 Poster: A snowHead
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So, time for one more ski trip before we switch to summer mode. This time we're heading north, to the largest resort in Norway, Trysil. We're being joined there by my sister and her family so it will be a bit different for us, normally we're either on our own, or book in with random strangers (some of whom are now good friends  ). We'll be driving up from Gothenburg, taking as much food as possible to avoid paying Norwegian prices (strange to think of Sweden being cheap) and have rented a stuga (chalet in alpine terms) in the Høyfjellssenter area. More on that later.
For now, the skis are waxed (well, nearly), mountains of food bought/cooked and frozen, and the next job is to prepare the car: fit the roofbox, check oil and tyres, find the chains, top up screenwash etc. It's beautifully sunny here, the sea is sparkling and the crocuses just about to flower...hasn't winter finished already? Only the pile of snow still left by the side of the drive from last Monday and the fact that the temperature has barely crept above zero this year gives the game away. On that note, and for no other reason than I've only just learned how to do it (thanks alr1970 for this tip), here are the wigglies for the week ahead. Not bad for easter!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Have a great time @mgrolf. Not been to Trysil this year, but conditions look fantastic. Interested to hear if you venture offpiste - I don’t know much about Trysil in that regard. We’ll be up in Åre. Good winter in Scandinavia 
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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, I doubt we'll do much if any off-piste this week but I will certainly be sizing up the possibilities if I get a chance.
Today was mostly spent packing. It's amazing how much food is needed to feed 7 hungry mouths for a week, if you're trying to avoid buying stuff in resort. The car's nearly loaded, just a few last bits and bobs plus the freezer and fridge stuff to go in tomorrow morning.
So, the route. It's very simple: left, right, left, left, right, right, left to get to the E6 (swedish equivalent of the M6) in the first 10 minutes of the journey. Then straight on for 400 km. Then right, left, left and left again, and we're in Trysil. Should take less than 7 hours, including a leisurely lunch stop. I'm expecting some traffic for the last part (probably after the last right turn, joining the stream of cars on their way to ski) but other than that it should be pretty clear. Just have to remember not to speed in Norway, the fines are painful.
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They don’t base the speeding fines on your salary though, like Finland? (and Sweden-Finland is colluding on that, so they will get your salary)
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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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I think they can, if you are way over the limit. I doubt my car would go that fast though!
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As expected, the drive up was easy, quiet, and very boring. Lots and lots of trees! We stopped for lunch at Solbergtårnet - and unlike previous years, it was open so we climbed up 8 floors to look out over southern Norway from 40m up. Then it was onwards and northwards, passing more and more cars heading south loaded down with skis. Must've been busy last week!
Arriving at Trysil near enough at 17:00, we picked up the keys (a short queue, and british people behind us - what's the chance of that) and drove on up to our stuga. It's quite large (4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen diner downstairs and a sitting area upstairs) and well appointed. Apart from the lack of a bin in the kitchen?! Unpacking, cooking pizza for tea and getting overexcited kids into bed has taken most of the evening, just leaving time for a quick stroll round Høyfjellssenter (dead at 20:30 on easter Sunday) before settling in for the night.
Tomorrow morning we'll have to negotiate a few hundred metres of polished icy roads to get to the ski school meeting place for 09:00 to drop my niece and nephew off, then we can hit the slopes proper.
There's tons of snow, it's relatively cold (-8 right now) and the forecast looks good so mustn't forget the suncream tomorrow
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@mgrolf, you have checked the drawers in the kitchen for a bin as well I presume? The place we hired in Sälen had a pull out drawer with two bins in to allow you to separate rubbish and recycling and even included paper bags for compostable waste.
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@NickyJ, yes, had one like that before, but not here it seems. We've commandeered the log bucket for now. A minor irritation, but a weird one.
