 Poster: A snowHead
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OK, time to kick off a thread for our sportlöv trip to Tandådalen (part of Sälen) in Dalarna, a few hundred km north of us in Sweden. This'll be our third trip to Sälen, and once again we are going with friends so I expect mini_mg will be off doing teenage stuff and I may or may not have company on the slopes. We'll be driving up on Sunday, taking pretty much everything with us (including one pet rat, who is regarded as too old and infirm to be left behind  ) and staying in a cabin near the lifts. We've got the logistics pretty much nailed now: cook and freeze meals beforehand, click & collect shop the day before then stuff everything in the car/roof box on Sunday morning. Leave about 09:30 and arrive at check in time (16:00) with a leisurely stop for lunch en route.
Except that this year, the weather forecast looks grim (rain all day, turning to snow at some point) so it may not be plain sailing. Add to that the skittishness of our car on snow (why, oh why, do Volvo fit really wide tyres on family estate cars), no chains (expensive front fit only, and I've been trying to source the hub mounts for 12+ months without success) and it could be spicy. There are no significant hills at least so I'm sure we'll be fine.
Once we get there, the forecast looks promising.
Not too cold and a fair chance of snow through the week 
For now, it's lists, lists, lists and trying to tie up loose ends at work, which isn't helped by just returning from a week and a half of unscheduled time off (thanks, COVID).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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What, no trains?
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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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@telford_mike, no, difficult to transport enough food for 3 people for a week, by train. 
The car is a plug-in hybrid though, so the first 40 km or so will be environmentally friendly.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Halfway there. At this point, I'm really wishing the train was an option. We've driven North in Scandinavia 7 or 8 times and never had much in the way of traffic. Today, after the first hour it's been stop-start all the way. Much of the route is single carriageway so there's no way past a slow car, and it seems half of Gothenburg is going skiing. The plan was to arrive around check in time (16:00) so we did it all in daylight. Now I'll be happy to get there by a late dinner time.
Oh well. We are going skiing, can't be all bad.
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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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| telford_mike wrote: |
| What, no trains? |
Maybe there's no special fare for rats?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| sugarmoma666 wrote: |
| telford_mike wrote: |
| What, no trains? |
Maybe there's no special fare for rats? |
Most/all trains have at least one carriage where you can take animals. You book a specific ticket (using the code "djur" on the SJ trains site, which literally means "animal"). We've done the sleeper down from Luleå or Umeå a couple of times with multiple rats. I even meet a random stranger on the platform at Umeå to deliver a cage of rats, on the Luleå-Göteborg trip). 
Right, back to reality. What a difference 20 minutes can make. After a quick stop for lunch, the traffic evaporated for most of the remainder of the journey. It still felt depressing passing our usual lunch stop at 15:00, 2 hours or so later than usual, but at least we were moving. We did get caught up a bit just past Malung, but some daring overtaking and judicious use of the heavy right foot got us past the offending car transporter right at the end of the only bit of dual carriageway within 200km of Tandådalen. In the end, we arrived at 18:00, picked up our keys from a code box (very easy and COVID safe) and parked next to our cabin. Unloading was much easier than previous years - no lifts, no long walks along rows of cabins - so we're pretty much set for tomorrow.
It should start snowing in the early hours of tomorrow morning and there's around 20 cm forecast to fall tomorrow. Happy days
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First day done, a gentle start. We were up and out pretty much for first lift - so much less hassle now than it used to be when we started a few years ago. Our cabin is right next to the T14 t-bar Solliften and we had arranged to meet mini_mg's friends at the bottom of the main 6 man chair. That means we take the t-bar up 100 metres or so, then jump off onto a transport track that runs across to the centre of Tandådalen. With only a few minutes delay we were up and away on the chair. For the first 30-45 minutes it was pretty quiet and we had about 10 cm fresh snow on top of the groomed base - what a way to start  . By 10 o'clock it was starting to get busier and we tended to stick to the t-bars to avoid the queues for the chairs (probably only 10 minutes queue max, but why wait when you can ski pretty much straight onto a lift). We worked our way along to Östra Tandådalstorget and back again, spending most time on the quiet reds in the middle, and the trees either side. Late morning saw our first trip (of many, no doubt) through ravinen which is through the trees skiers right of green 15. This always provides entertainment (it's quite steep in places, bumpy and usually the snow is deep and variable). It finishes out along a skidoo track to the top of the ski school nursery slope.
