 Poster: A snowHead
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We (50-something couple) flew with BA from LHR to Oslo Gardemoen, and drove to Trysil with Hertz hire car (Suzuki Ignis – rough as a badger’s bott, but did the job). About a 2 hour drive, with tolls of about £15 each way. No real issues at LHR T5 on departure or arrival, though we had to wait a while for the bags on arrival.
Accommodation
Second-floor 2-bed apartment at the Lodge, about 200m from the main piste front. Easily booked through the Skistar website.
The apartment was built in 2020 and was very modern. Dishwasher, decent oven and hob, big fridge freezer. One bedroom with a big double bed, and one with bunk beds. There was access to a ski locker and a drying cabinet in flat for drying boots and clothing. There was a designated indoor parking space (took a while to find).
We had a couple of problems with flat (short of bedding and the oven switched itself off), but both were resolved within 30 minutes by Skistar staff.
The apartment block was occupied mainly by Danes and Swedes.
The Lodge is ski out and nearly ski in, with a gentle road running down to the kids area where you can get a button lift to a slow chair that takes you to a green run that runs down to the two main chair lifts. You can ski to about 100m from the door.
Resort
Skiing is around one mountain, and is on the friendly side – lots of greens, blues and reds, but there is a lot of variety, though, with something for everyone.
Turistsenteret - main centre – nice long reds and blues based around 2 chairlifts, with some nice shorter but steeper blues away from the 2 chairlifts
Hogegga – five or six black runs and blue and green “roads” served by a chair and a drag.
Skihytta – a south-facing area, with a chair serving a few reds and a black. There’s a nice rolling long green run served by a 1km long T-bar
Hoyfjellssenteret – north-facing area, with lots of greens served by drag lifts. Ideal learning area for kids. Three or four reds, a blue and a green served by a chair. Hideously long T-bar serving a deserted red run.
Runs around main tourist centre
These are all through the trees.
Blues 13, 61, 62 – nothing too steep, even for a blue
Reds 77, 79 – not steep at all, but more of a pitch than the blues. Would likely be blues in other resorts
Red 15 – steeper in a couple of places than 77, 79 and probably correctly graded red.
Blues above Knettsetra – 49, 26, 25 – steeper than the other blues, but shorter, too
Greens 19 – nice easy green “road”, with some poling needed. Watch the crossing points.
Green 34 – less poling than 19, but can get icy when in the shade
Green 65 – the “mean green” which is a bit steep for a green, but it’s miles wide
Green 36 and blue 35 to Hogegga – pleasant to start with, then turn into ‘orrible narrow roads. The sort of runs you do once. Lovely views from blue 35 though.
Skihytta
These runs are south-facing so get the sun. Red 4 is the easiest red, red 12 being steeper and narrower, with red 5 being steeper still, but very wide. Red 4 is the home-run from the other side of the mountain, so can get busy and chopped-up
Green 16 is a lovely 1km or so run, rolling and no one else on it. That’s because there’s a 1km+ T-bar back up.
Hoyfjellssenteret
These runs are generally south facing. Red 53 a lovely, reasonably-wide red, but can get busy. Reds 54 and 58 looked similar to 53, but were closed due to bare patches. Red 52 is narrower. There are lots of greens to muck about on. Blue 50 is short, but relatively steep, and seems to have lots of death pebbles
Weather
Five days of unbroken sunshine, and one day of flat-light murk.
Piste prep
Piste prep was generally pretty good. The weather was very warm on a few days (10C+), so the south facing slopes of the Turistsenteret, Skihytta, and some of Hogegga got slushy.
There were fewer issues on north facing slopes. Some areas were suffering from lack of snow, with reds 52, 54 and 58 being closed. I was floored by an on-piste tree root on one run.
Places to eat/drink on mountain
Skihytta café had decent cakes and hot choc, as did Knetsettera waffle house.
Off-piste
We tried Kort & Godt café and bakery, which was OK. The one evening meal out we had was at La Pasteria. An excellent meal. A huge shared starter, two really tasty and huge pasta dishes, shared pudding, two large beers and a tip set us back £78.
There are plenty of warm rooms dotted around, but can be hard to find. They are usually around the back of buildings.
Vibe
The resort was very quiet Sunday to Thursday. Very quiet pistes and no noticeable afterski scene. That changed on the Friday and Saturday, with more skiers and proper afterski. Laaven has more traditional afterski for the youngsters. Skipuben and Taste Mat & Vinhus for the older crowd. Friday and Saturday sees lots of visitors from Oslo.