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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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Day 1 of skiing: lots of slow lifts. It was chilly to start with (for the beginning of April), about -8, but gloriously sunny and calm so almost perfect conditions. We stayed on the Høyfjellssenter side of the mountain as my niece and nephew had lessons in the morning, and meandered around the various runs there. The chair, F2 toppekspressen, was OK early doors but then had quite a queue for most of the day although it probably wasn't more than 10 minutes in reality, it just felt more. The reds from the top, 52 53 and 58 were good though felt more like a blue in the Alps. We lapped F5 a few times (fun park was OK, but the lift was slow). Interspersed with this were various green traverses to get back to the centre. We lunched back at the stuga, then headed back out for a bit more sliding. It was warmer in the afternoon, but not slushy - a real bonus. On the downside, button F2 (Stjerna) is really really slow so not to be repeated. But toppekspressen had a shorter queue so was headed up to the top again. Red 5 down towards turistsenter was steeper (not to the liking of all - but still good snow so manageable and fun for the more confident in the group).
Off the sides is all crusty and not so pleasant. If it snows (forecast for tomorrow evening) it could be nice though, plenty of safe, low angle terrain between pistes to play in.
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10 minute queue? That’s unlucky. Never experienced more than a couple of minutes there. The slow and many drag lifts there are a pain. Having said that it does mean they keep the runs open quite well in the high winds they frequently experience there, so not all bad!
Bit sad I know but I quite liked this site for lift stats there:
http://www.skiresort.info/ski-resort/trysil/ski-lifts/
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@mgrolf, if the weather is anything like in Åre today... It’s been fantastic here.
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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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@Themasterpiece, probably very similar, given how good it was here .
Forgot to mention, it's been surprising how many brits we've heard on the slopes, far more than any other trip in Scandinavia so far.
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@bambionskiis, thanks, I hadn't seen that. Am wondering what a "J bar" lift is though, they seem to label all buttons as J bars so maybe it's just another name for them?
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You know it makes sense.
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Interesting there are plenty of Brits there and surprising given the exchange rate!
J-bar is basically half a t-bar so it’s just for one person.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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@ster, I think you're right, there aren't any oddities here.
Grin factor 9 this morning. Still bright sunshine and chilly. Dropped the young 'uns at lessons, then headed towards Høggega. A mix of (mostly) empty tree lined green boulevards and mostly empty blacks. Only misses out on a 10 because mini_mg had cold fingers and toes so we've popped inside for a hot drink .
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Tuesday, round 2. After a short warming break we went back out and joined up with the younger members of the party for a couple of laps of Valle's world, the kiddie friendly piste through the woods. Then we lunched in the varmestuga (warm cabin) - a very useful feature of many scandi resorts. After lunch i nipped back to the hire shop to swap my skis over whilst the others lapped round the beginner slopes again. I'd had a pair of Volkl RTM 84 UVOs in the morning - fantastic skis, really easy to turn but very stable and controllable - which I swapped for Fischer Ranger 85s. The Rangers were much lighter and got bucked around more, but still held an edge and were quick and lively. The afternoon saw us visit all corners of the mountain - down into Høggega, across to Skihytta, down into Turistsenter and finally back up over to Høyfjellssenter. The light got progressively flatter but visibilty was never too bad, and when the sun went so did the crowds. Best run of the day was either black 30, or possibly green 36 through the trees as it was so mellow, smooth and chilled!
Now the forecast snow is arriving so tomorrow looks like it could be very different, with fresh snow and cloud.
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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 stuff, sounds like you’re enjoying yourselves and are certainly covering the mountain. Being a nervous intermediate there was lots I didn’t do, but as you are better you will do it justice. Hope visibility isn’t too bad - that side of the mountain suffers unfortunately. We only went at half term so never saw sun unfortunately so lucky you!
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Hoggega is a fun area. The blacks arent too severe and decently wide. I liked to get there first thing when the pistes were still in a groomed state. Is the top half of 75 open as wasnt when we were there, so we used to take 30 down, yes a good one.
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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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@bambionskiis, vis has been fine until today, so not a problem. It was a bit exposed today across our way. As you said on the other Trysil thread, route finding can be interesting at times if you're trying to avoid steeper pistes - it's fine if you aren't fussed about what you encounter but could be difficult if you're less confident. Also very dependent on the conditions of course.
@ster, yes, 75 has been open. From below and to the side, the top couple of turns look proper steep . Not done it yet but it's on the list assuming it is still open.
