 Poster: A snowHead
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Country: Norway
Domain: Trysil
Date: 7th - 15th April 2017
Our holiday: Family ski/city break holiday, consisting of myself, OH, 10 yr son and 6 yr old daughter incorporating a city break in Oslo, as seems a pity to travel only to ski and not see anything else.
Website: https://www.skistar.com/en/
Weather & conditions: www.yr.no, www.fnugg.no
Travelled on BA from Heathrow to Oslo, seemed to land at the far end of Oslo airport which is surprisingly big and resulted in a long walk. Have to pay for everything on board now with M&S sandwiches on board, no free lunch.
Stayed for two nights near the airport at Best Western in a “family room” with breakfast included for £190 booked via booking.com. Used booking.com cancellation policy to arbitrage the price between a couple of hotels as prices dropped just before we went. There are two hotels on site at the airport but they cost twice as much. The BW was off-site and had to take a shuttle bus, cost was not included and was for the distance a steep NOK70 per pax. Luckily under 16s travelled free but humour not improved when breaking a bottle of precious duty free wine on exiting the bus. Room was small especially with a sofa double and two single beds out but functional. No fridge but had tea making facilities. Breakfast was a good sized buffet with good variety of the usual fare plus local items, and was available at decent times. Fine and fit for purpose.
From here we headed back to the airport the next day to take a train into Oslo, the normal train services cost half the dedicated airport to Oslo train, they are only take a couple of minutes longer and leave from the adjacent platforms right underneath the airport (that’s the way to build them). Even on a weekend we didn’t have to wait more than 10 minutes for a clean, efficient and fast service to get to/from the centre of town. Had thoughts of driving in but glad we didn’t in the end as while simple to get to Oslo, once there there are one way systems and tram/bus only roads. There is also an Oslo toll (and a tax if driving in with studded tyres!). Once in Oslo we got the Oslo visitors pass which covered all public transport in the centre, entrance to all the attractions we wanted and up to 20% discounts at some restaurants. (Kids travel on public transport for free at weekends anyway). Headed on the ferry to Bygdoy to visit the various museums linked to Norway’s maritime past, the fascinating Thor Heyerdahl museum which has his actual Kon-Tiki raft, a fantastic story you would have said was an invention if it didn’t actually happen and is an explorer I remember from his later expeditions, also have Ra-II there. The Fram museum, Amundsen’s Antarctic ship which also has generous mentions of Scott’s competing expedition, and the Viking ship museum. All well worth seeing. Took the bus back into Olso to see the Nobel Peace Centre (not quite what you think it will be but won’t spoil it), the Scream (not actually in the Munch Museum but in the National Gallery) which made an impact on mini-ster who then was replicating it on steamed up bathroom mirrors, thereafter a walk around the palace and the Akershus fortress. Sadly missed the closing time of the Norwegian Resistance Museum located there. Very easy to get around on trains, buses and trams. Ate at Kaffistova as suggested and was reasonably priced compared to other city centre eateries then back on the train to the airport to pick up a rental car for the next day’s drive up to Trysil.
Booked car hire with Sixt via rentalcars.com, hoped to book direct but couldn’t get as good a deal on the companies’ own websites as on rentalcars.com. Cost was £250 for the basic rental for a week. Why can they never give you the car advertised, booked an Astra Opel Estate (or similar!!!) as checked it would easily take the skis inside we had, but given a Rav4 which I was told was an upgrade on the level I had booked being a Ford Focus. I said that a Focus was no way on the same level as an Astra which was on my paperwork, girl looked bemused as she said that they don’t even have any Astra Estates! Went to find the Rav4 under protest that if it didn’t fit the skis inside I would be back, couldn’t find the car and had to go back to the office when miraculously she could had a Volvo X90 that she could give me at no extra cost, result! And an automatic! Watch for the extras in the fine print, these were rental of the smart toll device (NOK294, about £30) and winterisation fee although on clarifying this only runs from 1 Nov to end March.