Costs
Skiing in Norway is not as expensive as people think (unless you want to do lots of drinking).
Flights - £300 (inc. hold bags)
Car hire, tolls and fuel - £350
Apartment - £1000
Ski passes - £450 for 2
Ski hire - £120 for 2 (Trysil Skishop – far cheaper than Skistar and skis were superior – would recommend)
Typical costs in resort – coffee - £2.50-3; hot chocolate - £2.50-4.00; waffle - £4; large local beer - £8-10; large “special” beer - £10-12; big lump of cake or doughnut - £3-5; large can of beer in supermarket - £2.50-3; pasta restaurant main course - £15-20; starter - £7-10; pudding - £7-10; McDonalds medium meal - £8-9;
No cash needed – paid by card all the time
It was a great trip, and would definitely go again.
Things I didn’t like - too many drag lifts (but probably cannot justify chairs in some places – just not enough traffic to warrant a chairlift). The path to boot room was not kept clear (very icy – guess which idiot fell on it?). Instructions in the flat would be good (e.g. re parking, waste, recycling), as would better joining instructions re access to parking.
Things to do differently
I’d probably fly on Saturday, stay overnight in a local hotel, arrive at resort early Sunday and ski all day Sunday – it’s very quiet in resort on Sunday.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Myself and my wife were there at the start of Jan, snow cover was a little lacking at times and most of the runs were at 50-60cm. We hadn't been before and with France closed it was our banker trip for the winter if everywhere locked down in the Alps.
We stayed in the Radisson Blu in Turistsenteret and had a great time. Lots of laps of the runs and spent most of our time in Turistsenteret and Hogegga along with the longer reds on the mountain. As you say it is not the place to go if you don't like the odd T-bar or button!
The place was deserted mid-week and on a few mornings after a fresh snow fall in Jan we had the blacks in Hogegga almost completely to ourselves.
On a final note I think it would be a great resort for those with young kids learning to ski. There are some great nursery and junior slopes in Turistsenteret that are much much more than the usual boring magic carpet and nursery slope you get in most resorts.
Already thinking about booking next year as a more chilled out trip alongside the chaos of mainland European alpine skiing
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 22-03-22 17:12; edited 1 time in total
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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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@dobby, Drag lifts are handy when some of the chair lifts stop because it's too cold. Happened on our visit.
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@Riccardo, wow. Must have been cold.
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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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It was -20C at one point in our trip. Probably colder with wind chill!
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Lovely report. Was there a few years ago and have always fancied going back, never seen quieter, calmer runs mid week. Sounds like it's changed a bit so must be time for a revisit! 
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@NoMapNoCompass, T-shirt weather last week  . Snow was a bit slushy though
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| dobby wrote: |
| @Riccardo, wow. Must have been cold. |
-30 something I think. And yes, had to keep speed low or wind chill became hard to bear.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@dobby, great report! Trysil does offer a lot of variety, as long as you can handle t bars.
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A huge shared starter, two really tasty and huge pasta dishes, shared pudding, two large beers and a tip set us back £78.
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So about £8 for the food then? 
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Hideously long T-bar serving a deserted red run.
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Oh yes, I remember that one. Did it once. And only once. There's a reason the run is deserted, and it's not because the run is (that) bad.
@Riccardo, -30 is cold even for Norway. Can't have been much fun.
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@mgrolf, not far off £8 for the food. I invested in a half litre of "interesting" lager in one bar and it set me back about £13.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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There is an off licence in Trysil town.
When we were there at the start of Jan, there were no alcohol sales above 4% in hotels, bars and restaurants.
So we marched down the hill in the snow and got a carry out! It wasn't actually that 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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| ElzP wrote: |
| Lovely report. Was there a few years ago and have always fancied going back, never seen quieter, calmer runs mid week. Sounds like it's changed a bit so must be time for a revisit! |
Same with us but I thought it sounded like it hadnt changed much from the report since we were there. Great resort.
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@NoMapNoCompass, I missed the offie! Must pay a visit next year.
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You know it makes sense.
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| mgrolf wrote: |
@dobby, great report! Trysil does offer a lot of variety, as long as you can handle t bars.
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A huge shared starter, two really tasty and huge pasta dishes, shared pudding, two large beers and a tip set us back £78.
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So about £8 for the food then?
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Hideously long T-bar serving a deserted red run.
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Oh yes, I remember that one. Did it once. And only once. There's a reason the run is deserted, and it's not because the run is (that) bad.
