 Poster: A snowHead
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My trip report will probably end up being much more about the logistics of getting to / from where I went, rather than the conditions when I was there. Mainly because that's what's most important and useful to me when reading others' reports.
So, having flown into TORP Sandefjord Airport (which was announced over tannoy at Manchester as Oslo, when it really isn't and Ryanair are apparently the only people using Oslo when referring to it... was told this by staff at airport when checking board bag in for return journey) on a very early morning and very cheap flight, and as I was spending a couple of nights in Oslo itself, I took the TORP Ekspressen bus service to the city. Arranged my ticket in advance via their website as it was cheaper and because it states that you can use your ticket up to 2 hours before and 10 hours after your scheduled arrival time. So, I chose to book a ticket that was in theory for the service immediately after the flight arriving from Poland 90 minutes later, as this was cheaper, and sure enough, it scanned fine when getting on the coach. The bus station in the centre of Oslo is right next door to Oslo S (Sentralstasjon) and very close to my AirBnB for a couple of nights.
If you're getting the train from TORP, you have to take the Vy shuttle bus (which you actually need a ticket for, but was never checked on my return journey) which will take you to TORP station and not Sandefjord station (which is for the town itself). I used the train when returning, booked through the excellent Vy app
I especially liked that I could split my return by about 7 hours, dumping my board bag in a ski locker in central station for 7 hours (for about £20), and then heading off to view a little more of Oslo and ending up with what was effectively a private floating sauna session courtesy of Mad Goats which I also found a 25% discount code for (OsloPassMG25).
But I digress...
Having spent a couple of nights in Oslo, I got the train to Lillehammer (ticket booked in advance via the Vy app and considerably cheaper than tickets on the day) and enjoyed a very comfortable couple of hours (with good free wifi) and excellent views.
Spent the first couple of nights in First Hotel Breiseth which is all of about 100 yards from the station itself. Single room, booked via Agoda only a couple of days in advance for less than £60 per night including breakfast for Friday and Saturday nights, which was considerably less than what the Station Hotel / Hostel was showing at that time.
I was about 2 hours early for official check-in, but as a room was ready, they juggled things around and checked me in to a good roomy single with plenty of space for my board bag to explode, tv, excellent shower and a view of the petrol station! Hotel has a sauna which I forgot to ask about until I was checking-out and a lounge with free tea & coffee. Breakfast was decent and would choose to stay here again over the alternative: Stasjonen Hotel / Hostel
When staying at the latter, I'd booked and wanted a single, but all singles are twins apparently, which makes my customary board bag explosion a bit more of an issue. Rooms are MUCH cheaper in advance, and I could have got decent advance room rate during the week right up until the day before arrival, but the prices were staying stubbornly high, hence why I ended up staying at First first and I'm really glad I did. Although I did have a lovely view of sunset and the train station from Stasjonen (although leaving my window ajar meant I got to hear various night train announcements) and could make use of the well-stocked kitchen. Since when did HI hostels have dishwashers instead of having to do it yourself though?! Kids today...
Right, I should probably get started on reviewing some actual ski areas, shouldn't I?!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Saturday 13th April: Hafjell was my destination of choice for my first day boarding out of Lillehammer.
I got the short 15 minute bus ride (with excellent free wifi) from the station (141 and 142 go to Hafjell Alpinsenter) and sorted the ticket via the Entur app as this meant it was 32 kr instead of 60 on the bus. The app is ok, but tends to repeatedly revert to Norwegian even after you've changed it to English, which can be a pain, especially during the booking process.
Hafjell use the AXXESS system (not Skidata) for lift passes, but I didn't sort my pass in advance as I was unsure where I was going when, and you can't use the machines by the car-park to add one, only to collect. So, I went up to the main office and was able to use the machine there to add one to a pass I already had from Portes du Soleil.
First word of warning: whilst the lockers use AXXESS cards to operate them, this will only work using their own ones and you can only sort this from the ticket office. And they will try to charge you for one of their AXXESS cards even if you have one from elsewhere. In the end, I took my bag up in the gondola with me and padlocked it to something and nothing happened to it.
Second word of warning: despite the fact that the English version of the ticket mahcine, website and the app make no reference to it, any passes for more than one day are for CONSECUTIVE days. I know this might seem obvious, but due to a quirk of their system (and I assume this was a result of a dynamic pricing system) it was more expensive to buy a 2-day pass, rather than two 1-day passes, and in my haste, I foolishly assumed this was because it would give me some flexibility.
It was only when I was making plans for the following days later that I used Google to translate the Norwegian website later, and sure enough the word CONSECUTIVE is definitely there.
Being the Saturday of the closing weekend of the season, I was expecting it to be busy and whilst it was around the Gondoltoppen area with all sorts of family-friendly stuff going on (I observed laid-back slalom and trick competitions and there was a water-slide one scheduled too), the pistes were actually still pretty quiet, albeit rather slushy, as I expected.
Unfortunately the only runs from Hafjelltoppen (the highest point in the area at 1059m) were greens and not particularly snowboard-friendly in the conditions. However, this did mean that I could observe some of the Janteloppet cross-country ski event and made my complaints about skating for a few yards look as shameful as they probably were.
The best bit of the day probably came when I realised how few of the tree areas alongside the pistes were closed off and how easy it was to dip in and out of these, even if again the conditions weren't the best for this. There was still plenty to do for a day trip, however, and with better conditions, would happily spend more consecutive days there.