I will replicate the links kindly provided by Spoon to the odd give way rule that Norway has, but didn’t see it in action
http://karmasotra.blogspot.no/2008/07/driving-in-norway-1-that-ridiculous.html?m=1
https://anewlifeinnorway.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/driving-in-norway-8-tips-tricks/
Didn’t hurry to get out the door in the morning as encouraged another stuffing at the breakfast buffet to ameliorate feeding costs before setting off. Straightforward drive to the resort on good roads. Most drivers generally follow the speed limits which are low for the quality of the roads but thems the rules so stuck the cruise control on to prevent being tempted. A few speed cameras (some averaging ones) en-route but they were well sign posted and appeared on the Sat Nav. Quite a few tolls on the motorways, I think you could avoid these but looked like it would take about another hour to get there. Tolls themselves ended up at a total of NOK363, about £36. Road from the main highway up to the resort could get icy and saw one car in a ditch after heavy snow but driven with care is fine.
The resort: Is spread out over several areas. The drive from our Høyfjellssenter side to the main Turistsenter area is about 10km with the Trysil township (with the big supermarkets) in between. Lots of cabins about in varying size and apparent luxuriousness, down to a caravan park. Skistar runs most things, its staff are friendly and helpful although not all the lifties were that way inclined as saw a few youngsters struggle for a while before being helped on. Pretty strict place as we got a welcome pack including a letter warning of dire consequences for making noise past 11pm and they don’t rent if all occupants are under 18, but was fine by us. Get the skistar app as it tracks your lift usage, you can add your kids and it gives you in-resort discounts and deals. Very family orientated and loads of nippers about of all ages, helps with the deal on free lift passes for under 7s and the availability of the shared parent pass.
Lift pass began at 3pm on the day before the official start and it was night skiing for the first night we got there as well. Luckily our accommodation was available when we got there at around 2pm (officially from 5pm) so could change in comfort to use the early lift pass start.
As to apres, I didn’t seek any out but generally very quiet on the side we were staying, on Sunday night most restaurants looked closed by 8pm.
Accommodation: Booked via skistar website as they seem to have the majority of accommodation around on their site including the two Radisson Blu offerings (catered or self catered). Normal week is Sunday to Sunday, only a few places do Sat-Sat or by nights. We went self-catering in a 1 bedroom apartment that slept four on the north facing Høyfjellssenter side at EUR 1,100 for a week (incl optional cleaning cost). If you choose to pay via myskistar page on booking then you get a 10 day period to pay the deposit (if more than 42 days from arrival), effectively you can use this as a no payment cooling off period whilst you decide/check other options. It was hard to say where the apartment was as the “map” was a diagram and had no scale but we found it was a 2 minute walk to the ski school meeting point and the lifts as well as parking, shops and restaurants a stone’s throw away with a ski storage locker below (there was a warning in the welcome pack about ski theft but didn’t did come across any evidence of it, and there were a lot of nice skis left lying about). It was very well appointed having been refurbished not long ago, had all the mod cons (except a washing machine and didn’t see a laundrette anywhere) including underfloor heating, a brilliant drying cabinet (toasty boots in the morning!) and plenty of kitchen gear including a toaster. Downside was that there was only a shower, no bath for luxuriating in, and we shared a hot water cylinder with another flat which we only found out when there was no hot water one evening at about 5pm, thought there was a fault. Skistar was good and sent a technician straightaway but confirmed that there was no problem, just that someone else had had all the hot showers. But this only happened the one time.
