IDEAL MONTH
March is an ideal month to ski in Lapland. There are no crowds. Temperatures are not too low. Days are long and sunny. There's plenty of snow.
LIFTS
There aren't many chairlifts at Lapland resorts. You will spend a lot of time on long button and T-bar lifts. It's great for leg strength but can be very tiring when those lifts are nearly a mile long up steep mountains.
OFFPISTE
Even moderately difficult offpiste can be too challenging if you have never done it before. Offpiste conditions are less forgiving of lazy skiing and bad technique. Snow conditions can vary greatly on the same run, from ice to deep, heavy snow.
BAG LUNCH
For a small fee, hotels will allow you to make a packed lunch from the breakfast buffet. We paid 25 kr (£2.27, $3.40) to make big ham and cheese sandwiches accompanied by a flask of coffee.
WHERE TO EAT
On-slope eating: Cafes and restaurants will not like you eating your packed lunch around guests who are paying for meals. Each cafe has a warming hut attached to it where you are welcome to eat food you bring with you.
BASIC FARE
Eating out: Food at the slopeside cafes is basic. Burgers and fries; pizza; ham and cheese sandwiches are standard fare. Few of the venues we tried offered high quality cuisine. But it's odd how a hard day's skiing can make you long for a burger and fries.
AFTER SKI
Apres ski: Do not come to Lapland if top-notch apres ski is vital to you. It usually comprises drinking in an (expensive) bar and, if you're lucky, a guy with guitar singing cover versions. Once in a while, a band might visit to liven things up.
(David Hay Jones is a writer, photographer, skier, runner, and web entrepreneur based in Porjus, Lapland. His latest book and photography project is Journeying Through The Days 2011: A Calendar and Journal for Personal Reflection
Skiing at its primal best
The Arctic Ski Pass gives you seven days of big mountain skiing above the Arctic Circle in Lapland, northern Sweden and Norway, for 1795 Swedish Kronor (US$248; £164).
Four resorts
You get access to four resorts Abisko, Björkliden, Riksgränsen, and Narvik.
The first three are in Sweden, while Narvik is in Norway. There are 18 lifts and 75 groomed slopes, plus unlimited offpiste and a heliski area the size of Austria.
Arctic Ski Pass, Lapland
The Arctic Ski Pass gives you seven days of alpine skiing for 1795 Swedish Kronor (£164, $248). It is one of the best value lift passes out there, providing access to four superb ski areas and some of the best offpiste skiing in northern Scandinavia. If skiing high above the Arctic Circle sounds your idea of fun and adventure, this is your next vacation.
This year, 2010, we wanted a ski trip that was only about the skiing, not the anxiety caused by horrendous lift prices ($92 a day last year at Telluride!), overcrowded eating places, long lift lines, and the sinking feeling that many ski resorts are intent on turning skiing into a theme park experience.
We wanted back-to-basics skiing. We didn't need miles of perfectly prepared corduroy. Apres ski and happy hour were unimportant. Nor did we feel a compelling need to dig our hands in our pockets for a $5 or $10 bill everytime someone in corporate uniform jumped to attention to carry our bags, skis, boots, or whatever it was they wanted to carry.
Our requirements were simple: low lift prices; no lift lines; inexpensive accommodation; plenty of untouched offpiste; and a desire to be surrounded by rugged, untamed wilderness.
Narvik Ski Center. 900 meters (2952 feet) of vertical from mountaintop to gondola station.
Riksgränsen. Swedish offpiste center
Abisko Through the gates to the unpatrolled area
Björkliden, venue for the 2010 Swedish alpine championships
Long story short, we honed in on Lapland, above the Arctic Circle in the far north of Scandinavia, where the Arctic Ski Pass gave us seven days of skiing at four "resorts", or rather mountain areas.
The Arctic Ski Pass gets you onto 75 slopes and 18 lifts (many of them button lifts and T-bars), but that doesn't begin to tell the story. Each location has plenty of challenging offpiste skiing in a variety of snow conditions from powder to hard pack. In places, the snow can be heavy and deep; in others, snow cover can be thin and treacherous. But this all adds to the feeling of elemental skiing.