After a long ish lunch break that featured homework (for mini_mg) and paid work (for me) we went out again, mini_mg escaping before me. The wind picked up as the afternoon wore on, and the pistes got progressively more scraped with patches of man-made boilerplate appearing so it's a good thing more snow is forecast tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday. Late afternoon it was getting towards classic scandi conditions (face-scouring, ice-crystal-laden blasts at the top) so mini_mg called it a day around 16:00. I lapped Solliften a few times but by the end vis was rubbish at the top, and there's only so much scraping to be done. Still, a good first day. Perhaps the best bit was mini_mg's new heated socks which kept her toes toasty warm all day. She suffers badly with cold fingers and toes, even when the temperatures are around freezing, so toasty toes are a real result .
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Sounds great! (Especially the long lunch )
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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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@mgrolf, good to read your report.
Any info re the heated socks? I have girlfriend who would very much be interested!
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| telford_mike wrote: |
| Sounds great! (Especially the long lunch ) |
Not really my style, I'm usually more a maximise the skiing type. And long because of the need to work whilst on holiday, is a big thumbs down for me. But needs must.
@swskier, Lenz 6.0 socks. Reasonably thin ( though still thicker than my smartwool PhD lights) and the heating elements wrap over the toes. Big thumbs up so far from mini_mg.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@swskier Re heated socks, I'd recommend the Lenz socks. There's a thread about heated socks 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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Sounds great. I must try skiing in Scandinavia one day. Looking forward to seeing some photos.
Also, how is the pet rat doing? (Are rats a common pet in Sweden?)
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Tuesday: snow day.
It snowed pretty much all night, and didn't let up until mid afternoon. A little difficult to see on this picture, but I'd guess there was about 10 cm fresh first thing, and at least twice that by lunch.
First part of the morning was spent enjoying soft snow on piste, and working on mini_mg's movement - she's become a little static on easy slopes and tends to ski short swing style a lot. As the slopes get steeper and icier she gets better! So patience turns for a bit, to stop the initial twisty steering movement, and then some storks to make sure weight is on the outside ski early. It was looking much better after a few runs and the trees were calling, so it was time to head off the side. The trees to the right of run 4 are well spaced, and the snow was light and soft. Perfect
That got us to lunch. There are apparently some steps under here, and we walked down them a few hours ago but you'd never know.
Ah, there they are!
Lunch featured a special treat pudding - gooseberry crumble. Gooseberries from the garden, brought here frozen; crumble mix prepared at home and brought in a bag. Gooseberries in a dish, cover with crumble, in the oven for 45 minutes = delicious.
My afternoon was rather short (whoever sets our annual bonus/pay cycle at work should take a big pay cut for timing it to match Gothenburg winter break and UK half term) but mini_mg stayed out and took the transport lifts over to Hundfjället. The pistes were apparently less cut up there, but otherwise similar. All that was left for me to do was dig the car out, and that's the day done.
Tomorrow's forecast is for more snow, but not as much as today, then it brightens up for a couple of days. Haven't been this lucky with the weather for many, many holidays.
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Also, how is the pet rat doing? (Are rats a common pet in Sweden?)
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Not really - not super rare, but less common than in the UK. They make great pets though as long as you can deal with the short lifespan.
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You know it makes sense.
