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“We had someone call us while on a ski holiday in Italy,“ Ben Nyberg of tour operator skiScandinavia tells me as we zoom along the road towards Trysil, Norway’s largest ski resort. “He was so frustrated that, for yet another year, there was no snow, he immediately booked to come to Scandinavia instead.”
The exasperation is understandable. After too many seasons wading through dirty mounds of Slush Puppie snow in half-melted Alpine resorts, I too had decided to take the plunge and try a ski holiday in supposedly “snow-sure” Norway.
Trysil, the resort I’d chosen, is just a 35-minute drive from Scandinavian Mountains Airport or Sälen (actually just across the border in Sweden). This snowy aviation outpost only opened in 2019 and since then companies have been racing to launch direct flights from London, possibly because there are more and more British skiers who, like me, are looking north for some piste of mind.
SkiScandinavia kicked things off with the first direct UK flights in 2022, and on 2 February this year Scandinavian Airlines followed suit. Crystal Ski Holidays plans to join the party on December 21 with routes departing from London Heathrow and Gatwick throughout winter.
“The consistently lower temperatures of Norway [compared with the Alps] mean it is below freezing until April even at the bottom of the slopes,” explains Ian McIlrath of Ski Solutions, another operator. This ensures the snow conditions remain strong across the season; in a good year, some resorts will be open from November to May.
SkiStar, the company that runs Trysil, is so sure of its snow it provides a guarantee: if there isn’t a set number of slopes open during your stay (this season, at least 10) you can get a refund for your ski pass, rental, accommodation and ski school – provided it’s booked through them.
Read more: The mountain resort that finally showed me ski breaks can be relaxing too
I’d initially been put off by the cost, assuming prices to ski in Norway would be astronomical. But my assumptions were proved wrong. While a seven-day lift pass for the Three Valleys in France in February costs €456/£379 (or €582/£484 in Zermatt, Switzerland), you can ski in Trysil for up to eight days for €292/£243. Sure, the Three Valleys has 300-plus slopes, and Zermatt around 150, compared with Trysil’s 69. But for those of us who don’t have thighs of steel to barrel down runs all day, this is plenty.
Accommodation was reasonable too. A friend and I stayed at the SkiStar Lodge Trysil, where you can get a double room in March for around £140 a night (including a buffet breakfast). Perusing similar properties in the Alps, I found you’d easily be paying more. The location was super convenient – just at the foot of the slopes – and there was an extensive spa where we soaked our sore muscles in the steaming indoor-outdoor pool (spa access from £23).
I’d also been concerned about short daylight hours given Norway’s latitude. During our stay in January, the lifts were closing at 3:30pm (around an hour earlier than in the Alps). For me, it was no problem – by that time, the call of a beer and sauna was deafening anyway. Hardcore skiers might consider delaying their trip until 8 February, when longer days mean the lifts are open until 4:30pm, or make the most of the floodlit night-skiing that’s available Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
There was, however, one significant elephant in the room: the promised snow. There wasn’t a hint of it. Thanks to snow cannons, the pistes were white and more than 50 of the 69 were open. But, on testing, several were scratchy walls of black ice, or developing rashes of hairy green grass and mud that you had to swerve to avoid.
Happily, we found we still had more than enough options to keep us entertained (so long as you don’t mind repeating some runs). And, unusually for Scandinavia, there was a good range of slopes for advanced skiers as well as for beginners, including piste number 75, which sits at a stomach-dropping 45-degree angle (and which I carefully avoided).
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The range means it’s great for families, which we saw lots of – and I quickly realised the ski culture was more apple strudel than Aperol spritz. We stopped at Knettsetra for lunch, an on-slope outlet with a cosy waffle house emitting heavenly aromas of caramelised sugar where you can purchase gloopy hot chocolates with wobbling top hats of cream (44 Norwegian krone, or about £3.20).
As for dinner, there was a smattering of restaurants a bus ride away in town, but we plumped for the all-you-can-eat evening buffet at our hotel. Expecting farmyard troughs of sloppy pizza and chips (like I’d had at other ski buffets), I was blown away by the quality, piling my plate with juicy lamb rump, hot smoked salmon and cod in an indulgent lobster bisque.
In true Scandi style, there was a whole station dedicated to cold fish – scallop shells laden with creamy prawn appetisers, salty caviar canapés and surprisingly delicious herring in a pink sauce. It cost 445 NOK (£32) per head and, while not exactly cheap, we certainly ate our money’s worth.
Read more: How to have a ‘grown-up’ ski season in your 40s
Everyone we met – staff, guests and ski instructors – were impeccably polite and spoke perfect English. Plus, there was none of the obnoxious showing-off (either by guests or disdainful French waiters) that you often find in the Alps.
Perhaps that unpretentiousness explains why celebrities love skiing in Norway so much. Famous rock stars, Formula 1 drivers and royal families from across the globe, including Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, have all skied in Trysil. “Celebrities can have their anonymity and not be disturbed. Norway is so egalitarian – we say everyone is a VIP here,” Nyberg said.
As I sat in the outdoor hot tub gazing at the stars and crossing my fingers for a glimpse of the northern lights, I couldn’t have agreed more.
While the guaranteed snow I’d travelled didn’t quite deliver, I discovered a dozen more reasons to return.
Getting there
A seven-night stay in March with direct flights, shared transfers, and half-board accommodation at SkiStar Lodge Trysil costs £1,446pp, based on four adults sharing.
Marianna Hunt was a guest of skiScandinavia and Visit Norway.
Read more: The mountain resort that finally showed me ski breaks can be relaxing too