Speaking of consecutive days, having decided I'd covered as much as I wanted to, it was on my way back to Lillehammer that I decided I'd go to Skeikampen the following day and not return to Hafjell or visit its partner resort of Kvitfjell, and so wouldn't be using my 2-day pass on consecutive days.
I tried calling the office, but they were already closed and my email to info@ bounced back. However, I sent it to another email address and much to my pleasant surprise, I got an email back a couple of hours later, reassuring me that I'd be looked after on Monday, and encouraging me to go to Skeikampen for their last day of the season the following day.
So, a HUGE thumbs-up and thanks to Hafjell / Kvitfjell (and the person concerned in particular who shall remain nameless lest they end up getting bombarded with similar requests) on this front.
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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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Sunday 14th April and it was off to the smaller resort of Skeikampen for its final day of the season.
Bus again, Number 511 departing at 0915, booked through the Entur app, and direct service delivered me to the door of the resort at 1011.
Upon arrival, I was rather excited about how few people were around, especially as there had been a light dusting of snow overnight. However, I should probably have paid more attention to the wind as when I got to the ticket office, I was informed (in polite, perfect English of course) that unfortunately the top lift was currently closed and that they'd just had to close the one other chairlift, so there was only a draglift . Oh and the cafe wasn't open yet and there weren't any lockers. D'oh!
I killed about an hour in the Skeikampen Ski & Bike Shop before one of the ski patrollers suggested strolling up the road towards the other parking and the two drag lifts that were running (G and H on the map shown here) and which served a green, two blues and a red that were tree-lined and would be shielded from the wind.
So off I went on foot (much easier as a snowboarder than a skier) and spent about 90 minutes mainly lapping the tree sections to either side of G, with absolutely nobody else about. Until that is the liftie kindly informed me that chairlift E had been opened up and so I pushed across to the other side of the resort (back where I started) to see what I could access. The answer was a couple of pistes and the terrain park, so I spent about 90 minutes there, but when it became clear that lift D up to the top wouldn't be opening at all, I headed back to my private drags for a little while longer.
With about an hour of their season left, I returned to E again and had the pleasure of the last runs of the season (apart from the lifties obviously) down the terrain park and the piste alongside it, with about half an hour to spare after lifts closing before getting the 511 bus at 1635 back to Lillehammer.
So, not exactly what I was expecting or hoping for, seeing as I couldn't access about half of the area, but that wasn't for their lack of trying, and in spite of that, I had an amazing day on my own private drag-lifts and some almost deserted, nicely maintained pistes that had had a light dusting overnight.
If I were to go to Lillehammer again, I'd definitely go back because of the ease of travel there with public transport, but would obviously hope that the rest of the area would be open / accessible. I know I'd probably get bored there after more than a couple of days, but I can see the appeal for families and the locals.
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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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Monday 15th April and the destination was Kvitfjell, the only resort in the area still open.
It was somewhat inevitable with my hastily arranged trip that some things might not exactly go as I'd "planned" and this was no exception. During the peak season, Kvitfjell ski area is served by the Olympic Express chair from Kvitfjell train station which connects directly to Lillehammer. Early and late season, this isn't the case and so I took the Number 142 bus from Lillehammer Station at 08:15 towards Ringebu, getting off at Favang and crossing the bridge with a view to hitching to resort.
I figured that this was the route that most people driving would take, and this certainly proved to be the case as the first vehicle that went past was a signwritten SUV. Unfortunately, I was a little late turning round and so it was another 5 vehicles until a very nice gentleman whose name I've now sadly forgotten stopped to give me a lift.
He would normally head for one specific side of the resort, but kindly changed his plans to drop me by the main Skitorget area instead, so I could sort my lift pass, and said to keep an eye out for him if I wanted a lift back later. Who says skiers and boarders can't get along?!
At the ticket office, I spoke (in English) to Hilde (who of course replied in perfect English) and sorted out my lift pass as her colleague had promised via email and despite me strictly-speaking having paid for two consecutive days. I have little doubt that this might not have been resolved as simply in my favour at many other resorts and so it was just another plus for me as far as this trip was concerned.
There was no sign of the wind of the previous day in Skeikampen and the temperatures were lower than at Hafjell and so a lovely, long day on (once again) almost deserted pistes ensued.
Hafjell is generally more popular, but I think that is more down to its ease of access, as I found Kvitfjell to be a much bigger, better, nicer and more varied resort as a whole.
The British liftie I met (and who kindly gave me a lift back to Lillehammer - result!) won't thank me for saying this, but it's a brilliant area with some gorgeous piste-side accommodation, some really good tree-lined runs (the off-piste section of PUDDERSKOGEN is very cool) and the steepest runs I came across on my trip. Map of the ski area can be found HERE.
If there's another winter like the last one in much of mainland Europe, I can see Norway getting increasingly popular and this would be my pick of the ski areas I visited. For families, I think you could easily base yourself here for a week, especially as there is supposed to be a shuttle bus to Hafjell during peak season.
So, there's my trip report. A little (lot) later than intended, but still with plenty of time for those who are thinking of visiting somewhere new next season 
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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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Thanks. Useful guide. Cheaper than I expected.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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All things considered, I found the trip to be cheaper than I expected and excellent value all things considered. Although I do think I probably got a bit lucky with the room rate in First Hotel Breiseth.
It also helps that I don't drink booze when I'm boarding and tend to graze rather than going out for meals. There was certainly no piste-side premium for eating / drinking at the places I did stick my head in, and so whilst it is an expensive country, it wasn't doubly expensive to then go boarding as it is in Switzerland (for example).
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Excellent info
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