We chose to stay at Riksgränsen on the Swedish-Norwegian border, where 7 nights for two with eat-all-you-want buffet breakfasts cost 4000 Swedish Kronor (£364; $548). Accommodation at bargain prices is available at any of the other resorts, with Narvik being the priciest.
Lapland resorts are not the sorts of places where you want to travel long distances to ski the prepared slopes. There aren't enough of them for that. But they do offer miles and miles, and acres and acres, of pristine offpiste in wild country where it's easy to imagine you are an Arctic explorer seeing the place for the first time.
The mountains are not big by Rockies or Alp standards, but 500 to 900 meters (1640 to 2752 feet) of vertical is plenty enough, especially when the offpiste is thigh-burningly steep and demanding. Many Rockies resorts boasting more than 3000 feet of vertical include piddly, poling green runs and easy blue cruisers in the equation, the sort of thing no experienced skier wants to touch.
Getting to Lapland is not as difficult or as expensive as you might think. A flight to Stockholm Arlanda, following by a domestic flight to Kiruna in northern Sweden, cost £300 ($500) round trip from London Heathrow). This gets you to the edge of the mountains. From Kiruna, you catch a train in the direction of Narvik, Norway and alight at whichever resort you have chosen to stay. Each place, whether Abisko, Björliden, Riksgränsen, or Narvik, has its own little station.
Alternatively, for more freedom, you can rent a car in Kiruna and drive the just over 100 km to the resorts. We chose to buy an old (1988) Volvo 740 complete with studded winter tires for £1000 ($1500). It proved as reliable as you'd want any car to be, enabling us to come and go as we pleased from resort to resort.
Fact File
Arctic Ski Pass: Four "resorts" covered by the same lift pass. The furthest apart, Abisko and Narvik, are 80 km (50 miles) from each other.
Abisko: At the top of the chairlift. 500 meters (1640 feet) of vertical to ski
Where: Far north of Sweden and Norway, 200 km above the Arctic Circle along the E10 highway from Kiruna to Narvik. Also served by the Kiruna-Narvik railroad. Abisko is furthest east of the resorts, followed by Björkliden, Riksgränsen, all in Sweden, then Narvik across the border in Norway.
Price: Seven days of skiing in whichever order you like costs 1795 Swedish Kronor (£164, $248). You can spend as many or as few days as you like at each place. You don't need to try each one, even though you should.
Lifts: 18 lifts, of which Narvik has a gondola and a chairlift; Riskgransen has two chairlifts; Abisko has one chairlift. The rest are all T-bar and button lifts.
Riding the chairlift at Narvik, Norway. Skiing in Lapland can be very cold
Groomed/pisted slopes: About 75, which include greens, blues, reds (which would grade as difficult blue or easy black in the U.S.), plus steep blacks. Most of the groomed slopes are red and blue. The slopes are often icy: this is the Arctic!
Cafe at the top of Abisko chairlift. Enjoying a cup of coffee before the long freeride down
Offpiste/Freeride: This is the main reason to buy the Arctic Ski Pass. If you only want to ski groomers, this is not for you. One of the mountains, Nuolja at Abisko only has offpiste skiing. Riksgränsen's and Björkliden's best skiing is offpiste, though Björkliden does offer some fast and steep red groomers, which are often icy. Narvik is the closest to a traditional ski resort with a variety of prepared slopes and some good corduroy (which soon gets icy).
Lapland can be cold. Minus 14°C (6.8°F) and windy in Narvik
Weather: In March, we experienced temperatures in the range -5°C to -20°C (23 to 4°F). Most days were sunny, but it was often windy and cold. Our entire day at Björkliden was spent being blasted by icy winds, but the skiing was fantastic. You have to wear plenty of clothes to stay warm even on sunny days.
Beware: The offpiste skiing, especially at Abisko, includes numerous unmarked hazards in the form of rocks, thin snow cover, ice, vegetation, cliffs, drops, and risk of avalanche. It is possible to ski on a seemingly safe slope only to find yourself at the top of a cliff with a huge drop below. Many of the runs have to be studied in advance.
Offpiste: Many hazards are not marked and are dificult to spot from above. Ski with caution.
Accommodation: It's best to stay centrally located at either Björkliden or Riksgränsen. We stayed seven nights at Riksgränsen in a comfortable room for two for 4000 Swedish Kronor (£364; $548) which included an eat-all-you can breakfast buffet: eggs, cold cuts, oatmeal, cereal, good bread, salad items, juice, tea and coffee.