@Riccardo, -30 is cold even for Norway. Can't have been much fun. |
Kids were young at the time and found it quite exiting. The chair lifts ran up to the treeline so not too exposed but the ones to the top were closed. Tbh we were equipped for the cold, it was still fun as long as we were moving.
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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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| Riccardo wrote: |
| @dobby, Drag lifts are handy when some of the chair lifts stop because it's too cold. Happened on our visit. |
Must have been bloody cold to stop a chair. I thought drags were primarily there to keep running when it got windy. Either way when drags stop for any reason at least you can ski off them.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I don't mind drag the lifts, although if I was a snowboarder I might think different. The T-bar in Hogegga up the side of 63 in particular has a few very steep ramps in which you can nearly sit on the T-bar!
Trysil is also a great spot for embarrassing yourself in a snow park! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@NoMapNoCompass, I know what you mean about the snow parks. I can embarrass myself of the kid's one. I know that Mrs. Dobby wanted to go and have a word with the kids on the red and black parks - something about stacking it and micro-fractured vertebrae.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Treadmore, thanks for the heads up. I see ours in April is T3 now. They had changed the times but didnt quite emphasise the terminal change! No great odds for us though.
Hope enough is open there for you this week.
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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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Thats interesting about driving times.@dobby, when we did Oslo to Salen it took us a very long time abojt double what google maps suggested. But we went Feb half term and it was snowing the whole way.
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@Treadmore, enjoy the skiing. Light looks a bit flat on the webcams this morning, but sun trying to shine through
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| dobby wrote: |
| @NoMapNoCompass, I know what you mean about the snow parks. I can embarrass myself of the kid's one. I know that Mrs. Dobby wanted to go and have a word with the kids on the red and black parks - something about stacking it and micro-fractured vertebrae. |
I think it was Trysil where the kids embarrassed me by leaving me behind down the skicross run?
I think the preponderance of drag lifts higher up is because its exposed and prone to winds, so at least the drag lifts keep running, whereas if chairs it would be susceptible to more closures if / when windy.
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@ster @dobby not many lifts open. Hopefully will change at weekend - seems enough snow.
Not been very adventurous today - a few of us, mixed abilities. Light definitely a bit flat on the north side!
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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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@Treadmore, if theres enough snow, I imagine they will make real efforts to get more runs open for when the locals head up after Xmas day.
Until a few days ago they only has 1-2 lifts and 3-5 runs going.
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@ster, Skistar app seems to suggest they are slowly opening things up a bit.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@dobby, yup, they are. I imagine geared to when they expect it to be busiest for the xmas period.
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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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Last day of skiing done - liked the resort, would come again. Dump of snow yesterday was very helpful.
@dobby and @ster reports cover everything I think though I was quite happy cutting quickly to Høgegga on 35 and 36
Stayed at Radisson Blu Mountain Resort - Hoyfjellssenteret side. Family of 6 adults in apartment for 6, self-catered. Stocked up at Coop Mega (Vinmonopolet in same building), but REMA and Kiwi nearby also.
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@Treadmore, good to hear you had a great time. My dislike of 35 stemmed from me being an idiot, looking at the scenery when I should have been looking where I was going. Cracking fall
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You know it makes sense.
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We're considering Trysil this Easter, partly as I suspect its a safer bet late season than many places, but mainly because my wife is keen to be able to 'go to the top' (i.e. normally the higher runs at a resort are often too steep for her, but here it looks as though there is a green from the top) and overall it looks to have a decent blend of greens and mild blues for her as she has no desire to do reds or steeper blues.
However, looking at the piste map, I was worried about a few areas and was hoping someone with experience of the resort could put my fears at ease (or confirm them!):
1) Green run 48 from the top appears to break out from red 44, is it therefore not going to be possible for someone not comfortable with riding steeps to do this one (or is it just the way the run is displayed on the map and 48 is distinct from 44)?
2) T-Bar H2 from the bottom is at the end of a green (I appreciate chairlift H1 is nearby, but that takes you the other direction to the greens on the right hand side e.g. 33), but the route it takes back up is next to two black pistes, so if you fell off would you have to go down a black to re-start or is the terrain nearer the lift a bit flatter (and safer for someone who rides greens and blues...it seems odd a lift used by people skiing greens would take a dangerous route back up)?
3) Same question for (button?) T10?
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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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| vjmehra wrote: |
We're considering Trysil this Easter, partly as I suspect its a safer bet late season than many places, but mainly because my wife is keen to be able to 'go to the top' (i.e. normally the higher runs at a resort are often too steep for her, but here it looks as though there is a green from the top) and overall it looks to have a decent blend of greens and mild blues for her as she has no desire to do reds or steeper blues.