Lift system: Mostly drags (pomas and interminable mile long t-bars), a few chairs, a couple were heated with hoods (Is it just me or is this going a bit far? There will be cup holders next. I quite like being on a chair in the open, if you can’t stand getting a bit cold maybe skiing isn’t for you, and the heated seats did melt the snow leaving puddles to sit in). Reason for the drags as explained by instructor was that it gets windy, the chairs get closed but not the drags. This did happen during our stay so seemed a reasonable reason but didn’t help my old legs. No queues earlier in the week except for when the winds closed the higher areas and compressed everyone on the lower slopes but it did get busier on the holiday weekend. Glad to see that the chairs had singleton lanes that beat the queues as people did not seem keen to fill all the seats for some reason, used them often when rushing back for school pick-up (just like being at home!). Of the twin F7 T-bars, only one was ever running. It got busy, not helped by people not wanting to fill each side, as it’s an important lift to get from our side to the F2 express chair or up F3 to the top of Hogegga blacks. In talking to a couple that had been there 6 years running they couldn’t recall both T-bars running at the same time.
The snow: I watched the base melt away under the heat of previous weeks so stopped looking, luckily the temps dropped and all runs and lifts were listed as open with the snow being pretty good with less than 70cm of base, (found that the website could not quite be trusted on that front as there were parts of runs not open, such as the higher part of Black 75 and the odd other one when “all” were open). It snowed a bit mid-week which was great, then all day Thursday and part of the Friday morning putting down +20cm, but Friday was our last skiing day so the Saturday we were leaving would have been great. It did get cut up quite quickly on that Friday morning as the crowds for Easter weekend had arrived but overall good snow management. It got heavy in the afternoons but with the cold temps not slushy, nor did it seem to ice up overnight for the mornings.
The terrain: A good mix of difficulties so caters for all levels, ambitions and abilities (can’t comment on off-piste as don’t do it). All parts of the resort could be accessed from blues and greens which is great for beginners or as confidence builders. The reds and blacks would be easy reds/blacks in the big Euro resorts. High up was fairly exposed but with the lower slopes in the trees, including many of the blacks in the Hoggega area, there was shelter and with both south and north facing sides there was always a calmer side There are quite a few snow parks (most kid sized but some with frighteningly big jumps) and short timed speed and slalom runs, something for everyone.
We went night skiing on two nights, first on our side then on the Turistsenter side. More of a novelty as by that time snow was cut up and heavy going, not many takers and by this time of year they could have got away with not turning on the floodlights as it was daylight until 8pm or so.
Ski School: Group lessons were Monday to Friday and could start at 9am , 10.45am and 1.15pm. OH and youngest had 90 min group lessons in the afternoon, 10 year old had a 3 hour group lesson (with 2 students so virtually a private one) at 9am so it was lucky that we were so close to the ski meeting point as the lifts don’t open until 9am. Both kids progressed well with the Youngest who had skied a little before actually wanting to ski more and take the chair to Trysilfjellet (highest point) and ski down its long green and had done a blue by weeks end. Very pleased with their progress.
Good set up for the littlies at Høyfjellssenter, with a carpet, a low slung and slow poma and a normal poma all nearby the dedicated school slope to progress on. With all the greens they have enough to be getting on with.
Note that on our nosy down to the Radisson Residences at our side, you would need to take 2 lifts to get to the Høyfjellssenter school meeting point so would need to drive or take the bus for a 9am lesson, although one morning we were down there we did see the F13 lift letting skiers on at 8.50am, still would be hard pressed to make it. But there is a ski school offering located at the Radisson with Ski Norway if you book a package or accommodation via them.
Oddly the instructors are mostly Swedes or Danes, apparently only 2 out of about 30 on our side were Norwegians, apparently the pay is much better than in Sweden. The instructor for our youngest’s class had to instruct in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and English.
Food: Can’t really comment as did not eat at restaurants as they were very expensive, except for the occasional hot chocolates and £5 waffles. Food at supermarkets wasn’t too bad if bought carefully, beer looked ok until I worked out that the price quoted was per bottle and not for the four pack it sat in front of.
