Chmonix and Geneva

Late Ester trip with three nice days of skiing in Chanomix (Brevent and Grands Montets) and two days of nice sight seeing in Geneva.

Munich, Herrenchiemsee, and Hintertux

Chamonix, France

New Year's celebration in Romme

Celebrated the weekend in Romme with family Krehlas. Two very nice days of skiing and nice New Years dinner with family and friends!

Val Thorens, France

Jan 2, 2010: We traveled with Norwegian Air from Stockholm Arlanda at 05:45h, and continued from Geneva airport at 10:00h with bus to Val Thorens. The trip went smooth, but the early departure from Uppsala kept reminding us during the day. Upon arrival in Val Thorens, we check in at Hotel Chamois d'Or and went for lunch across the street. We also did some shoppning until we got access to our room/appartment at 16:00h. We spent the evening by resting and did some more shopping.

Jan 3, 2010: The day started with buying skipass in Val Thorens at 10:00h. The skiing conditions were quite good: -10C, no wind, and cloudy. We first went to Glacier de Peclet and then moved towards the highest peak, Pointe de Bouchet (3230m). Everything went as planned except for minor problems with Paul's skipass (it stoped working so we had to talk ourself into every lift except the first two). On the way down from Pointe de Bouchet, we experienced how the skiing conditions got worse. The biggest problem was the bad sight which made it difficult to see the snow surface. That we accidentally ended up in a non-prepared and difficult piste did not make things better. We then had a very nice lunch at Plan Bouchet and decided to move back towards Val Thorens where we exchanged the broken skipass and decided to go back to the hotel to rest. In the evening we had dinner at a nice restuaruant in Val Thorens.

Jan 4, 2010: The conditions were just a few minus, cloudy, no wind, lots of new snow, and snowing. We started by skiing in Plaein Sud in Val Thorens, then moved on to Col de la Chambre (2850m), and further to Meribel, including Mont du Vallon (2952m). The skiing was very, very nice due to all the new snow and many of the pistes were not prepared, leaving lots of nice new snow to ski in. We had lunch in Meribel and then moved back towards Val Thorens. In a slope near Val Thorens we found a very nice afterski where we stoped for some time, before going back to the hotel. In the early evening we went to Centre de sportif to swim and have sauna and hamam. We then did some shopping and cooked dinner in the appartment.

Jan 5, 2010: The weather was absolutely perfect! Sun, -10C, and no wind. We skiied on Caron before noon, then moved on to the sunny side of Val Thorens and Menuires. There were still lots of good opportunities for offpiste skiing which we enjoyed. We also very much enjoyed the pistes that had perfect snow and were faster than yesterday. We had lunch on the top of Col de la Chambre (2850m) and then skiied on intensively until 16:00. We then went back to have a short rest in the appartment before going on a snow mobile tour at 17:30h. It was a very, very nice experience that last for an hour. We took turns in driving and both had lots of fun! We drove slow, very fast, and in deep show. Both uphill and downhill. After the tour, we did some shopping and had dinner in the appartment.

Jan 6, 2010: Yet another day with excellent skiing conditions: -5C and not a cloud in the sky. We decided to ski in all three valleys, i.e., from Val Thorens to Courchevel and back. It worked out really well, and we had lots and lots of nice skiing in the sun. We stopped to have a late lunch on one of the tops and made it back to Val Thorens just in time before the lift stopped (at 16:30h). In the evening we packed our suitcase and cleaned the apartment. We also went to have beer at the local bowling place and had a nice raclette (with lots of cheese) in a restaurant near by our hotel.

Jan 7, 2010: The bus left from Val Thorens at 07:20h and reached Geneva airport at 10:30h. In the airport we had brunch and tried to do some shopping, but ended up at a gate, resting and writing this text.

In summary, our experiences from Val Thorens are very positive. The skiing is absolutely excellent, regardless if you prefer on or off-piste skiing. Val Thorens is a 100% tourist resort. On the negative side this means there is no old or genuine city centre. On the positive side, the whole resort is optimized for skiing and winter sports. It is basically a village located around a slope in which more or less every hotel has direct access to the pistes, which in turn means you never have to bother about ski buses or car parking. The ski system is also very well developed with a high capacity. During our four days of skiing we stayed in line less than 15mins in total(!).