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Wednesday: rinse and repeat, to some extent at least. More fresh snow, not as much as yesterday but now on top of a softer base so the pistes were very very nice at first. There was a K2 demo tent at the bottom of the main chair, so mini_mg (who has been skiing the same pair of Volkl Mantra Juniors for at least 4 years now) took the opportunity to try some new skis. Sadly, the demo tent was lacking in shorter skis and the bloke handing them out was adamant that skis should be sized by height alone. Mini_mg is a tidy skier, but she's also pretty lightweight (less than 50 kg) so the shortest 160 cm piste skis (K2 Disruption MTI) were not surprisingly rather a handful for her. The Mantras live to fight another day.
After lunch, mini_mg got her head down and stuck into homework, so I went and practiced basics on the quietest, least mogully piste I could find - which by now was a bit of a challenge as anything even vaguely steep had bumped up nicely. Mini_mg joined me at about 16:00, and our group gained a couple of snowboarders plus another skier. Extra people = more faffing but since the slopes are open till 18:00 that wasn't a big problem.
Looking down from the top of the main pitch of Storabacken, over Tandådalen and with Hundfjället across the valley.
We may get to see the sun tomorrow which would be nice. Its also forecast to be colder so an extra layer may be in order. We'll see in the morning.
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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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Thursday is past halfway, the snow is good (no, great) so time for Väggen - the steepest piste in Sälen. It needs a bit of a build up, so we'll get there shortly. The day started with a stroll (if such a thing if possible in ski boots) along the road to the centre of Tandådalen with mrs_mg. She was meeting up there with a friend for coffee, while I went skiing with the rest of the family. We did one lap of Storabacken before heading across to Hundfjället via the transport drag lift. It's probably actually quicker just to skate as it's mostly slightly downhill, but the button lift helps for the first couple of hundred metres. The first transport lift is probably about 700m or so, then you transfer to another for 100m before diving off left to go up the Väggenbanan lift - a fixed 4 man chair that smacks the back of your legs, then crawls up the mountain. Quite how these things manage to go at such different speeds whilst fixed to a single cable, I'll never know. En route, a couple of speed riders wheeled their way down and landed on the bottom of the piste (which is definitely cheating, they bypassed the steep icy section completely). We were also treated to a demonstration of what happens when it goes wrong. An unfortunate soul got his second or third turn wrong, lost a ski and by the time he stopped the first ski was at least 100m above him with 2 poles and the other ski spaced nicely out between. To cap it all, mini_mg appeared at the top (off skiing with her friends) and proceeded to sweep elegantly down as if it were nothing more than a gentle blue. The steeper and icier the run, the better her skiing gets (though luckily I can still best her in softer stuff). No pressure then.
From the top of the lift, it's a short run to lemming ledge (if you're not familiar with the term, see here for the obligatory pause before we dived headlong down the mountain. Or maybe more accurately, edged cautiously over and down. It never pays to be too cautious, as the snowboarder in our group discovered. He didn't commit enough, lost his heelside edge and scraped halfway down before getting enough purchase to stand up again. The rest of us, with the benefit of 2 edges, managed a little better - not completely convincing but upright at least. The first 3 or 4 turns are properly steep, and the piste had lovely horizontal corrugations to accentuate the juddering scrape of not-quite-set edges. After that, it progressively eases, and the bottom half is wide enough to carve down cleanly. Fun.
Having scratched the Väggen itch, we carried on into Hundfjället proper and (predictably enough) found huge queues for the main chairlifts (the West Express wasn't running, so everyone was waiting for the East Express). The longest queue of the week probably topped out at about 20 minutes or so. Not terrible, but bad for here. Once up, we skiied down blue 11 (unremarkable), up the T-bar the other side and back down red 13 (also unremarkable). From this part of the mountain, all runs converge on the entrance to Trollskogen (the troll woods). This means utter chaos and pandemonium - a flat, narrow piste winding down through the woods past various grottoes with trolls, and kids of all sizes and ages flying hither and thither along tracks either side. The tracks are a mix of tight turns round trees, crevasse-like chasms that are wide enough for small people to go down and up but more likely to break the ankles of fully grown children (umm, adults). Quite how there aren't more serious collisions I don't know, but it's a lot of fun if you ignore the risk of wiping out/being wiped out by a human missile at any moment.