Other: As a treat for their good effort on the slopes and not losing any equipment, I took the kids for a PAYG visit to the pools at the Radisson Residences, cost NOK350 (just over £30 pounds) for the three of us. It was a pretty fancy layout with a decent sized heated pool that ran outside toa teraace where you could watch skiers on the small slope that runs past, 3 hot tubs both in and outside, 2 different saunas, a hot stone room and steam room and touch sensitive showers. Be aware though that kids are not allowed in for the first or last of hour of opening, despite the fact that all kids get up early during holidays (as opposed to on school days).
Got the skis waxed and edges done at the resort service centre (only game in town it seemed) after the last day, they had them ready the next morning (not sure if they could do them by a 9am start as I didn’t need them for that) and the edges seemed sharp as sliced thorough plastic cable ties I was using to fix them together for trip home.
Would never have needed any cash during the whole holiday apart from tipping the ski instructors. Everything could be done on a credit card.
Didn’t come across too many English there and what there were seemed to be staying at the Radisson with Ski Norway and others who we met who lived in the UK originally from Sweden and Holland.
On the way back to the airport we stopped in Hamar at a medieval church (http://domkirkeodden.no/en) that had been razed by those mean neighbours the Swedes (When and why did the Scandinavians turn all nice anyway? I’ve watched Vikings, what happened to them?) then lately encased in a glass cathedral to preserve it, very interesting and a major construction at its peak in 1200. Make sure the guide sings you a song to show off the acoustics.
Conclusion: We would go back as it’s a resort with something for everyone and easily accessible for all, except you have to like/do drags. Nearly everyone skied under control and at safe/appropriate speeds, even the kids, as opposed to some in France on our last trip so something less to worry about. Kids enjoyed the ski school with both much improved and the youngest didn’t need to buy a lift pass. Would help if the exchange rate was better, skistar prices its accommodation/lessons/passes in EURO for some reason.
Any questions, let me know and I would be happy to answer.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 24-04-23 0:00; edited 3 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thank you for the detailed account! I really need to do some of the tourist stuff around Oslo given how many times I've been...
Tipping the ski instructor - were they surprised?! It may be the first tip they'd ever received a tip as no one really tips in Scandinavia (good wages) and its pretty much cashless!
Vikings and when did Scandinavians get nice? Strange isn't it. There are a lot of huge mean Viking looking people about, but everyone is very well behaved. Could be that they've had no wars in a couple of hundred years. But more likely the effect of a very even socialist society.
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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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Great report!
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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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Great review-thank you!
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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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| ster wrote: |
Country: Norway
Domain: Trysil
Author: Jang (ster)
Date: 7th - 15th April 2017
Our holiday: Family ski/city break holiday, consisting of myself, OH, 10 yr son and 6 yr old daughter incorporating a city break in Oslo, as seems a pity to travel only to ski and not see anything else.
Website: https://www.skistar.com/en/
Weather & conditions: www.yr.no, www.fnugg.no
...Good set up for the littlies at Høyfjellssenter, with a carpet, a low slung and slow poma and a normal poma all nearby the dedicated school slope to progress on. With all the greens they have enough to be getting on with.
Note that on our nosy down to the Radisson Residences at our side, you would need to take 2 lifts to get to the Høyfjellssenter school meeting point so would need to drive or take the bus for a 9am lesson, although one morning we were down there we did see the F13 lift letting skiers on at 8.50am, still would be hard pressed to make it. But there is a ski school offering located at the Radisson with Ski Norway if you book a package or accommodation via them... |
Great review. Went there in Feb but on the Turistsenter side. I was trying to work out how you'd get from Radisson Blu Mountain Resort to the Høyfjellssenter Ski School for 9am and it looks like the key is to book the lessons for the afternoon. Did the F13 only let the skiers on early once? Or did you only see it once?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for the great report.
Sound like you had a great trip despite your concerns about the snow conditions/weather the weeks before.
I'm surprised there are not more British visitors to the resorts in Norway. The most I meet are usually married to Norwegians/Scandinavians (like me).
SkiStar's website automatically goes to EUR if you select English language. You can pay in NOK or SEK if you select Norwegian or Swedish. I always try to pay in SEK because it's SkiStar's home currency but sometimes the difference is so small it's easier for to pay in NOK so I don't have to deal with the fees my bank adds on.
