 Poster: A snowHead
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Finally got round to writing this trip report… This was a 6 day family trip the week after Christmas - me and my 7 year old boy skiing, and my wife who doesn't ski was hanging around drinking latte. For anyone reading this in the future, December 2015/early January 2016 was bad for snow in Europe… Lillehammer is a little under 2 hours from Oslo Gardemoen airport. Hire car was surprisingly cheap, £160 for BMW 3 series estate, although from Alamo (Europcar) which is off airport so a bit of a pain in the... Tolls were invoiced later at £30.
Lillehammer ski pass covers five or six ski areas, but I think really only Hafjell and Kvitfjell are proper "resorts" where you could spend more than a day (although we didn’t go to the others admittedly).
We stayed in the Scandic hotel in Lillehammer (use Scandic a lot for work so had points to use). Decent hotel in a good location, free parking. Lillehammer is small but nice with a few lively (gastro) pubs. Usually we self-cater, so forgot hotel means you have to eat out, which at Norwegian prices (despite the good exchange rate at the mo) is very expensive. A meal for three of us (only me having maybe one beer) was 500-850 NOK (£40-£65). Pint of beer is 60 NOK (£4.80) and up to 90 NOK (£7.20) a fancy brew dog IPA or something.
We skied in Hafjell the first two days, then Kvitfjell the next three. Drive to Hafjell is 15 mins from Lillehammer. The ski area felt bigger than it looks on the piste map. The top half pistes were in pretty good condition and they managed to open quite a bit of that. No black runs were open, thus experts would probably get bored, but some of the red runs are reasonably steep and long. Overall 14/26 pistes open. Bottom half was not great as they only had one route down open, which was very busy and skiing on dusted ice in spots. That said, lift queues were ok, max 5 mins. And there are lifts that service the top half only. Main snow park (blue, red, black runs) was only partially open. The green run "backyard" park was good fun, with children, teenagers and adults all having a go, but a few park rats hanging around. Fairly short day skiing from 9 - 15:30 and it was dark by then, but that is standard for Scandinavia. A couple of slopes (7km) are open later for floodlit night skiing.
One evening we tried to drive up to the hotel/restaurant at the top (Hafjelltoppen) and it was extremely icy. On the way up some cars were slipping and stuck and those that had snow chains were putting them on. All Norwegian cars have to have winter tyres but it was treterous. We lost traction a couple of times. At three-quarters of the way up we decided to abort the attempt, turn round and come down. Slowly in 1st gear. Glad to get down.
On the second day in Hafjell there was light snow all day so that improved conditions.
Third, fourth, and fifth day we went to Kvitfjell. We made the mistake of driving all the way round to the middle station where GudbrandsGard Hotel is (my thought was its a better place for my non-skiing wife to hang out). However, it's a long, windey, icy, road so adds 30 mins onto the journey. A Norwegian guy advised us to take the road (signposted) to Kvitfjell Vest (west) which also has a shop, cafe, ski hire etc. We did that on the second day there, and the journey from Lillehammer took 45 mins.
There was much more snow in Kvitfjell compared to Hafjell, and the same Norwegian guy said there usually is (both days it was snowing in Kvitfjell but raining as we passed Hafjell on the way back to Lillehammer). While Kvitfjell is smaller, it has the added interest of being able to ski both sides of the mountain. 17/34 pistes were open. The east side has the Olympic run (Olympiabakke), a 3km run split into a top and bottom section which has 64% gradient at some points. We skied the bottom section on the first morning. Conditions were ok but there were warning signs out for icy sections. I am not an expert skier so I had the odd panic. I took one tumble and slid for about 15m before I could get my skis under me. Otherwise I enjoyed watching my son ski down it.
On both days there were a lot of fog/low clouds and it was a whiteout at the top. Disappointed not to see the view. For the first day it was a whiteout mostly everywhere, coupled with icy snow that stuck on everything so your clothes were all crispy and you gathered a layer of ice on your goggles rendering them useless. But as they say in Scandinavia, there is no bad weather, only bad clothes  Despite the weather, it was good to ski on "real" snow.
One of two snow parks was open, but not busy. My son has a huge interest in the park and jumping, and this year we were both grinding boxes and tubes for the first time (only a bruised ego for me fortunately).
Second day at Kvitfjell was still a whiteout at the top, but better lower down and fairly clear on the west side, with light snow. There was just about enough snow to venture off the side of piste and into the trees a bit. The website says Kvitfjell has done a lot of work cutting down trees to open up gaps and improve the off-piste, so it more snow it could be great.
Between Hafjell and Kvitfjell, the latter was our favourite, and I think there is enough at Kvitfjell to keep all level of skiers happy for a few days.
Eating on the piste was not cheap. Buffet in restaurant 185 NOK (£15) with similar price for a burger etc. At Hafjell and Kvitfjell there were no warm huts with grills like you get at all Swedish ski resorts (varm stugas). I guess all Norwegians are just loaded 
I don’t think there is any real après at either place. There is a bar, and probably a live band from time to time. I think they are more family resorts, and by 4pm people have packed up and gone back to their cabins.
Overall a convienient place to get to for a few days skiing. If we did return, next time I would look for self-catering accommodation at/near a resort (probably Kvitfjell).
Some photos:
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 28-01-16 22:31; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Top of Hafjell:
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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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Very icy Kvitfjell:
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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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Whiteout at top of Kvitfjell:
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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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Some snow at Kvitfjell at least:
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Yes, self catering sounds a good idea. You had more pistes open than some alpine resorts!
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@Themasterpiece, good TR. That icy chair reminds me of Hemsedal.
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@TM, many thanks, maybe one for the future 
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