there last Easter and it was lovely that time of year). And available to book now for next winter from 10th December 2017 to 4th February 2018. Grab yourself a bargain! Not sure when they release the seats for the rest of the winter 2018?
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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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@Themasterpiece, thanks for that. May still end up in Are
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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 got back from Åre on Sunday, after a week in Copperhill Mountain Lodge (slightly away from the main centre, nearish the Bjornen area).
We loved everything from the hotel, to the empty pistes, to the short airport transfers to the excellent instruction.
I'm not a fan of the crowded Alpine pistes, so next year may well be spent at 2/3 Nordic resorts, probably Åre again and maybe Trysil.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@vjmehra, glad you enjoyed your trip. I'd be interested to hear more about Copperhill as I've never stayed there. Rooms, facilities, access to/from on skis etc.?
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It was very nice, but of course Swedish prices (a glass of wine for example was about 95 SEK, the cheapest bottle was about 420 SEK I think).
We got a Copper Suite (2 bedrooms, living room and kitchenette), which suited us well as it meant our little one had her own room to sleep in, which was good! The showers were really nice and big (dual shower with double rainforest and free standing shower heads, so in theory you could have 2 jets on at any one time).
In terms of facilities, the main bar area is really nice and impressive, the service is great and understanding when small children have a meltdown for no reason (of course this may not be to everyone's taste...there were quite a few small children running around, its amazing the waiters never dropped anything).
There are 3 restaurants (we only tried one as we opted for the half board package), all of which looked amazing. The one we used was excellent, the food was very 'instagrammable' I believe the kids would say  Also as a bit of an awkward eater (non-lactose) they were super accommodating, going to the extra effort of making an alternative sauce, rather than just serving up the dish without the dairy based sauce.
We didn't use the Spa as such, but used the swimming bits (kids times are 8-11 and 3-5), they have one pool for swimming, one shallow hot one indoors and a smallish hot tube style one outdoors. All nice and clean, with a view of the top of the piste.
There was a playroom which had a couple of playstations in and some toys for younger kids as well as a large tv playing cartoons (in Swedish), they also do kids club sessions in there, but you have to pay extra for that.
Next door to the playroom is a huge lounge/games area for adults/older kids, with a nice fireplace, a few sofas, 2 pool tables and a table tennis table, right by the pizzeria restaurant.
On the same floor is the Skistar shop (you can buy gear, rent gear, get lift passes and arrange lessons all from the same place which is handy), where the staff seemed knowledgeable and friendly. Also we actually had a large ski locker (allocated by room number, opened by room key), i.e. we could have fit 4 sets of skis, boots and helmets in there...which is nice as in my experience hotels are happy to offer a larger room but don't give you a larger locker, so I was pleased with that.
Oh there is a little sledge that you can take for small kids, which we spent a lot of time with!
As for access, there is a drag lift up, which you can get to by taking another long drag lift up from the bottom, then skiing down a bit on a blue trail. As for going down, its marked as a green run and is very short, but its just basically flat with a horrible steep bit (well when I say horrible to tricky for our little one so we never skiied down). From the bottom of that run you need to use a combination of green/blue marked trails to get to the bottom, there was plenty of snow on them when we were there, but others have said thats not always the case.
They also have a free taxi service, but it did tend to go awol during the day randomly, which was a bit annoying, also it finishes at 16:45, which is too early if you want to ski until the end (there are floodlit pistes too).
I think thats about it, but feel free to ask away if I've missed anything (also my trip advisor review is here if thats allowed, apologies in advance if thats not allowed): https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g670155-d1236656-r470591408-Copperhill_Mountain_Lodge-Are_Jamtland_County_Jamtland_and_Harjedalen.html#SHOW_USER_REVIEW
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Oh also all the bedrooms have playstations in and the Burgers in the bar are not cheap (around 200 SEK)...but amazing!
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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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I am looking at a family holiday next February, including 3 can't skiers (age and injuries). Is there any more info on what do to off the slopes in day-time? Any help greatly appreciated. For example, what is the area like for pedestrians (80 years+), sightseeing, shopping and lunch?
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Where we stayed there is nothing other than the hotel and even in the (little) town (Are Bjornen) there really isn't much for non-skiiers to do.
That said you can organise trips such as reindeer spotting (although they do just turn up anyway sometimes so you can just wait around for them , dog sledging, ski-mobiling etc, the usual snow activities basically.
There are also plenty of cross country trails if that helps at all.
That said others may be better placed to advise on the main town as we never ventured that far!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@vjmehra, Good report, though a bottle of wine for 420 SEK is more Copperhill prices rather than Swedish prices. It is a nice hotel after all.
@Themasterpiece, Unless we find a last minute deal, it usually costs about the same to the Alps, and that is for 6 days skiing, not 7. It was a cheap deal we took to La Ros in January, but when all was said and done it still came to just over £1600 in total.
@dobby, Totally agree re Scandinavian accommodation. We have found self catering accommodation in the alps, especially in France very poor in comparison, and way more expensive. As a couple, price wise at least, self catering in the alps doesn't stack up well against a catered chalet.
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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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I should add that we took some herbs, spices, bouquet garne, coffee, tea, etc, with us, but I guess that is standard self catering practice anyway.
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FAQ
, and I have intended to return for the skiing, having walked and cycled over most of the slopes that September. You have inspired me to get my a**e into gear and organise something. Unfortunately it will not be until next year now 