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@Spoon, Norway has got a reputation for being prohibitively expensive. When we went 2 years ago, everyone was amazed and wondered how we could afford it but for what we got, it wasn't much more than the same would have cost in the Alps. This year as the pound fell and the NOK rebounded, the reputation was deserved and we too wondered how we could afford it.
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Interesting report. Probably not somewhere I'll rush to as we have boarders in the group, so the drags lead to lots of moaning.
Hire cars are always interesting, as the models they quote are only a guide. Why do you think that a Focus is "no way on the same level as an Astra"? (assuming that you're talking about estates in both cases). They're near in terms of space etc. (but the Focus is far nicer to drive).
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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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Top TR
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| sugarmoma666 wrote: |
| Why do you think that a Focus is "no way on the same level as an Astra"? (assuming that you're talking about estates in both cases). They're near in terms of space etc. (but the Focus is far nicer to drive). |
I'd rather have a Focus than an Astra. Quite often they say I've got an X and a Y and let you chose, and typically it's better than I was expecting.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
Tipping the ski instructor - were they surprised?! It may be the first tip they'd ever received a tip as no one really tips in Scandinavia (good wages) and its pretty much cashless!
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Indeed...please don't start a trend...Scandinavia is already expensive!
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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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| Penry wrote: |
Great review. Went there in Feb but on the Turistsenter side. I was trying to work out how you'd get from Radisson Blu Mountain Resort to the Høyfjellssenter Ski School for 9am and it looks like the key is to book the lessons for the afternoon. Did the F13 only let the skiers on early once? Or did you only see it once? |
Thanks. I think I remember you asking on another thread and thought I would take a look to find out.
Was only down there once to see the early kick off of F13 so a 100% record but hardly a large sample. There was a queue well before 9am as if people expected it to open earlier than 9am. But even when it did open at 8.50ish it still would have been a bit of a push to get to the lesson by 9am official start time. If you need to know I would drop the Radisson or Skistar a line and ask if this is the norm, or even call them, everyone I rang in Norway when researching was really helpful.
If it does start early you would still be putting a few eggs in the one basket if the thing didn't run up ok. And if it doesn't always open early it doesn't mean you can't do the 9am lessons at Høyfjellssenter as there is still the bus that could work (I haven't checked the schedule but I would expect it to be timed to get people there for 9am school/lift start) or if you end up with a car its very short drive to the ski school meet with parking very close.
And there is the 1045am start time for the 90 min group lessons if you can get those, gives you plenty of time to get there and warm up.
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| vjmehra wrote: |
| Quote: |
Tipping the ski instructor - were they surprised?! It may be the first tip they'd ever received a tip as no one really tips in Scandinavia (good wages) and its pretty much cashless!
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Indeed...please don't start a trend...Scandinavia is already expensive! |
Yes, it didnt seem like the norm, but didn't refuse it. It really was the only tips we handed out the entire trip due to my penny pinching way of organizing everything myself so hopefully haven't distorted the economy too much.  .
They were a nice bunch and the sprogs really came on a lot. Added to that our 6 year old was being a bit of a madam on the first day, didn't like falling/skiing. Also 10 year old was only 1 of 2 in the group and they cut the time of the class from 2 to 3 hours so expect the instructor had his take home cut a bit. Also I did make a stuff up and booked my OH and 10 year old each in a level too high, ok for him as he was only one of two so the instructor could tailor things and he did seem to cope ok in the end and enjoyed it. But in my OH's class there was another person who was a level below and they packed it in after the first day and left my OH as TE Charlie. Daren't tell her I put her in the wrong class. Especially when I then found out that she skis with her top buckle undone as its too tight!!! Despite me pointing out its the second most important one on the boot and wont make doing reds very easy. But what doesnt kill you!
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You know it makes sense.