Click here to see pictures and videos.

Skiing in Stöten

Spent the Eastern weekend skiing, together with Leo, in Stöten. We stayed in a flat at Stöten mitt and enjoyed the skiing there very much. One of the days we went to Tandådalen (20km from Stöten) where we meet the Sjöbloms and enjoyed nice weather and company.

We conclude that the skiing in much better in Stöten than Tandådalen. Stöten probably has the best skiing in the whole Sälen area, however, other ingrediences of a skiing weekend might better at other places, e.g., after-ski, activites for kids, etc.

Pictures!

Skiing in St Anton, Austria

We just came home from three days of skiing in the St Anton am Arlberg area. We flew with Niki from Arlanda in the afternoon to Vienna and further to Innsbruck, and took a Herz rented car to St Jakob in St Anton (a one hour drive). Arrived to House Gonda in the evening the 13th (Friday) and had dinner at the nearby Gander Wirt.

March 14:Took a ski bus (5 mins) to Nasserein in St Anton and the cabin up to the skiing. Before that we realized that Herz had made a reservation of 1000 EUR on our credit card even though the car was fully insured and prepaid - they can actually still do such things! Anyway, the weather was very nice with sunshine and a few days old snow. Very nice skiing conditions. We skied on Gampen, Galzig, Albonagrat, Schindler, and Kapall. We had lunch in Stuben, and around 1600 returned to Nasserein where we did a proper afterski with Bombardino and ubåt. In the evening we went to have dinner at Gander
Wirt in St Jakob.

March 15:Took the ski bus to St Anton West and went up to Galzig. On the top we realized the wind was really strong, snow was "falling" horizontally, and that the clouds were so low that we could see only 10 to 25 meters. To make things worse, some runs were closed so the only way down was a black run. It was not a totally peasant experience. On the way down the conditions gradually got better, and half way down we could see again. However, since skiing was only possible in the very lowest parts of the hills, we did not ski much this day. Instead, we drove around a little with the car (to St
Christoph) and explored the shopping in St Anton. We bought ski pants for Elena and a jacket for Paul. The selection was very nice indeed! When we walked to Gander Wirt in the evening, the snow was falling heavily and we were starting to hope for very good skiing the following day.

March 16:We decided to drive early to Lech, however, on the way we stoped at Zürs, which is connected to the same ski area as Lech. We followed the "Weisser ring" which lead us to from Zürs to Zug, Oberlech, Lech, Stubenbach, and back to Zürs. The conditions were absolutely 100% perfect: sunshine, blue sky, no wind, and lots of new powder snow! We totally jumped into the snow and surfed lots and lots
of powder. The skiing that day, particularily before noon, was probably the best skiing we ever experinced (so far ;-)) in our lives. In Oberlech we stoped for lunch, and then continued towards Zürs. In the afternoon we were the last to leave the slopes of Zürs.

At Gander Wirt that evening, we concluded that St Anton is probably ranked the number 1 ski resort in Europe (by many web sites) due to the fantastic possibilities to ski off-pist. In the Lech area, almost every hill gives excellent opportunities for off-pist skiing, either in parallel with the prepared slope, inbetween slopes, or simply alternative ways down to the valley from the top lift station.


For pics see this page.

Skiing in Trysil, Norway

In the beginning of the new year, we went to Trysil in Norway to do three days of alpine skiing. We stayed at Högfjällscenter, in a small flat just next to the run (we could ski to the front door of the flat). We found the skiing in Trysil very very nice!

Photos!

Cortina d´Ampezzo

Cortina d´Ampezzo is part of Dolomiti which is a very large ski area with 1200 km (!!!) of runs in 12 connected ski resorts. We decided to go there since it is supposed to offer one of the best skiing in the world. Another reason was that we have made shorter visits to Italian ski resorts before (Courmayeur/Monte Blanc and Cervino/Matterhorn), and we always liked skiing there.

February 17: Took off from Skavsta airport to Venice Terviso airport where we arrived 40 minutes early thanks to Ryan air. Picked up a pre-booked Nissan Note and drove 2h to Cortina. Arrived to Hotel Larin around 22.