The queues were a bit shorter now but we opted to go back up the chair then down Worldcupbacken (next to Väggen) and back across to Tandådalen.
By now, we were getting peckish so we met up with the ladies (who'd been nattering all morning) for lunch at Wayne's Coffee. The food there is OK, though mini_mg complained her pasta pesto with chicken was a bit small; despite being very slender she eats like a horse! We spent most of the afternoon at the Eastern end of Tandådalen, first doing the slalom (not my strong point, though I was at least quicker than mini_mg) and then lots of runs through the trees. I demonstrated how not to scrub off speed before turning (when a small but sturdy tree trunk jumps out in front of you, choose to go above or below, not both - failing to decide which way to go may mean that you catch the tip of your uphill ski on said trunk, and then rapidly faceplate just beyond it). Mini_mg's demonstration was a series of beautifully linked turns on one ski, when I stole her other one 
By 16:30, energy levels were dropping so we skipped the floodlit skiing and headed home for cake, then tea. I've been out to get provisions from the local supermarket, and watched a race club training on Storabacken. All in all, another good day.
No photos from skiing today, but a few taken this evening.
Bashing Väggen - definitely a winch job.
If you clear car parks, all that snow has to go somewhere.
Race training in the evening
Looking up the mountain
Illuminated cross country trails, in case you've not had enough exercise already
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Poster: A snowHead
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You are very lucky having this on your doorstep!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| russ_e wrote: |
| You are very lucky having this on your doorstep! |
Well, 600km from our doorstep! But yes, having the option to stay in your home country and get good, extensive skiing is great.
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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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I guess it's about the same distance for me to hit the slopes in Scotland. I'd be making the trip if Scotland was half as good as the pictures you have posted 
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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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@russ_e, a much easier trip than driving up to Scotland, though.
The Swedish ski areas have 2 major advantages that Scotland will never be able to match: they're further north, and more protected from the Atlantic. The mountains (more like hills really) aren't any more suited to skiing but the climate is so much more favourable that ski areas are (very) feasible.
I never drove the ~6-7 hours up to the Scottish ski areas, when we lived in Sheffield. I have skiied the Coe, but only when we were staying nearby at Christmas anyway. It was great - a really fun and atmospheric experience - but a day or two would have been enough.
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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 are in the Peak District so not far from Sheffield. We have made the trip to Yad Moss 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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| russ_e wrote: |
| We are in the Peak District so not far from Sheffield. We have made the trip to Yad Moss once |
Better than I managed - though to be fair, I didn't realise it existed before we left.
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A change in the weather today, blue skies and sunshine all the way. That means cold, too, about -10 when the lifts opened. In the sunshine it wasn't bad, and the pistes were once again in great condition. It was noticeably busier though, most likely a combination of the weather and people coming for a long weekend (I think the next 2 weeks are the busiest of the season). By mid morning there were queues everywhere, even for the normally quiet t-bar in the middle. We had another go at the slalom course, which had a couple of really nasty holes by gates, and unfortunately one of our extended party fell victim to the first of these, landing awkwardly on her shoulder. I opted for an early break, whilst the teenage contingent went in search of the medical facilities (not really for immediate treatment, but more because there's an important swimming competition next weekend, so recovery/rehab needed to be planned). The medical centre doesn't open till 13:00 which is a bit of a pain.
After lunch, we headed back over to Hundfjället, and skiied a few different pistes. Personally I don't think Hundfjället is particularly well laid out, it's very dependent on the 2 big 8 man chairlifts and there isn't so much variety. Red 18 (Långbacken 3) is a nice slope for a leisurely carve, and the speed run is near the bottom of it (very tame - I hit a rapid 33 km/h and whilst I don't have the most aerodynamic tuck ever, I'm not terrible). But everything funnels back down to the main lifts really so there's not a lot of variety. It also loses the sun quite early, and mini_mg in particular struggles when it gets cold. So we finished relatively early and got back to our cabin just before 17:00.