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We've ben happy with the skistar instructors also - usually very young instructors for the kids lessons, but they make it fun.
Hmm, skiing with the top buckle of the boots undone... I think it could be more likely to lead to an injury in a fall as it will twist a lot more before the ski releases from its binding?
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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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| ster wrote: |
| Penry wrote: |
Great review. Went there in Feb but on the Turistsenter side. I was trying to work out how you'd get from Radisson Blu Mountain Resort to the Høyfjellssenter Ski School for 9am and it looks like the key is to book the lessons for the afternoon. Did the F13 only let the skiers on early once? Or did you only see it once? |
Thanks. I think I remember you asking on another thread and thought I would take a look to find out.
Was only down there once to see the early kick off of F13 so a 100% record but hardly a large sample. There was a queue well before 9am as if people expected it to open earlier than 9am. But even when it did open at 8.50ish it still would have been a bit of a push to get to the lesson by 9am official start time. If you need to know I would drop the Radisson or Skistar a line and ask if this is the norm, or even call them, everyone I rang in Norway when researching was really helpful.
If it does start early you would still be putting a few eggs in the one basket if the thing didn't run up ok. And if it doesn't always open early it doesn't mean you can't do the 9am lessons at Høyfjellssenter as there is still the bus that could work (I haven't checked the schedule but I would expect it to be timed to get people there for 9am school/lift start) or if you end up with a car its very short drive to the ski school meet with parking very close.
And there is the 1045am start time for the 90 min group lessons if you can get those, gives you plenty of time to get there and warm up. |
Many thanks for looking, I really appreciate it. I just couldn't believe there wasn't some simple solution. There's no point paying top dollar for ski-in ski-out if you have to take a bus anyway; you might as well stay somewhere cheap off-site. I'll call them if it becomes a live consideration for next year; I have an aversion to returning to the same holiday destination but in many ways it's perfect for us.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Themasterpiece wrote: |
We've ben happy with the skistar instructors also - usually very young instructors for the kids lessons, but they make it fun.
Hmm, skiing with the top buckle of the boots undone... I think it could be more likely to lead to an injury in a fall as it will twist a lot more before the ski releases from its binding? |
They were indeed. But sounded like the 6 year olds wore them out towards the end of the week.
Crumbs, hadn't even thought of the risk of that. Could get nasty. Thanks for pointing that out, will pass it on in the sternest of terms.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Penry wrote: |
| Many thanks for looking, I really appreciate it. I just couldn't believe there wasn't some simple solution. There's no point paying top dollar for ski-in ski-out if you have to take a bus anyway; you might as well stay somewhere cheap off-site. I'll call them if it becomes a live consideration for next year; I have an aversion to returning to the same holiday destination but in many ways it's perfect for us. |
No worries, it was good to find out as I was thinking about it for us for another time as well given the good late Easter conditions we had there. But with it you are paying for the accommodation, possible catering and the facilities, all of which looked/sounded goods, rather than the location.
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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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| Themasterpiece wrote: |
| sugarmoma666 wrote: |
| Why do you think that a Focus is "no way on the same level as an Astra"? (assuming that you're talking about estates in both cases). They're near in terms of space etc. (but the Focus is far nicer to drive). |
I'd rather have a Focus than an Astra. Quite often they say I've got an X and a Y and let you chose, and typically it's better than I was expecting. |
I am just not a Ford person, probably harking back to how they were 20 years ago rather than the current reality.
But more of a bargaining position in this instance. I knew that the Astra Estate had a 40:20:40 back seat and so would accommodate our skis inside comfortably and safely, I wasn't sure that the Focus could do either so didnt want to accepting something that wouldn't work for us. And I wasnt sure she was even referring to a Focus Estate.
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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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| Spoon wrote: |
Thanks for the great report.
Sound like you had a great trip despite your concerns about the snow conditions/weather the weeks before.
I'm surprised there are not more British visitors to the resorts in Norway. The most I meet are usually married to Norwegians/Scandinavians (like me).
