Eine ganze Bericht in Deutsch zu schreiben ist für mich als Schwede nicht einfach, aber hoffentlich verstehen Sie englisch. Es ist aber für mich kein Problem deutsch zu lesen und verstehen, deswegen können Sie mich in deutsch antworten!
Well, I have visited this forum many times and I think it is time that I also contribute to the content. Since I live in Sweden I thought it would be perfect to give you a “Bericht” from Sweden and Scandinavia’s largest ski resort, Åre. I choose to post this message in “bericht” and not in the international section since I think more people will find my post here… Hope you enjoy it!
Åre, a village of about 1000 inhabitants, is geographically situated in the middle of Sweden, tough due to the fact that most Swedes live in the south of the country, Åre is considered to belong to the north of Sweden. Closest city is Östersund about 100 km east of Åre, Trondheim in Norway is situated 150 km to east. Getting to Åre is easy. For people living in Sweden train is probably the best alternative, night trains leave every evening from Sweden’s major city’s (Stockholm, Göteborg & Malmö/Copenhagen) and stops at the Åre train station right in the middle of the village. From my point of view train is the best way to get to Åre.
Another option is to go by air, nearest airports is Östersund and Trondheim. Several flights leave from Stockholm to Östersund every day.
Car is also an option, though it is a pretty long way to drive (especially if you’re not from Sweden!) Distance from Stockholm is 630 km, Göteborg 890 km and Malmö/Copenhagen 1120 km. Roads are OK, but winter tyres is defiantly required!
So, now for the skiing! Åre is Scandinavia’s largest ski resort with a total of 100 km pistes. People have been skiing in the Åre valley for at least 100 years, the first ski lift was built in 1910 (and is still in use!). Åre hosted it’s first alpine world championships in 1954.
The Åre mountain peak (“Åreskutan”) is 1420 meters above sea level. Ski lifts take you to 1274 meters (to get to the top you can go by snowmobile). Maximum vertical drop in pistes is 890 meters, longest run is 6,5 km. The ski season lasts from mid November to early May.
Lifts
1 Cable car
6 Chairlifts
1 Gondola
1 Funicular railway
36 Surface lifts
Lots of surface lifts… But all major and important piste areas are served by chairlifts. The number of surface lifts is also high because many lifts are arranged in pairs for increased capacity. There are also lots of small surface lifts for beginners. But generally Åre needs to build more new lifts!
The Åre skiing area can be divided into 4 parts. There is Duved, Tegefjäll, Åre village and Björnen. Duved-Tegefäll is linked with eachother, and so is Åre village-Björnen. But these two areas are not linked with eachother, instead you have to go by the free skibus. The reason why the areas are not linked is because there are landowners in the area who don’t want to have a skilift on their property…
The skiing in the Åre village area can also be divided in to two parts, slopes under and above the tree line. Because of rough weather conditions the upper slopes usually don’t open before early February.
The skiing in Åre is generally tougher than in other places in Scandinavia and can to some extent be compared with the skiing in the alps. Åres best pistes (by my opinion) is located in the Olympia area. These red & black pistes are used for world cup races in all disciplines, and the middle part of the downhill piste is to steep and tough for most of us… Other good pistes is tväråvalvet above the treeline, and the newly built stjärnbacken. Also the Duved area is really nice. For beginners, children and families the Björnen area is great. Swedes most often ski together with their family, and there are lots of children in the pistes, and most of them ski really good!
Pistes are usually kept in good condition, and because of the size of the area the variation in the skiing is good. A really nice thing to do in Åre is to go night skiing. The lower part of the Olympia area is lighted with strong lights, used also for alpine world cup night races. When the light first were installed in the 90’s, NASA called the Swedish space agency and asked why their satellites saw a strange light phenomenon in the otherwise dark north of Sweden…
Åre has also been chosen to arrange the alpine world championships in 2007, so the pistes are defiantly good enough for most of us!
But when visiting Scandinavia, skiing is only one of many things to do. Especially popular is to go snowmobiling or dog/reindeer sledging through the wide open nature of the Scandinavian north. Generally speaking is the nature of Scandinavia wonderful and should not be missed!
I also want to comment two other things that are good to know before getting to Åre, or Scandinavia in general. First, the weather is not as good here as in the alps. December and January can bee really cold and dark, last new years eve Åre had –35 degrees. Since Åre is situated so close to the Atlantic ocean, heavy winds can make it impossible to ski above the tree line some days. This also cause another problem, lifts above tree line often gets heavily iced. The moist in the wind from the west gets stuck as ice onto all metal part of the lifts. The lifts are therefore de-iced every morning. De-icing the Åre cable car is made manually with people walking on the wire! My recommendation is to not go to Scandinavia in December or January, instead wait and come in March or April when conditions are a lot better!
Second, it is expensive in Scandinavia. Prices in Åre are equivalent to those in Stockholm, which means 6-7€ for lunch, and 5€ for beer. Norway is even more expensive, expect to pay 10€ for lunch, 7€ for beer… That is when you find a place that sells lunch and beer. Most ski resorts in Norway seems to be out of places to eat. Åre tough has many mountain restaurants with OK food.
The most common form of accommodation is to rent an apartment where you cook your own food, apartments are available in almost any sizes, often of an good standard and prices are fair. Åre also has hotels with half board like in the alps, but no “gasthaus” with breakfast only like in Germany or Austria. If you want to go to Åre, remember to book accommodation in Åre village, and not in Duved, Tegefjäll or Björnen, since Åre village is the place where things are happening.
What about the future of the Åre area? Well it’s looking good. Already in construction is a new downhill/suger-g run for women, the downhill run for men is being redesigned with jumps of up to 80 meters. Also the finish area is being reconstructed. No new lifts have officially been decided, but there are lots of plans. I expect to see a new express chairlift in the tott/sadeln area quite soon (hopefully in 2004) The village itself is also expanding, under construction is a new hotel which also will contain a public adventure bath and a bowling alley.
So, time to sum up.
Good things about Åre
Great skiing with lots of variation
Great nature experience
Lots of other things to do and see besides skiing
Lots of beautiful blond girls
Bad things about Åre
The weather!
Somewhat expensive
Overcrowded during holiday seasons (mid February & Easter)
More info, weather and livecams:
http://www.skistar.com/are
http://www.are2007.com
http://www.worldcupare.com
Other skiing areas I Scandinavia?
Åre is considered to be number one in Scandinavia, but there are of cause options:
Trysil, Norway
Norways largest skiresort. About 600 meters of vertical fall. Generally good skiing in a compact area. Not bad at all, but Norway is even more expensive than Sweden.
Hemsedal, Norway
About 50 km of pistes, 800 meter of vertical fall. Good skiing, lots of snow. Modern chairlifts. Probably the best and most alp like resort in Norway. I like it. Expensive though.
Sälen, Sweden.
Several different ski areas that isn’t linked together. Very low mountains, maximum vertical fall is 300 meters. I would not recommend it to other than beginners or families.
So, I hope that you found the text interesting. Now head for the pictures from my last trip to Åre.
Grüsse aus Schweden!
//Philip
! Hoffentlich gibt es weitere Berichte aus Skandinavien, ich glaube ich bin nicht der einzige im Forum der sehr wenig von den Skigebieten in diesem Teil Europas weiss. Und ich finde es sehr gut das wir immer internationaler werden 
Aber lassen wir das, sonst kommt noch einer auf dumme Gedanken.
Nach Östersund gibt es im allgemein keinen andren Direktflügen als Fluge aus Stockholm. Seit einige Jahren gibt es aber auch Direktflug zwischen London und Östersund, und auch von Holland glaube ich.
