Björkliden Sweden April-May

[snoWYmonkey]

2nd ski trip away from my home mountain in 22 years did not disappoint.

Björkliden is located at latitude 68 north, which is above the arctic circle, a few degrees furthernorth than northern Iceland, and known for the best aurora watching.

The resort consists of 6 surface lifts, and has about 1500 vert with most of it above treeline. 3rd most vert of swedish ski resorts. One can take an overnight train from Stockholm or fly into Kiruna, an hour and half bus ride from the ski area.

The resort has one hotel with one restaurant. There is a nice rental shop for alpine, nordic and touring gear.

The grooming is minimal and while I scored 8 inches of lovely heavy cream cheese on day one, day 2 was not so lovely. Not having any chairlifts means no rest for legs or feet. In a storm the vis goes down to zero whoch was quite interesting.

Loved the views and am so thankful I can finally say that I have alpine skied one of my two home countries.

The view from my hotel room at 1am. Even in spring there is not much night this far north.
Having major tech issues uploading the images upright. Sorry.

 

[contesstant]

Oh so cool! Having surface lifts only would definitely be tiring pretty quickly. Glad you are back on skis again!

 

[snoWYmonkey]

Oh so cool! Having surface lifts only would definitely be tiring pretty quickly. Glad you are back on skis again!

Especially since the middle poma connevting lower and upper mountain was diwn for the restvof their season. They used snowmobiles towing 3 to 5 people holding on to a loop in the rope. It was steep, uneven and atvtimes only two feet between the fron of my skis and the back of the skis of the person in front of me. I confess to being gripped!

 

[coldthrill]

Was so curious about your trip, as my daughter is heading to Stockholm for a semester abroad in August. I was so happy to hear you were skiing again, let alone in Sweden! Kudos for skiing without lifts. Wow

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@coldthrill Thank you! I was visiting my dad and sis in Stockholm, and took a solo weekend trip to meet my distant cousins. I have only mountain biked in Åre, but that is the primo ski destination and much easier to get to. I hope she has a fantastic time and that you can visit her twice. Once around the winter holidays and once in late spring.

 

[coldthrill]

@coldthrill Thank you! I was visiting my dad and sis in Stockholm, and took a solo weekend trip to meet my distant cousins. I have only mountain biked in Åre, but that is the primo ski destination and much easier to get to. I hope she has a fantastic time and that you can visit her twice. Once around the winter holidays and once in late spring.

Thank you so much!! Actually, she's going in the fall — not what she wanted, but I'm sure it will be gorgeous. Wondering if it's better go "pick her up" in mid-December, after a quick solo ski trip, or visit in late October. Both would be awesome, of course! Your trip sounds so wonderful! I may have to check out Åre. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

How cool @snoWYmonkey thank you for sharing! I have been to Stockholm and Uppsala for a scientific collaboration during my Ph.D. years ago now (getting old lol). I was there in February of 2009 I think, and I didn't start skiing yet, I think I started skiing in 2010 or 2011. I loved Stockholm and Uppsala, I would have loved to go back and travel north to Kiruna and ski Are at some point.

 

[snoWYmonkey]

You are not old. Completes my masters in the early 90s...that's getting older.

I have a distant cousin in Uppsala that I correspond with. She taught HS science her whole life.

The far northbis amazing...snow is very ho hum.

I am visualizing a return to sweden for you!

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

You are not old. Completes my masters in the early 90s...that's getting older.

I have a distant cousin in Uppsala that I correspond with. She taught HS science her whole life.

The far northbis amazing...snow is very ho hum.

I am visualizing a return to sweden for you!

What was the snow like? You posted that one of the days snow was like cream cheese, so is it heavier/wet snow?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

It was very thick fresh heavy snow on day one and some said it was the best of the season. Yikes. Probably 8 to 10 inches. Day two was unevenly compacted snow from day before with very small narrow groomed section. Not sure I would return to sweden or iceland for alpine skiing, but thinking nordic in norway or finland next. Have never heard that snow is much to travel there for unlike Japan. I went to meet new relatives and just visit the far north and had a blast. Skiing was the extra bonus.

 

[RachelV]

Wow, what a cool spot and what an amazing trip. Are most of the visitors there from Sweden? Are they even open in midwinter when it's dark all the time or is more of a 3 season place?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@RachelV Great questions. All the other visitors that I ran into were either Swedish or other europeans. The few non Swedes were there for the ski touring and helicopter skiing it seemed.

The area opens around February 10th. I did not see any lights for night skiing, so I suspect it is quite dark then.

I would probably only return to ski tour, but even then somewhat challenging snow conditions and limited grooming would likely have me come in summer.