SkiStar's website automatically goes to EUR if you select English language. You can pay in NOK or SEK if you select Norwegian or Swedish. I always try to pay in SEK because it's SkiStar's home currency but sometimes the difference is so small it's easier for to pay in NOK so I don't have to deal with the fees my bank adds on. |
Very worrying watching the temps rise and the depth reduce. But it was all good in the end and cheers for your tips.
I think there are not more Brits there for a few reasons, cost as Penry says, a chap I was on a chair lift thought Norway was between Austria and Switzerland in terms of skiing cost. Not many big TOs seem to go and maybe the resorts on first inspection look low/small so looks like you need to be in the know.
Interesting about the currencies, I didnt try the other language websites. Might be a bit of arbitrage there next time. And dont pay the fx fees, get one of those cards that dont have any, I use Revolut.
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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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Great report thanks. We went back in feb having stayed at Radisson TC twice (definately the better of the two) we decided on the other Radisson (which is perfect for beginners). Conditions weren't brilliant when we were there as a bit icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon. We too fell foul of the skistar "everything open" promises! It's a great resort with some great runs, although it did annoy me that some of the easy greens ended abruptly (the little green off T9 turns into a black and green run 23 ends in a black with a snow park!!! Terrifying for me as a nervous intermediate. Interesting what you say about there being so many drags because of wind, and if I'd stopped to think I would have worked it out. This was the first time we went self catering - huge mistake as it was sooooo expensive. We had been half board before and not noticed costs. Just unlucky with exchange rate this time. We shan't go back again as we've done it to death and were a bit bored over the hoyfjellcentre side. We loved our time there though. We've also done Ruka in Finland which was great too. The lack of queues and calmness of the Scandinavian countries is just great.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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We finally got back to Trysil, well 2 of us did anyway (daughter now 12 and myself), so thought I would update the TR here with this new trip. We went in the 2nd week in April 23. Pricing was good as the Kroner has fallen.
As before we flew into Oslo airport with BA, such a civilised place. Decently sized but things are easy, not crowded like LHR. We rented a car as before, this time from Budget via Autorentals which had far and away the best price just over £200 for 6 days . Autorentals comms are good, and Budget collection, with the pre-arrival form done, smooth and quick. No upsell although the family before us were asked if they wanted a paid upgrade. We booked a medium sized car and ended up with a Suzuki SUV plug-in hybrid type thing, very nice and plenty of space for the two of us, with winter tyres but no chains. Drive as before was very straightforward, didnt really even need a map if you knew the route, only 2 major changes of road to take.
As we had quite a bit of time on the way up in hand and weren't aiming to ski that day we stopped in Elverum which is about half way and popped into the Norsk skogmuseum (aka Norwegian Forest Museum, a blend of the history of timber industry, aquatic and hunting museum, lots and lots of stuffed animals) much to the annoyance of the daughter who stated that she was on holidays and so wasn't there to learn anything, so quite a short visit. There is another museum (Glomdalsmuseet) close by which also looked interesting and you get a combined ticket, but there was no chance of going and avoiding an early fraught moment of heels being dug in.
As opposed to an apartment, we had booked into the Radisson Blue Resort on the turistsenter side. Popular hotel with good facilities and location (indoor pools, bowling alley several restaurants, good boot room and ski in ski out). We got a basic room but plenty big enough for two, two single beds turned out to be a double and a sofa bed. Wasnt too pricy either, we had breakfast in the room rate booked on booking.com then asked the hotel direct if we could add on dinner, and all up half board at around £1.1k for the two of us, which was cheaper than the rate on Skistar or Radisson sites. Meals were all taken in the buffet restaurant which I was impressed by, plenty of choice and volume as well as stuff designed for kids, and for one dinner they let you eat in one of two other restaurants they had, the bowling alley diner or the pizza/pasta place, which was a nice bonus. In fact we ate in both of those, popping back for lunch one day. The pools were good and opened to a decent hour, quite busy come 5pm though. There was a sauna, and a paid for spa. Everything was in decent condition and staff were very helpful and accomodating. A lot of people seem to take dogs to the hotel and our floor seemed to have quite a few. But the room was on a half floor-plate and down at the back so was a generally a quiet area. Very family orientated hotel, loads of ankle biters, a fair number of Brits there and a few Russians in residence.