Snow day It was snowing a little last night, and this morning it got heavier. We probably had about 15cm fresh by lunchtime, on top of nicely bashed pistes. With the visibility poor and a bit of a breeze, staying below the treeline was the name of the game today. The weather kept a lot of people indoors and we had fresh tracks on several pistes down through the trees. It's a while since I've had the pleasure, and it felt great 
This afternoon mini_mg and I shared a lesson after lunch, with mixed success. We started doing some bumps and soft snow stuff into Høggega, which was tough especially in the clouds. When that got too much, we shifted to easier pistes down to Turistsenter and Skihytta and mini_mg had her first proper carving lesson which was more successful. It was still pretty challenging at times with bumped up pistes, but good fun. We're both exhausted now though!
The forecast for tomorrow is snow again, so it'll be more of the same (and practicing what we learned today).
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Ref the piste marking at least it pushed me. The only reds I’ve ever skied were in Trysil and were unintentional. Red 15 to touristcentre and red 58 I think. I was pretty proud as I got down them with no bother.
15cm is very decent; glad you are enjoying it. I do think they make an excellent job of piste bashing. We were in Obertauern, Austria, this year and it wasn’t nearly so good. It was my first experience with moguls though as one blue turned into a mogul field overnight which took me by surprise. I didn’t fall over at all and actually quite liked them in the end.
Enjoy your skiing tomorrow. How are you finding the cost of things?
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Let me know how you find 75 if you get down it. It looked a bit intimidating from below so I was half glad it was closed as I would have had to have a go.
Sounds like its going well. We got a bit of a dump this time last year too with the same result.
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| bambionskiis wrote: |
Ref the piste marking at least it pushed me. The only reds I’ve ever skied were in Trysil and were unintentional. Red 15 to touristcentre and red 58 I think. I was pretty proud as I got down them with no bother.
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58 is a nice one for a first red, wide and the steeper parts are not too long. I've not done the whole of 15 yet but the part I did was narrower. Fine if it's not too busy, could be harder if it was busy.
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Enjoy your skiing tomorrow. How are you finding the cost of things? |
We've not bought anything other than a tube of toothpaste! Coming from Sweden meant we brought everything with us (lots of meals cooked in advance, frozen then put in the roofbox to get here). Plus we're already used to scandi prices so it doesn't feel quite so bad to us.
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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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@ster, I think I'll get to it tomorrow if the weather clears up. Today we're shrouded in cloud and that makes me ski like a muppet so it's not a day for steeps. I fell over standing still in La Rosiere, on the flat, in a whiteout 
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Ah right I hadn’t spotted where you lived mrG - not nearly such an issue for you finance-wise so that’s good.
I lost 2 days out of 6 through refusing to ski in poor visibility this year which was frustrating but I just hate not having a clear line of sight.
Red 15 was slushy when I did it (to heap on the agony of ending up on a slope I didn’t want to be on). And also there’s a bar at the bottom and there was some sort of festival going on, so there were quite a lot of people watching me ski down at a real snail’s pace. Not my finest hour.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@bambionskiis, low vis isn't nice and it can mess with your head. I fell over whilst standing still earlier this year - I was convinced I was moving enough to angulation a little into the turn. Turns out I wasn't moving at all, so I plopped ungracefully onto the snow!
Today: more snow, less vis, wetter. That's pretty much it, but it was still a good day. Staying in the trees fixed the visibility problem, and most of the time the snow wasn't too heavy. We did end up pretty wet this afternoon but this goes with warmer temperatures so we weren't cold. Runs were mostly repeats of previous days, but with the higher temperatures there was a bit of slush around later on. The pistes were pretty quiet so not too cut up and with plenty of space, blasting through slush was fun.
Tomorrow should be sunny but windy; black 75 is on the agenda if the top lifts are open (and I don't chicken out).
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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 luck on that one then.
I remember in Finland a couple of years ago us getting off the chairlift and thinking “bloody hell wish we’d stayed at the bottom”! We huddled in a circle to shelter from the wind and snow, and our daughter quipped we looked like a family of penguins.
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Do it. Steeps always seem a bit easier when there is a bit if there is some soft fresh stuff on top, either for skiing or falling on. Dont wait and it get all blown/scrapped off. Good luck!
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You know it makes sense.
