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.
Skiing at its primal best
The Arctic Ski Pass gives you seven days of big mountain skiing in Lapland, Europe's last wilderness for 1795 Swedish Kronor (US$248; GBP164).
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.
Narvik Ski Center
We visited Narvik on a great day for skiing fans and an awful day for skiiers.
It was the 2010 Norwegian Alpine Championships, with superstar Aksel Lund Svindal (who won the downhill and super-g while were there) and other Olympians in place and within easy reach of their fans.
In fact, the Olympic stars used the same gondola as the rest of us, which is the only way to access two third's of Narvik's impressive ski mountain.
As it should be, those competing in the championships, plus guest skiers from all over the world, had priority in the lift line. Anyone taking part in the races, plus trainers and officials, their aunts and uncles and distant cousins, were allowed to step to the front of the gondola line, meaning that those of us who had paid to ski were expected to wait up to 30 minutes in a crowded and freezing shed.
Once inside the gondola and crawling up the mountain, we didn't dare use it again for the rest of the day for fear of being stuck behind Mr. Svindal and his chums. There is not a hint of bitternes in saying this. We chose the wrong day to visit the mountain. Narvik Ski Center did not chose the wrong day to hold the National Championships.
Narvik Ski Center: View from the slopeside cafe
Narvik. Riding the chairlift at minus 14°C (°6.8F)
Narvik offpiste, churned up and rutted
It has to be said: Narvik Ski Center is surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery you are likely to see anywhere in the world. There's not just a dash of rugged beauty here are there; the entire mountain is 360 degrees surrounded by breathtaking views.
From the top of the mountain, you look down on the blue waters of the fjord, which are an odd sight after a week in Riksgränsen, where there is no open water in March. Everything is frozen.
Along the Norwegian coast, the salty Atlantic warmed by the Gulf Stream does not freeze, explaining why there is a constant shuttle of trains from Kiruna's iron mine to the port of Narvik, from where ore pellets are shipped around the world.
Seeing as Norway is a fanatical wnter sports nation (they top the all-time Winter Olympics medal table) and considering the fact that the mountain is in the middle of a town with more than 20,000 people, it gets much more use than any other of the resorts on the Swedish side of the border.
Also, with the milder coastal climate and accompanying rain, the season is shorter and the snow is, well, different. However, what it can boast which no other resort in Sweden can better, is 900 meters (2952 feet) of vertical, making it comparable to resorts in Utah.
If you were to take Narvik's red run from Linken, 1003 meters (3290 feet) above sea level, to the gondola base in town, you would, except for a few hundred meters of easy cruising, have skied 900 vertical meters (2952 feet) on steep and furiously fast groomed slopes in a matter of minutes.
A simple hike from Linken to Tredjetoppen adds another 270 meters (886 feet) of vertical on untouched powder. Impressive!
What all Lapland resorts lack, but which make an appearance at Narvik, are bumps/mogul slopes (where Lapland lacks bumps, many Rockies resorts lack steep, icy black slopes, which some Eastern and European skiers yearn for).
There is nothing at Narvik to compare with Taos' magical bump runs, but in places it offers narrow runs among trees where the bumps are pretty taxing.
Fact File
Narvik: 900 meters (2952 feet) of vertical.
Trail map: Narvik Ski Center
Narvik Ski Center
Championships: Venue for the 2010 Norwegian Alpine Championships.
Website: Narvikfjellet
Higher up, above the treeline, your choice is between icy groomers and moderate to difficult offpiste, which soon becomes cut up, heavy, tongued and grooved.
The steep offpiste from the top of Linken, accessed by chairlift, is fun, with deep pockets of powder in places, plenty of jumps and small drops. Here are there are unmarked rocks. My skis took a bad scraping half a dozen or more times. I didn't know I was on rock until I heard the screeching of steel edges on rocky surface.
Further down the mountain, Narvik resembles a Rockies resort with the usual Interstate
cruisers, easy beginner slopes, and terrain park. That's where most of the boarders hung out, while skiers stuck to the top of the mountain, braving the Arctic temperatures.
We had a great day at Narvik, promising to return in years to come. The drive back to our hotel in Riksgränsen took 45 minutes along narrow, windy fjord fjords, and then up into the border mountains where there was immediately much more snow, back to our now-familiar all-white environment. The next day, we were headed to Abisko and Nuolja offpiste
By David Hay Jones and Athina Simonidou