Geilo

A snowHead

Hi,
Taking my wife on her first skiing hol, Going to geilo on the 31st 0f dec.
Any body have any info on the place? Whats the snow conditions like that time of year, and am i going to be bored there. Ive been sking for about 7 years and i usually go to the rockies, have been to verbier and courchevel 1850 also. Not looking for wild nights just good snow and empty pistes to teach her the basics, maybe a few black runs for myself when she starts to ache and wants a day off!!
Thanks
Benny

A snowHead

My first ski holiday was a school trip to Geilo in 1964.... loved it. We went by train from Bergen and the little wooden houses and scenery were enchanting. Our ski instructor Hans was chunky and hunky and blond and I encountered duvets for the first time (though not with Hans, I hasten to add, this was the girls dorm in the Geilo Youth Hostel!) However, I had nothing to compare it with and haven't been since so others will no doubt be along with rather more up to date info. However, even a quick look at the piste map (and any map showing topography) will identify that the ski possibilities are nothing like Verbier or the three valleys (or indeed any one of the valleys!). My recollection of seeing snow reports is that sometimes in the early season Norway is a little bit short. Don't know how empty it is at New Year but I guess the days will be quite short. If we enjoyed learning in 1964 on skis as high as our arms could stretch above our heads, your wife should certainly enjoy it on modern carvers. Hans will be a bit old now - try to find her a nice young Norwegian instructor to make her week complete. wink

One suggestion for you is to try a bit of longer distance cross country ski-touring (the plateau area above the glaciated valley offers lots of possibilities, I think).

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Hi Benny, and welcome to Snowheads!

I went to Geilo about 7 years ago at the same time time of year, and there was plenty of snow and the pistes were relatively uncrowded. Very Happy

. At the time, the opererator Crystal flew into the local airport at Dagali, which was quite an experience in itself - it has a very short runway, and on final approach the aircraft had to turn and then come in over a frozen lake - quite spectacular!. (Unfortunately, I think most UK operators no longer use Dagali - pity!).
Geilo lies in a valley, with the slopes on the northern side within easy walking distance, and the slopes on the southern side of the valley at Vestlia are easily reached via a free ski shuttle bus service which goes between the two areas. For your wife there are green beginner slopes on the northern side at the Slatta skilift, and at Vestlia there are also several green runs. For yourself, there are several intermediate red runs and a few black runs. If you should find yourself getting bored after a few days, can I suggest that you try Telemark (free heel) skiing for a day. Its one of the few resorts where its easy to hire Telemark equipment and get ski school lessons, and after all the Norwegians did invent Telemark skiing! Toofy Grin

. Incidentally when I was there maybe 20% of the better skiers were on Telemark gear. Also as pam w says, the northern slopes reach a plateau, where lots of cross country skiers go. You will find the final T bar up to the plateau being used by both alpine and cross country skiers (there is road access up to the base of this T bar which the cross country skiers use) - and so on the blue run piste back down from the top of the plateau you will see the unusual site of both alpine and cross country skiers!
One other unusual apres ski activity which was available was dog sledding on a nearby frozen lake - you could either sit as a passenger in the sled or ride on the back of the trailer sled - good fun!
The railway line goes through Geilo, so one day I took a trip to Myrdal where you change onto the scenic steep Flam mountain railway which descends to a Fjord - a good trip and something to bear in mind if either of you fancies a day's break from skiing.
Incidentally, alcohol is expensive (it was £4 for 0.5 litre of beer in the hotel 7 years ago). So if either of you drink alcohol, it makes sense on the way in to use your duty free allowance (remember Norway is not in the EU, so you can each bring in a litre of spirits duty free - all you need is a mixer to go with your gin, vodka or whatever is your tipple wink

)
Are you staying in a hotel? - if so I think you will find the quality of the food excellent. I stayed at the Highland Hotel, and some of the buffet dinners were excellent - plenty of Gravadlax available (raw marinated salmon - tastes a bit like smoked salmon, if you've not tried it before I really recommend it!) . Also try reindeer meat (poor Rudolph!) with cloudberries. At breakfast buffet they would also for a small fee let you make up a lunchpack (although I generally preferred eating in the mountain restaurants).
If you've anymore questions, please ask!

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benny, I stayed in Geilo that same time of year 2 years ago at the Ustedalen hotel. Most of it has already been said although 2 years ago beer was about £7 or £8 and any wine in the hotel was £25. One couple I spoke to who had been several times before had actually bought 10 bottles of wine out with them. Food in the hotel was excellent and I believe all of them were talking to others staying elsewhere. Slopes only opened about 10 - 3.30 I think because of the amount of daylight although there was floodlit evening skiing several times a week. It certainly wasn't busy, can't remember queuing at all and there were a few blacks to have a go at. Their website has a good piste map.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks everyone!!
We are staying in apartments Geilo. I had already planned to sneek some extra spirits through customs, like the idea of night skiing everyday. Colin B is everything expensive(food) We had planned to eat out in the evenings?

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benny, Norway is pretty expensive for most things from what I remember. We didn't eat out a great deal apart from the odd pizza at lunchtime, I don't think they were too dear, as we were half board. Can't say for sure how much a meal is in the local restaurants (I think most are in the hotels). I believe that alcohol is so expensive as it is very highly taxed to dissuade heavy drinking during the long winter nights. But perhaps that is just another urban myth.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

benny, As I said, I was staying at the Highland Hotel, and the evening meals there were very good. A quick web search shows this page for other general restaurant information in Geilo, but I don't have any personal experience of these.
Of course one other advantage for your wife is that the ski instructors (along with shop and restaurant staff) speak excellent English!

Not everything in Norway is expensive but then again we live in Ireland. Will get information from Mrs. RH. has been to Geilo many times. Being native I am sure that she will have many things to praise. Norwegians and Septics tend to be very nationalistic. Puzzled

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benny, we've been to Geilo several times, but always at Easter not New Year. Snow was always pretty good at Easter so I would expect it to be good at New Year. I imagine it will get dark very early at that time and could be very cold. We were always in a hotel so don't know the eating places around town. We didn't find the mountainside restaurants expensive, but drinks in the hotel were horrendously so.

The first year we stayed on the Vestlia side. This is really best for beginners, but there are several runs that you can make something of, including a "pisted" black and an unpisted route. For beginners there is a "green" run which I remember as being quite straightforward.

The other side has more runs including a couple of blacks but nothing very exciting for a really good skier. The pistes are generally wide and friendly, but then you can always impose your own challenges.

None of the routes are very long.

We had some great lessons in Geilo and there are nursery slopes both sides.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Once again cheers guys, your advice much appreciated!!!

Help!!

Geilo

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