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Friday dawned much clearer than the past couple of days, and windy. Very windy. The forecast said 13 m/s in the village, the Skistar weather station agreed and apparently it was 30 m/s at the top. There was certainly a lot of spindrift over the tops. Unfortunately that meant that all the higher lifts were shut, and in the Høyfjellssenter area that left very little useful open. So, off to Høgegga again. This time though, as it was bright and not snowing, most of the rest of Trysil seemed to be there as well. Mini_mg and my sister declared that they weren't particularly keen on long queues and crowded pistes so that gave me and my brother-in-law the chance to work our way through most of the blacks and murder (or more accurately, be murdered by) some hefty bumps. Needing to be back for 12, and with burning thighs we turned to face the long traverse back - straight into the teeth of the gale. The gentle tree-lined boulevard of green 33 became an epic reprise of Graham Bell on ski Sunday but without the camera and at much lower speed - several minutes of torturous tuck to avoid skating and poling, with the prize of a T bar for all contestants. Then as Toppekspressen was closed, the queue for the sloooowww button F5 was backed up miles along the piste. With heavy hearts, we opted instead for the transport track (more skating across a windswept meadow, faces stinging with the snow blowing back the way we came) which ended up at the Radisson Blu hotel and mercifully no queue for the button there. One more T-bar later, plus another battle along a green traverse resembling a wind tunnel, got us back to the ski school meet up point to collect my niece, only a few minutes late. With no sign of her there, we split up and checked out various locations before I headed back to the chalet...and found everyone else already there. Good in that no-one was lost, no so good in that we'd left it unlocked all morning. Oh well, nothing lost so no harm done!
This afternoon, mini_mg and I practiced our 1 ski skiing (hmmmm, hard but fun, involving lots of falling over, laughing and flailing). When she was tired, I tried to dash down to Høgegga for one last blast but again was foiled by a queue (F1 Brynbekken) which left me climbing 50m or so up the piste to reach the end, all the while watching more and more people skiing down from the other side to extend the queue. It moved quite fast though and I ended up lapping F7 Stormyra a few times enjoying my improved balance from the one ski session. All in all, not a bad day.
@ster, sadly the wind put paid to 75 today, and has probably taken off most of the new snow. One more chance tomorrow .
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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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| mgrolf wrote: |
| iOne more chance tomorrow . |
What fun , flats with the wind in your face. Never mind, its better than being in the office.
We used to call the last day "insurance day", when you do all the things that you wouldnt at the start of the week ! And it didnt matter if you had a big stack as it was the last day and that was what the insurance was for. Not these days though.
Hope it works out for you.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I could almost feel that, @mgrolf - great description!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oh crap mgrolf that’s not so good but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger though. A burgled chalet would have finished it off nicely so not all bad.
One ski skiing sounds my idea of hell if I’m honest; I struggle with two!
Feel for you with the thigh burn. I remember that Hogega T as being a killer; so steep and feels like it will never end.
One thing is wierd, I could have sworn that the current green 36 was a blue when we were there. Think I’m cracking up.
The insurance Day phrase made me smile ster. One of the reasons I’m more nervous as I’ve gotten older is that the thought of injuring myself I now find terrifying, where it didn’t used to bother me. With kids, ancient and poorly parents a 2 hour round trip away and a micro business to run, if I’m out of action, we’re screwed.
🤞 for decent conditions for you tomorrow mgrolf.
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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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@pam w, thanks, I've been struggling for inspiration so maybe a bit of adversity was needed!
@bambionskiis, 36 is definitely green now, though it does criss cross blue 84 at one point. One ski skiing is a nursery slope exercise for us. Really hard work but great for balance, finding edges and falling over lots.