Equipment: Fat skis won't be much fun on the ice and hardpack. We used Blizzard IQ Cross Mountain Pro (120/70/99. R: 15.5) and Rossi Zenith 9's, which were excellent all-round skis, especially on hard pack and thin, fresh powder over hard snow. Very stable at speed on steep icy slopes. Not so good on deep powder; not wide enough to give good floatation. Boots were Dalbello Krypton Pro and Salomon.
Back to basics: Unheated thunderbox
restroom at Abisko. Be ready to freeze as you relieve yourself.
Getting there: Fly to Kiruna from Stockholm Arlanda, then take Narvik train, getting off at whichever resort you have booked accommodation. All accommodation is walking distance from the tiny stations. Alternatively, rent a car from Kiruna for more freedom. Cars come with studded winter tires.
A word or two about offpiste. If you are not experienced away from groomed slopes, Riksgränsen is the best place to start. There, between the T-bars and red runs, is plenty of moderately demanding offpiste in safe conditions, i.e. no, or very few, unmarked hazards -- nor too painful if you take a tumble.
Riksgränsen is a good place to hone your offpiste technique. The snow, unless churned up and rutted, is usually soft and forgiving, enabling you to pick up turning techniques that will help you on steeper terrain. You can also pay for offpiste guiding and lessons.
And finally, we need to say something about lifts and lift attendants. If you look like you know what you're doing, you'll be expected to get on and off T-bars, button, and chairlifts on your own.
It's too cold in Lapland for the lift attendants to stand outside all day, so they stay in the warmth of a nearby hut and will come sprinting out if you fall over, drop a pole, or get your skis in a tangle.
Riksgränsen
Smack dab on the border with Norway, Riksgränsen, has long been a center of Swedish offpiste skiing, even hosting many extreme skiing (as freeride used to be called) competitions.
The mountains aren't huge by any stretch of the imagination but they are wild, rugged, and all around you. At the top of Riksgränsen's upper chairlift (Övre Stolliften), I was reminded of Telluride's box canyon, the same sense of being enclosed by mountains.
There are six lifts, including two chairlifts. The longest is a 1.35 km (0.84 miles) button lift that builds strong legs in no time. The two chairlifts provide access to the best offpiste skiing, with runs such as Rimfors, Sommarstigen, Uffes Vägg, and Branten, offering steep black runs often on soft powder.
Offpiste skiing is not only for experts. Riksgränsen is a perfect place to pick up the basics, either on your own or with an instructor for a few hours.
On the steeper more difficult offpiste sections, which face north toward the hotel and railroad, beware of many unmarked hazards, which include big rocks, drops, and vegetation. The most dangerous areas, big cliffs, are fenced off and you'll likely lose your lift pass for dropping into them and off the cliffs. The most dangerous areas are only opened for extreme skiing/freeriding competitions.
You can add many hundreds of feet of vertical by signing up for some heliskiing. One trip in a group of five with 700-1000 meters (2296 - 3280 feet) of vertical will take about 1.5 hours and set you back 1550 Swedish Kronor (£141, US$212).
Four hours of heliskiing, including five descents with 900-1500 meters (2952 - 4920 feet) of vertical on each descent will cost 5500 Swedish Kronor (£500; $753) per person in a group of five.
The heliski operation at Riksgränsen says it has acccess to an area the size of Austria!
(Riksgränsen ski resort: website and trail map).
Björkliden
Björkliden has the honor of hosting the 2010 Swedish Alpine Championships, which is likely to be the last time we will see Anja Paerson race at elite level.
The resort has Sweden's second FIS-approved downhill run (the other is at Åre), which tells you something about the standard of the slopes. By Swedish standards, the prepared stopes are long and steep, and being in the Arctic they are often icy and very fast.
The area is served by five lifts, with no chairlift. The longest is a 1.675 km (1 mile) T-bar that takes you up over 400 meters (1312 feet) of vertical on a ride where you can be exposed to strong winds and high piles of driven snow. It certainly improves your footwork and leg strength.
The trail map says there are 24 runs, including one black offpiste run within the patrolled area. One offpiste run, Tunneln (The Tunnel), listed as within the patrolled area has half its length outside the ski area's boundary.
