 Poster: A snowHead
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This report may have a few similarities to last year's report...updated for this year's trip.
We (50-something couple and adult daughter) flew with SAS from LHR to Oslo Gardemoen, and drove to Trysil, with a one night stop in Elverum. We stopped in Elverum overnight to allow us to ski all day Sunday on empty pistes.
Flights
SAS from LHR T2 to Oslo Gardemoen, out on a Saturday morning and back a week Sunday. Luggage drop was fast and simple, at both LHR and OSL. No security queues. Outbound flight was an hour late leaving, but nothing major.
Hire car
Suzuki Across, an initially-unwanted upgrade from Europcar. Great to drive though, and it had studded tyres. Proper Scandi! About a 2 hour drive from airport to Trysil, with tolls of about £15-20 each way. Having a car in resort is good because you can access the cheaper/better supermarkets in town, can get your skis from Trysil Skihire and you can drive between Turistsenteret and Hoyfjellssenteret, if needs be.
Accommodation
On the Saturday night, we stayed at the Elgstua on the outskirts of Elverum. A good hotel with a great buffet breakfast.
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, one bedroom with bunk beds and a pull-out double in the living room. Would easily accommodate 4 adults. 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) - this is a bonus because the resort has started to charge for parking.
Once again, the apartment block was occupied mainly by Danes and Swedes, but we did meet more British and Irish than last year.
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 T6 to a run that goes to one of the main chairs T2 or to a slow chair T8 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.
Tip - if you want a view over the mountain, you need to book Block A, odd flat number
I know it may seem petty, but when you've got a lovely flat with a gorgeous wet room for a bathroom, why ruin it with a bog roll holder that would not look out of place in a skanky motorway services toilet?
Resort
Skiing is around one mountain, and is on the friendly side – lots of greens, blues and reds, but there is plenty to do for the better skiers, particularly those into lumps, bumps and parks.
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, with plenty of "mucking about" off piste and small bumps available. Some bigger bumps for those so inclined.
Some short greens 21, 60 ,56 at the bottom of the hill where everyone starts learning. Fun though - some small rollers, rails, jumps and the like. Great fun with 9 inches of powder for those of us not very good at off piste.
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. A good run for those who have graduated from the learner slopes.
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. Daughter said that black 1 was OK.
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. Lots of reds coming down from the top. Easiest is probably 52, but it's quite narrow, prone to icy pebbly things and has a definite camber on it. Next most difficult is red 54, accessible from green 55. Avoids the steepest part of red 58. Red 53 is a lovely, reasonably-wide red, but can get busy. Red 58 probably the hardest of the bunch, but not a difficult red. Red 68 is a cracker, not least because it's served by a steep drag lift. Red 44 is a lovely run on account of it being empty because it's served by a loooong drag. There are lots of greens to muck about on. Blue 50 is short, but relatively steep for a Trysil blue, and seems to have lots of death pebbles.
Hogegga
Lots of black runs. Daughter enjoyed 30 and 76, but not 69, which is unpisted.
Weather
Lots of sun, wind and snow. Typical March week in the hills.
Piste prep
Piste prep was generally pretty good, apart from one day when there was a lot of snow post-pisting - just had to fall over lots!
Places to eat/drink on mountain
Great waffles and hot choc at the Knetsettera waffle house. The cafe at the Turistsenteret Radisson Blu was good, too, for a cake and hot chocolate. Tended to be quiet at the weekend, while other cafes were rammed. Flyyt at the bottom of Toppekspressen was a lovely sunny place for a doughnut and drink.
Off-piste
The one evening meal out we had was at La Pasteria. An excellent meal, again. Two large starters, three large pasta dishes, three puddings, three beers and a tip set us back £120.
There are plenty of warm rooms dotted around, but can be hard to find. They are usually around the back of buildings. Annoyingly, the Warmstuga at the bottom of the S2 lift has been closed; there's a warm room next to the main Skistar office, but it's a bit of a schlep from the lifts.
Vibe
Once again, 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.
Ski hire
Hired our skis from Trysil skishop, about 5 mins drive from resort. Worth doing if you have a car because the skis are cheaper and better than Skistar (imho). Didn't bat an eyelid when we returned one very broken ski (daughter got smacked in to on a jump/park, which smashed the binding) - we had taken out the ski shop's insurance though.
Costs
Skiing in Norway is not as expensive as people think (unless you want to do lots of drinking).
Do what the locals do - take a picnic onto the piste - there are plenty of places to picnic on the mountain.
Flights - £450 (inc. hold bags, decent sized cabin bag and hand bag)
Car hire, tolls and fuel - about £350-400 for 9 days car hire
Apartment - £1200
Ski passes - £220 per person
Ski hire - £190 for 3
Typical costs in resort – coffee - £2.50-3; hot chocolate - £3-4; waffle - £4-5; large local beer - £9-11; large “special” beer - £12-14; 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; bottle of wine from state-owned off licence - £10-11;
No cash needed – paid by card all the time
Another great trip, and looking forward to going next year.
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 top lifts that give access between Turistsenteret and Hoyfjellssenteret are prone to closure due to wind. And boy can it get windy.
Will be back next year.
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