So, the final ski day, @ster's insurance day. With no ski school, we had more freedom so my sister's family drove round to Turistsenter whilst mini_mg and I skied over. Toppekspressen was closed first thing so we had one final cruise down to Høgegga (fabulous piste conditions, and empty as usual). We met up in Turistsenter and with the youngest safely installed at the creche for a couple of hours we had some freedom to explore that side. The blue snow park was closed (Burton Mountain Festival?) so we lapped the two main chairs, including some nice friendly (small) bumps to the side of blue 62. With my niece declaring her desire to do a black, a small window of opportunity opened: the fabled, no legendary, black 75 eksperten was on. So whilst the rest of the group headed down towards black 76 I hung a left up T10 Hesten (the horse). At the top, a right turn just after the start of black 30 took me past the comms tower and towards what I assume is a piste basher anchor - a tall pole, with bracing wires on three sides. A few metres further and I reached the best lemming ledge in Trysil (thanks @Scarlet for that one ). Three skiers were already silhouetted against the grey Norwegian sky, and a boarder joined as I arrived. We peered down. Yep, it's steep - the piste map does not lie, it truly is 45 degrees for the first 100m or so, with that unmistakable feel of, if I fall here, it won't be pretty (heart rate up a notch). The group opposite had arrived first, so they set off, one by one. The first guy put a bit of a stem on his first turn - nicely controlled, no problem there - then almost chickened the second turn, sat back a bit and shot off downwards...rescuing it just before he reached the point of no return, and wobbled his way through the rest. Number 2 was less confident and more messy, but more stable, and number 3 just cruised down as if it was a red. The boarder stood up and proceeded down with little fuss, no surprise there, she'd looked very competent as she arrived. So, my turn, with group now gathered below to watch and new lemmings on the ledge (heart rate up another notch). Over the edge, first turn - no problem, this is easy (heart rate down a bit). Second turn...umm, that one wasn't so tidy, slide a bit, focus (rate back up). Turn 3, easier, turn 4, getting good now, turn 5...careful. Turn 6 felt good, turn 7...what the ***? Why is someone a couple of metres behind me, crossing paths? Can't they give a muppet some space? Turn 8, realise actually they're further back than that and mostly in control, forget and enjoy. It's beginning to flatten out now, so open up a bit, lose the slide, feel the force. And that's it. A nice long run out, and less than a minute from the start it's all over. Continue on down onto black 69 (a piffling 30 degrees)and cruise down to spot mini_mg and the others in the lift queue. Nip into the singles line and with careful judgement of pace, slide onto the same chair back up. Mission accomplished.
In reality, conditions were just about perfect with grippy soft snow and a relatively flat piste. I slid rather more out of my turns than I would like and I wouldn't call it stylish, but I didn't feel out of place and never really felt out of control. It's not too narrow and there isn't a drop either side so no pressure to make each turn other than the banks of snow at the sides of the piste. It would be a different matter on windswept ice.
The rest of the day? We lunched at the restaurant at Knettsetra (so-so burgers, and cold outside as it was full inside) then did a few more laps of the T1 and T2 chairs which included my nephew's first blue run. At about 15:00, mini_mg and I headed home, so back up the new S1 Skihytta Ekspress to get over. It was snowing quite hard by this point so we were grateful for the canopy. As the lift ascended, the visibility reduced and the wind started to build, whistling round the canopy. At the top, it was near enough whiteout with enough wind to blow us home. Luckily by now we knew the route along green 48 pretty well so we carefully proceeded along with the snow streaming across and drifts gathering wherever there was a hollow. We stayed on the upwind, uphill side of the piste but that didn't stop one particularly ferocious gust from sending mini_mg careering off to the right and certain oblivion. Thankfully she dug in an edge and turned back just in time.
Now all that's left is the packing, cleaning and the long drive home tomorrow. The end of another ski season for us.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Got to love those steeps with long run offs. Job done. Nice work
Hope 75 is open if we get back there.
Great resort and TR.
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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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Awesome TR! Have you thought of writing for a living? I was gripped. Well done mini for presence of mind.
Really pleased you managed the black; must have been such a great feeling.
I’m going back into ski school next year to try and nail my technique and get my confidence back. I realise just how much I’m missing out on.
Safe journey
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@mgrolf, nice one
Filmed my son doing some one ski skiing yesterday in Storlien after he took his skis off on an unpisted black to help a friend who got stuck in the trees, then watched as one ski took off down the slope. He then decided to ski the whole slope on one ski. I caught the end on film:
https://vimeo.com/263706736
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@Themasterpiece, impressive!
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Great report, enjoyed reading that.Would love to go back to trysil now I ski a bit better.
On the piste marking - the map has changed, I looked and thought I was going mad but if you look at a map from 3 years ago some blues have changed to green, and a blue we took (10?) has disappeared entirely and seems to be a differently routed red. So you're not losing your grip @bambionskiis!
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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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FAQ
