Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Skiing in Sweden at Romme Alpin

I went skiing a couple of weekends ago. When it was still cold. The weather has since turned glorious. Like sunny and warm glorious. But while the weather was still cold and the snow was sticking around, I went skiing. It was the first time I’d been skiing here in Sweden since making the move. It was fun. Despite being more of a hill than a mountain.

The problem is I am horribly spoiled having grown up skiing in Colorado. Champagne powder, the Rocky Mountains, enough sunny days to make Californians jealous. It’s hard to beat.

So I went into my Swedish skiing adventure not expecting much. Sweden doesn’t have much for tall mountains. And tall mountains tend to be pretty important for good downhill skiing. But for only 675 SEK I could ride a bus out to Romme Alpin, get a lift ticket, and also get skis, poles, and boots. You can’t steal it for that price.

And if you happen to be skiing with a small child, you’re even better off. Because small children don’t even have to pay. They have a special entrance at each lift for the young ‘uns to ski right through.

Pointing again to how spoiled I have become, this was the first time I had rented ski equipment in probably 10 or 15 years. I was hesitant to say the least. But I was handed a pair of Salomon skis that did the trick. Aside from the incredibly low DIN setting which led to me twice popping out of my bindings mid-turn, I had absolutely no complaints.

It was a glorious day of skiing really. It was cold enough that for most of the morning the snow held up. The sun started trying to pop out in the afternoon which led to some slushy snow but that is to be expected. Spring conditions. One week later the mountain closed.

That being said, Romme Alpin is too small to want to ski it more than once in a weekend. The entire mountain can easily be skied in a day. Maybe even twice. But there are a few black runs that kept me entertained. Especially on the backside.

I also learned that the Green, Blue, Black system that is ubiquitous in the US isn’t necessarily the standard in Sweden. Or at least not at Romme Alpin. They have four different levels. Green, being the easiest, followed by blue, followed by red, followed by black. It’s the red that threw me off.

This being Sweden, there was an incredibly Swedish moment. Because at the base of the mountain (hill) was an outdoor area for everyone to leave their lunches. No lockers. No locks. Just out in the middle of everything was a bunch of lunch packs. It was so very Swedish. And wonderful.
All in all, I enjoyed skiing in Sweden. Next time though, I’m going to try to get a bit farther north to one of the bigger ski areas. After just one day at Romme Alpin, I already feel like I knew the mountain like a local.

Welcome to Sweden. And Swedish skiing.

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10 comments:

  1. Maby you should try Riksgränsen or Åre instead... Romme is usually used for one day school trips with kids in the ages 7-12. When they get older the schools usually travel to Idre, Tandådalen or even Trysil (Norway)

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  2. You can give Bjursås a miss as well. Gränsen and Åre are your better options.

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  3. @anonymous - yeah I think riksgränsen is going to be my goal next time. I've heard its pretty solid.

    @terander - I dont think Ive ever heard of Bjursås actually. Ill have to look into it.

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  4. Riksgränsen is more for those who like to go offpist (plus it's located kinda on the northpole, almost) The Largest ski resort in Sweden is Åre

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  5. Ive heard Åre is a little more fancy though. Kind of the Stureplan crowd. Which isnt exactly my style.

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  6. try the alps next time. I was in val disere(france) last month. I payed 7000 sek for skipass, 3 meal dinners, breakfast, flight with transfer. thats less what you pay for a week i åre with the same standrad. and the slopes are much better

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  7. growing up in Sweden and skiing every winter up north since a little girl, I have to say I love it! You can find really good skiing, and it is beautiful! Having also had the opportunity to ski the Alps and Utah as well as Colorado etc well..... yes the mountains are bigger and it is awesome skiing! However..... Unfortunately your experience was like skiing in New Jersey and having that represent skiing in the US

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  8. @anonmyous - wow... that souns really cheap. I'm gonig to have to look into that. thanks for the tip.

    @anonymous - I think you're right. although, I did still have a lot of fun even f the skiing wasn't amazing. bu your comparison was glorious.

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  9. Mohahah, I sneaked through that "knatteingång" several times last year after losing my lift ticket.

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  10. thats good work... it didn't seem like anyone was paying too much attention.

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