February 18: We were skiing in the Cortina Tofana (3245 meters) area all day. We started out from Socrepes. The weather conditions were perfect - a few degrees plus and sun all day. The area is famous for hosting the Olympic games in 1956 and we skied in many of the Olympic runs. The system is typical old ski-resorts style in the sense that some runs are quite technical and even red runs can be very demanding.

February 19: Again perfect weather conditions. We drowe to Corvara/Alta Badia - a very interesting 50 minutes drive on serpentine roads from Cortina. At the peak, we drove at 2105 meters at Passo Falzarego. The skiing was spent on completing the Sella ronda (counter clockwise direction). It goes around the Sella mountain group (3150 meters) and took us to many very nice runs from the four areas Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Val Di Fassa, and Arabba. These areas have typical Italian runs that are very wide and well prepared - perfect for laid-back skiing in Ray Bans :-). The round is mostly on red runs. The views from many of the peaks were absolutely spectacular!

February 20: Yet Another day with very nice weather. We decided to ski in Passo Tre Croci (Cortina), which is a short drive from our hotel. We first skiied in the runs of Cristallo (2930 meters). In the afternoon we moved over to Faloria (2362 meters). The whole Passo Tre Croci area is not very big but offers some very nice runs (typical Italian style). Some are Olympic runs from 1956. However most of the area is modern. Several nice restaurants and ski bars are available. At the tops of both sides the views are breath taking.

February 21: We drove some 45 km to ski in Valdaora, Plan de Corones/Kronplatz. The locals told us "it is just a hill - no mountain", but with its 2275 meters it is certainly a very high hill. We found some nice runs, including a 4950 meters long black run with 1296 difference in altitude. We also skied the runs of St Vigil. When we agreed to ski from the top of Kronplatz to the first edge, Elena questioned if there are any edges on a hill. Later we agreed that there are no edges on a perfect hill.

February 22: We decided to spend the last day in Venice, which is located some 30 km from Treviso airport (so a 60 km detour for us). Unfortunately we lost an hour in traffic jam, but finally arrived to Mestre, where we parked the car and took a train to Venice St Lucia train station. From there we walked to St Marco's square and spent time in the surrounding quarters. Took off back to the airport at 17. Simply a very nice and relaxing day as tourists.

Sitting at the airport writing these lines, we conclude that it has been a very nice trip. Dolomiti is certainly an impressive ski area that we could visit again. Then we would try one of the other resorts, probably one on the Sella ronda, which was the most interesting day of the week.

Click the title "Cortina d´Ampezzo" to see more pictures from the trip.

Weekend in Romme

This weekend we have been skiing in Romme with Anders and Anna Hessel. It was snowing a lot and the skiing was great!

New Year in Romme

We celebrated the New Year with Krehla's, Brith and Göran with skiing in the days and dinners/parties in the evenings in Romme. This time we started with snowboard - a very painfull activity.

Skiing in Zermatt

We just came home from a fantastic week of skiing in Zermatt (see pictures). Here is what happened:

Day 0: Our trip to Zermatt went by plane to Geneva, and further on by train to our destination via a transfer in Visp. We started from Stockholm at 1000 and arrived in Zermatt at 1800. Our apartment hotel was max five minutes walking from the train station. It took us so much time to check out the 2.5 room apartment, that we arrived to the supermarket (Coop) five minutes past seven. They close at seven sharp and refused to let us in. In the evening we had no other choice than having a nice dinner at a restaurant ;-) We chose an Italian restaurant and had pasta and risotto.

Day 1: The next morning – still suffering from the absence of grocery from the supermarket – we had to get our breakfast from a bakery ;-). After breakfast, we walked to the Sunnega cabin line, bought ski pass, and went up the cabin, then one more cabin, and then a third cabin. Finally, we reached Rothorn at 3103 meters. It was very sunny and warm, also at the top, and we enjoyed lots of nice skiing. We had gulash and beer at Blauherd (2571m) and spent over an hour in two sun chairs. We then went over to Gant (2223m) and further on to Stockhorn (3405m). The skiing here was also nice, but some of the pists were very steep and had very hard snow, which was challenging to master - witnessed by the fact that Paul had to eat snow in one pist. Around 1600 we took a train(!) from Riffelalp (2211m) all the way down to Zermatt (1620m). In the evening we went to the supermarket and had a nice cheese fondue home at the apartment. Here, Elena said that Paul looked gorgeous with lobster-red face and winter-white skin around his eyes.