There are nine moderately diffcult to difficult red runs; nine blue runs, some of them steep and fast; and two green runs served by their own lift 140 meters (460 feet) lift with 19 meters (62 feet) of vertical.
Excellent offpiste skiing is to be had in the far east of the ski area, some of it outside the patrolled ski area. Soon after leaving the 1.12 km (0.7 miles) Kitteldalsliften, you'll enter gates warning you of avalance hazards.
Stay close to the fence over wide snowfields until you hit some steep drops. But be very careful, there are many high cliffs in the area and not all of them are marked. It is very easy to find yourself on the top of them with no way down but up again!
(Björkliden ski resort: website and trail map).
Abisko
Furthest east of the resorts, though hardly a resort at all, is Nuolja mountain at Abisko with one 2 km (1.25 miles) chairlift, no piste machine, no prepared slopes, and more skiing outside the patrolled area than within it.
This is proper offpiste mountain skiing throwing a range of challenges at you that include unmarked drops, rocks, vegetation, ice, thin snow cover, and avalanche risks that you have to assess yourself.
Abisko offpiste. Surveying our line on the way up in the chairlift. Many unmarked hazards to avoid on the way down
You are required to sign a piece of paper saying you have been warned about, and are aware, of the hazards.
Ski patrol takes no responsibility for you once you leave the marked ski area, which is where you'll find the best skiing.
Abisko publishes a trail map of sorts with a sketch of the mountain including instructions on how to reach each run.
Here's an example of the instructions (translated from the Swedish): Lavindalen (Avalanche Valley): Ski out of the patrolled area through the first gate. Maintain height for quite a while until you see a dip. In the left part of the dip, you'll see the run. After the initial steep section there is room for big turns down toward the treeline. Continue to the ravine and pick up the snowmobile track back to the lift.
Imagine how clear that is on a strange mountain in poor visibility!
In all there are 11 published runs outside the patrolled area and four within it, including one run back to base that resembles a prepared slope but isn't. It's simply marked by poles.
At Abisko, you should always ski in pairs and have a spade/shovel and an avalanche sender in case you get buried.
(Abisko, Nuolja mountain: website and trail map).
Narvik
Across the border in Norway, 47 km from Riksgränsen, is one of the most spectacular ski venues you will ever visit.
Other ski resorts that call their scenery stunning and breathtaking should take a visit to Narvik and rewrite their brochures.
At the top of Narvik's ski mountain, with 900 meters (2952 feet) of vertical below you and some of the longest runs in Scandinavia, you are surrounded by jagged peaks, rounded peaks, wilderness, and deep blue Narvik fjord. It's right up there alongside Chamonix and Telluride for dramatic beauty.
Leaving the patrolled area at Abisko. A sign warns there is a moderate
risk of avalanches on that day. Only enter offpiste areas through the gates
Of all the resorts on the Arctic Ski Pass, Narvik offers the closest to Alp or Rockies-style skiing, with long thigh-burning runs if you take them from top to bottom in one go.
Trouble is, the lift system does not make much sense. The gondola, the only way to access the mountain from the base, is slow and can involve waiting in line for 20 minutes in a crowded and freezing hut until it is your turn to ride.
We visited during the Norwegian Alpine Championships (where we had the privilege of watching Aksel Lund Svindal win the downhill and super-g). We waited 30 minutes to ride the gondola while competitors, trainers and officials had, for obvious reasons, the right to jump the line.
Once up, it was well worth the wait, with a variety of red pisted slopes and limitless offpiste all around us. The offpiste was rather heavy and churned up, which posed its own challenges with skis sticking in ruts or burying their tips in deep, heavy snow.
The top of the mountain is accessed by chairlift, and it literally is a mountaintop, jagged and windswept, with offpiste runs in any direction you wish to ski. There's even a popular hike to a higher nearby peak, Tredjetoppen, 1272 meters above sea level (4172 feet), offering untouched powder for a mile or so.
The Narvik area is renowned for its ski mountaineering, so if you don't mind the heavy slog of reaching peaks on skis with skins, there is limitless scope for skiing in pristine snow for more than 1000 meters (3000 feet) of vertical.
(Narvik Ski Center: website and trail map).
By David Hay Jones and Athina Simonidou