Tomorrow is our last ski day and promises to be another sunny but chilly one so we'll see how that goes.
Part way down the fun ride
Looking west(ish) from the top of Solliften - with Trysil just visible on the horizon.
Mini_mg showing off the snowHeads look
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Our final ski day dawned bright, sunny and coooooollllllllddddd. -14 when we left the cabin, thankfully not further enhanced by windchill but still chilly enough. I was expecting it to be even busier than yesterday; it turned out quieter, perhaps because some people left today, maybe. Anyway, we had a plan that involved not stopping too much, staying in the sun and taking a fikapaus whenever mini_mg got too cold. The pistes were beautifully prepared again, and with not too many people around the biggest delay was deciding which one to do next. We travelled across from one end to the other, played a bit in the middle and then took a break at about 10:30 in the upstairs cafe at the far end (Östra Tandådalstorget). Mini_mg had a piece of kladdkaka and I had a giant cookie to refuel whilst we warmed up. We also "watched" the end of the men's curling via the modern equivalent of Ceefax (BBC Sport app), complete with traditional delays and jumps in the commentary: it went from looking promising for GB with 4 stones left, to Sweden winning gold, with nothing in between. Oh well.
Here are mrs_mg and Friday enjoying the curling via Eurosport (ninth end, I think - just to add to the frustration, the Internet died afterthat so they also had to watch via ceefax).
Incidentally, I've been admonished for not mentioning mrs_mg more during this TR. Unfortunately she's not been able to ski this year for a variety of reasons including pulmonary embolisms at Christmas (scary) and thus on-going anticoagulant therapy. We were planning to bring her skis anyway, just in case, until it dawned on me that sharp ski edges and anticoagulants might not be the best of friends. So she's been enjoying the views, crafting, watching some Olympics (not that much though, Eurosport consumes mobile data ravenously) and getting frustrated about not being out with us, in roughly equal proportions.
Here's mrs_mg's view yesterday, to add some balance.
Right, back to the skiing. After a longish lunch break, it was the final hurrah and of course we had to ski until the lifts shut. As the sun set, the temperature plummeted again, necessitating another fikapaus (salted caramel hot chocolate, this time) mid afternoon. We just about survived through to 18:00, enjoying increasingly quiet pistes under the floodlights and skiing straight onto the lifts without waiting. Mini_mg flirted with last run disaster, finding a nice patch of ice as she turned a few metres above me (all I heard was the dreaded scraped scraped noise, then she zoomed past a little closer than usual having regained control just in time to not wipe me out ). The transport track back to the cabin was interesting too - no lights on that, and a lady in a heap halfway down with not much space either side. We safely negotiated all obstacles and arrived back unharmed, if a little frosty.
View across the valley as the pistes closed.
All that's left now is to pack up, fit everything back in the car and join the procession south tomorrow morning. The forecast suggests -18 when I'll be packing the car. Lovely. Anyway, for now it's warm and cosy in the cabin so I'm not going to think too hard about the morning!
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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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Safe travels tomorrow! thank you for the Scandi TR.
BTW, what is Kladdaka and Fikapus please?
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| dbeatski wrote: |
Safe travels tomorrow! thank you for the Scandi TR.
BTW, what is Kladdaka and Fikapus please? |
Kladdkaka is s classic Swedish chocolate torte. Done well it's rich and squidgy.
Fikapaus is literally a pause for fika, fika being a snack (often with coffee, but the term fika is used generally for a break with food of some sort). Fika is originally a noun, but has also been turned into a verb in a typical Swedish fashion.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks for another entertaining TR, enjoyed it.
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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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Yes, thank you, Tandådalen was the first skiing for my daughter - she could not reach up to take the forbindelseslift, quite some challange pulling her with my pole.
She was proud so show us the trolleskogen after her skischool.
It was cold!
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FAQ