Day 2: This morning was very sunny but a bit colder than the day before. We took a shuttle bus to Klein Matterhorn cabin line, and a cabin to the Scwartzsee area (2583m). We enjoyed very nice powder snow in the Trockener Steg (2939m), and then moved further to the Matterhorn glacier area by a cabin to Klein Matterhorn (3883m). We had cappuccino on the Italian border at Plateau Rosa Testa Grigia (3480m) and then took a nice long pist all the way down to Furi (1864m). From there we moved over to Riffelberg (2582m) and further up to Gornegrat (3089m). We then took a train from Riffelberg all the way down to Zermatt. On the way down we saw several animals (which we do not know the names of) and a very sweet deer family.

Day 3: We started out with the intension to ski on the Italian side of Matterhorn. However, when we reached Trockener, we realized that the lifts that could take us to Cervinia in Italy, via the Matterhorn glacier area were all closed due to bad weather condition. It was windy, snowing, and the sun was well hidden in clouds. Because of the weather, we tried to avoid the higher parts of the mountains. We skied down to Schwartzsee and moved over to Riffelberg and Gornergrat (which Elena translates to Mountain city). We continued to Gant, further to Blauherd (2517m), and then all the way down to Zermatt (1620m). The last part was an interesting pist that varied from wide red parts to extremely narrow (max 2m) transportation pist. In the evening we did some window shopping (ski clothes and of course Swiss wrist watches) and ended up in an Italian restaurant. After the dinner, we spent some time in hotel Alex lounge which is extremely cosy.

Day 4: Yet another cloudy, cold day with some wind. We tried to reach the Italian side again. We first went to Klein Matterhorn, but managed to miss the pist to the Italian side. However, we decided to make another attempt to reach Italy. On our second visit to Klein Matterhorn, we stopped at the Glacier palace which was like a long cave inside the glacier with many amazing ice sculptures. We then finally found our way to Italy via Plateau Rosa (3480m). It was really worth the effort. The weather was sunny, warm and way much nicer than at the Swiss side. The pists are typical laid-back Italian style – wide and red, which we enjoyed a lot! We went a couple of times all the way down to Cervinia village (2050m) and then managed to take the very last cabin back to Plateau Rosa (phu!). On the Swiss side it was still cold and windy. We went down to Schwartzsee and took a cabin back to Zermat. In the evening we relaxed in the Hotel Alex lounge.

Day 5: We went to the Italian side via Schwartzsee, Trockener, and Plateau Rosa. The weather was again much better on the Italian side – sunny, no wind, but a bit cold. The coffee was also much better on the Italian side ;-) We stopped at a restaurant at Motta (2430m) and had coffee, appfelstrudel, panna cotta, then more coffee, and a ham and cheese panini (in that order). We then tried to go all the way down to Valtournenche (1524m) but were stopped by a closed pist. Instead we went down to Cervinia. Around 1500 we went back over Plateau Rosa to the Swiss side, and skied all the way down to Zermatt. On the way we had a nice afterski stop just after Blatten. In the evening we did some shopping, packing, and had a very nice fondue dinner at restaurant Swiss chalet.

Day 6: Travelled back to Uppsala according to plan. Started from Zermatt 0730 and arrived to Arlanda 1530.

Skiing in Sälen

This weekend we visited Sälen to do some skiing. We went there together with Krehla's. We had two days of nice skiing in Lindvallen, Högfjället, and Tandodalen. There is plenty of snow there now, and the skiing conditions are very good. However, we were not extremely impressed the skiing in Sälen in general.

Our rating (of the skiing): 3 out of 5.

Chamonix, Les Hauches, and Courmayeur

We just got back from a week (18-23/2) in the Alps. We stayed in the small Hotel Clocher in Chamonix. First day we skiied in Les Hauches (windy day but good skiing); 2nd day in Grand Montet (some wind and sun, highest top was closed but nice skiing); 3rd day in Le Tour (sunny with nice/easy red pistes and off-piste possibilities); 4th day in Brevent and Flegere (very sunny with technical pistes and off-piste options); and finally 5th skiing day in Courmayeur in Italy (very sunny with nice/easy red pistes and enormous lift capacities, short bus trip from Chamonix).