However, looking at the piste map, I was worried about a few areas and was hoping someone with experience of the resort could put my fears at ease (or confirm them!):
1) Green run 48 from the top appears to break out from red 44, is it therefore not going to be possible for someone not comfortable with riding steeps to do this one (or is it just the way the run is displayed on the map and 48 is distinct from 44)?
2) T-Bar H2 from the bottom is at the end of a green (I appreciate chairlift H1 is nearby, but that takes you the other direction to the greens on the right hand side e.g. 33), but the route it takes back up is next to two black pistes, so if you fell off would you have to go down a black to re-start or is the terrain nearer the lift a bit flatter (and safer for someone who rides greens and blues...it seems odd a lift used by people skiing greens would take a dangerous route back up)?
3) Same question for (button?) T10? |
1) top half of 44 is red bottom half green, you can also from F12 lift do a small bit of red 46 and left onto green 48, or access from lift F2, and do a tiny bit of red 52 (before it gets steep) into green 48 - which is the easiest route.
2) yes - back down a black or beside the drag lift!
3) yes - IIRC that is quite a steep drag lift, where as H2 above not so bad. It goes without saying falling of a t bar isn't the best thing to do, particularly if it goes up through a wooded area.
I will say their reds in the main aren't particularly steep reds by general Europe standards, ditto their blacks, bar black 75 which is steep and exposed so prone to being icy, I'd keep the Mrs well away from that one.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@vjmehra, as said above, reds there are not steep in comparison to many Euro resort levels (viz. France, Switz & Austria) , more like Italian ratings really.
When we went, we used to go the top of lift F2 to go down Green 48 with our 7 year old daughter who hadnt had lots of skiing days and didnt like "difficult" slopes. She was fine on that route and I can't remember it being a problem getting to via a little part of Red 44.
On the drags you mention, yes if you come off there are only the blacks. More incentive not to fall off, no? T10 is quite steep and has a bit of a kink if I recall corrently If steep drags are offputting stay away from F3!
But to put it into perspective, Trysil is the most nervous skier/beginner friendly resort we have been to. People are well behaved on the slopes which can also contribute to a sense of safety.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Snow is looking good in Trysil this season, tempted to cancel our les Menuires trip in March and head to Trysil instead.
Was in Trysil January last year and 75 wasn't open, keen to give it a go!
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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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Cool thanks and yes, having (relatively) fewer people (especially the well behaved type) is a massive help, she gets a bit worried when it gets crowded (and tbh I'm not a huge fan myself either)!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| NoMapNoCompass wrote: |
Snow is looking good in Trysil this season, tempted to cancel our les Menuires trip in March and head to Trysil instead.
Was in Trysil January last year and 75 wasn't open, keen to give it a go! |
Wasnt open either when we were there late season, must be one of those chimerical runs.
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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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Been to trysil 3 times, anlbrit not for a few years, and love the place. That said some of the runs did puzzle as they just seem to stop and turn into something else, sometimes quite unsuitable. On of the T’s (9 I think) I made a massive error on). Basically I fell off near the start but grabbed it and stood up and tucked the t under my arms and let it pull me along whilst holding on. I’d seen people do this before and thought why not. It turned out to be very long so my arms were killing me. Then I spotted the dismount area and holy cow it was steep. I panicked but still clung on - no idea what I was thinking. Fortunately my young son had also stayed on the t as it turned around to go back, panicked and jumped off into a massive snow drift. Fortunate for me because a) I couldn’t see this happen so didn’t have a chance to panic and b) so many people Were panicking and trying to help him that not many saw me making an ar@e of myself. Lots of “crazy British” comments as we skied off! Thoroughly deserved.
Have to say they’re some of the nicest greens there where you can have fun and being a nervous skier I don’t do that much.
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@vjmehra @NoMapNoCompass having gone for Christmas we're going back in early March - a recommendation
As above best way onto 48 is from top of F2 (or S1).
For a nervous skier, even the blues like 78, 61, 62, 35 etc are all good.
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Thank you @Treadmore, greatly appreciated, I think we're pretty keen on the idea of Trysil now...onto the process of getting time off and finding accommodation!!!
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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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@NickyJ, yeah we used SkiStar when we went to Are, seems like a pretty slick operation!
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@vjmehra, if you intend booking one of the Radissons in Trysil then, whilst they do appear on the Skistar website, do check on Booking.com and with Radisson direct as you can get different deals/packages on each site (like free cancellation or meals included).
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FAQ