The hotel is ski-in ski-out, but the ski-out only gets you into the beginner area which then takes 3 lifts to get anywhere reasonable, one being the oldest slowest chair they have in the area, and a long t-bar. Better to walk 100m to the bottom of the littlies magic carpet which then takes you to the bottom of a main fast 6 chair.
Nothing much had changed on the slopes, no new lifts but some apparently upgraded and still no (uncalled for IMHO) luxuries like heated seats and only one has a weather hood. The queues moved fast, some ushering in the morning when busy, and they have singles lines although I was unimpressed with the lady who took her two daughters into it and then wanted a chair with three empty spaces so they could all go up together! One lift (H3) has not run all season, instructor reckoned that they were just saving electricity as it wasnt a key lift. Despite Norwegians being quite friendly no one seemed to acknowledge the lifties but who were friendly when you did.
I'd booked a few private lessons for the daughter for a 9am start which she wasnt impressed by but was chuffed it was a lady teacher, and she seemed very happy (despite the early start time) with the lessons. They start the early lessons at the same time most of the lifts open so you have to be careful to know you can get to where the lesson is without a lift if booking those.
It was a bit busy the Easter weekend but quietened down as holidays ended and the weather packed in. We got a bit of a dump midweek overnight which freshened everything up and it was snowing heavily the day we left. Blue skies on day one but overcast for the rest and rained a little. The wind shut the main 6 chair on the other side one day and the last day all the links to the other side were closed due to fog which sat over the place all day at that level, ok below it though. The pistes were in pretty good nick as they still had 150cm and there is tree-lined skiing but on the turistsenter side.. Last time we were there the hardest run (75) was closed the entire time but open this time, its really one length of 45 degree slope that looks intimidating when you are looking down from the top. I thought about not doing it as if something happened to me where would that leave us and if there was an easy route out I probably would have binned it, but there wasnt and so had to give it a go. The rest, even the other blacks, were very doable.
With the buffet breakfast, lunch could be a small affair. All the slope restaurants operated QR on-line ordering and cards only. We ate at Barbacoa (bbq type) at the base of T2, also at Kafé Kasserolle at the base of F12 on the otherside, where you could get adult half portions but a very limited menu and good waffles to be had at Knettsetra Restaurant at the top of T8 (the slow chair mentioned above). All had kids portions which helped with the costs.
We popped down to the local supermarkets for some supplies, but definitely take plenty of duty free if you fancy a drink. E.g. beer cost twice as much in the supermarket as DF on arrival, and a beer in the hotel cost three times the supermarket.
We didn't do much apart from ski, swim and bowl. But there seems plenty of other things to do and I came accross this nearby ski area which if I known about before I booked the lift pass for all 5 days we were there I might have looked to get to - https://www.fulufjellet.no/
As mentioned it was snowing heavily on the drive back, but the roads were kept clear and saw three snowploughs on a short stretch of road. People were still driving at the speed limits, but again a relatively easy journey and drop off for an evening flight home.
I think we would be happy to go back again and also stay at the Radisson if we could get a reasonable price.
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@ster, nice update. It's certainly on my list. Can i just clarify - was the £1100 just the cost to upgrade to half board, or the total cost?
Cheers
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@SHAP, it was the total for a twin room for two (1 adult &1 child) with half board included - not sure it made the room cheaper with a child but definitely had an impact on the board with kids half price for that.
The key is to book early (booking.com is cancellable included breakfast already and was the cheapest quote) then add dinner direct with the hotel.
But all s.t. exchange rates as you pay in NOK which seems historically weak at the moment.
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