It has been a very nice week with lots of varying skiing. In Les Hauches we accedently came off piste - a not so nice experience. Les Hauches is the best alternative in the Chamonix area if the wind is strong. At other places we came off piste on purpose. Especially nice was the off piste in powder snow in Courmayeur. We were also very impressed with the lift system at Courmayeur - there was never any people queue in any of the lifts!

The small Hotel Clocher is very cozy and serves typical Frensh breakfast and nice and varied three course dinner. Most interesting main course was the local speciality that consisted of lots of melted cheese, ham, onion, and pommes frites. All other days, they served lower calories dishes...

Romme Alpin

Today we took a bus trip to Romme Alpin. It felt very nice to go downhill again. It was snowing, around -5 C, and some wind the whole day so it felt a bit cold. At 16, after six hours of skiing the bus took us back to Uppsala, and we were back home at 1900.

Kitzbühel

Spent four wonderful days (25-28/4) in the Austrian Alps.


Day 0: The trip started out from Uppsala (for Paul) and Lund (for Elena). We met at Copenhagen airport and continued with Lufthansa to Munich, and further to Kitzbühel by bus. We arrived around 2300.

Day 1: On TV, the weather channel reported rain in the mountains so we did not hurry the first morning. At arrival to Hannenkamm, around noon, it was still raining and foggy at the top. In addition, the snow was rather soft. Hungry for skiing we had fun anyhow. Did not move around much to other mountain tops in the area. At 1600 we took Hannenkamm rennen down to the valley. Our hotel had a nice relax where we spent time in the sauna and in the swimming pool.


Day 2: Arrived to the skiing area around 0930. The sun was shining all day and we enjoyed really good skiing conditions. We moved around between several tops in the areas Steinbergkogel and Pengelstein. The new cabin 3S took us over to the Jochberg side, which was quite moggly. After a while we took 3S back to Pengelstein again. Skied until the lifts closed around 1630 and took Hannenkamm rennen down to the valley. Enjoyed after-ski so much that the last ski bus left without us. Back at the hotel we went to the swimming pool and sauna again. Had dinner at a restaurant that served local specialties and pizza.

Day 3: Started early and found that the day again offered excellent skiing conditions with lots of sun. First went down Hannenkamm rennen - to try it well prepared for once. Not surprisingly, it was nice and much better than in the afternoons. Back at the top we moved to the Steinbergkogel area. Had lunch at Schutzhütte and then went for another long downhill run to Kirchberg (the set of the Swedish movie Sällskapsresan 2 - Snowroller). The long piste down was nice. Back at the Ehrenbachhöhe top we moved to Steinbergkogel and skied off-pist several times (downhill run 90). It was lots of fun even if the snow was old. At 1630 we decided to go by cabin down to Kitz. Had pizza and Struhrum in the room before falling to sleep early.


Day 4: Started the day by packing our luggage. Then took the bus at 0900 to Pass Thurn. The weather was ok but not as nice as the two previous days. Spent the day slowly moving towards Hannenkamm. At Zweitausender we stopped at 2004 meters to have apfelstrudel, knödeln, coffee, and glugwein. Later, at Sonnenrast/Ehrenbachhöhe, we had a light lunch. At 1455 we had to go by ski bus back to the hotel for shower, swimming, and to finalize the packing. The bus to Munich picked us up at 1600. The flight bound for Copenhagen took off at 2025.

All in all, we really enjoyed the trip and found the Austrian Alps to be nice in many ways. The restaurants at the tops offer good food at reasonable costs and in a very friendly atmosphere. On the down side the weather can become a problem at this time of the season. The skiing takes place between 800 and 2000 meters so it can be rainy or foggy. However we were lucky (as usual :-)

Kungsberget

At 08.00 we went by bus to Kungsberget (close to Sandviken). Most buses were going in opposite direction - from Sandviken to bandy final in Uppsala. Kungsberget was very nice that day with lots of sun. We practiced big jumps and made some film clips. Watching the films it became obvious that our jumps feel much more impressive than they look. The bus trip + lift card was 320 SEK. On the way back, at 16.00 most buses were going in opposite direction again. Obviously, Sandviken won the final.