The goal was to have a winter snow-based break and come back fitter and leaner and most of all, inspired. And so, after ruling out the Alps on the basis of excessive amounts of cheese fondue and stressful lift queues and North Amercia and Canada on travel time, my destination of choice was Norway’s trendiest resort, Hemsedal – known as the Norwegian Alps – no more than 90 minutes from most UK airports.
Norwegian resorts offer a wild fitness style pick ’n’ mix of cross-country ski-ing, husky sledding, downhill ski-ing and ski cross. The aesthetic of the Scandi style is apparent from landing at Oslo airport and I admit, as a design junkie, Norway had me at hello.
Once out of the city’s boundaries, we whizzed past pine and larch forests and “Beware Elk” warning signs. Forty minutes later and our first comfort break was at a Northern Exposure style roadside cafe with where those aforementioned creatures were stuffed and on display for viewing pleasure.
Fear not, this is no redneck backwater. Sure, locals drive pick-up trucks but the vibe is arty and bohemian. Excellent coffee was served no matter where we were, always a litmus test in my book.
My ski host was, rather predictably, a blonde goddess. An ex-ski champion, she took me on my first cross-country ski tour. It was so much harder than it looked and it was my only fall of the week but after an hour or so of getting in the rhythm I started to forget about the finer points of technique and start just looking around. Silence. Snow. Everywhere.
Just to add to the sheer kick-ass nature of this lady, she told me she brings her baby out for a daily blast on the cross-country trails, using it in the same way most British parents depending on a drive in the car to settle and stay sane. Not only that but when she’s done she’ll swap the baby on her back for her rifle and go out hunting. Lara Croft, eat your heart out.
Inspired, or perhaps a little in awe, later in the week I took my own children (11 and 6) on their own wilderness adventure. I don’t even have the superlatives for zooming across huge frozen lakes driving a team of huskies with gleeful children squealing with delight from the sheepskin sled. It’s one of those “remember when . . .” stories that will become family lore. Utterly, utterly brilliant.
Of course, Norway offers one crucial added factor over its Alpine competition – snow sure ski-ing. For the risk averse, the downhill isn’t as demanding as the challenging Alpine iconic resorts such as Val d’Isere or Verbier for gnarly steeps, chutes and vertical. So, you’ll need build the thigh burn in other ways: endurance. That’s easily done with floodlight slopes right through until 10pm.
In Hemsedal at the peak of the mountain is the uber Nordic-cool Skarsnuten Hotel, winner of best ski boutique hotel in 2014. The hotel, built entirely in steel, rock and glass, with a stylish Scandinavian interior, offers a panoramic view of the surrounds and is a must for a sundowner drink or two. A bus service runs regularly between the hotel, the apartments and lodges and the ski centre at the resort base.
You can enjoy ski in/ski out from the well-equipped Skarsnuten Apartments, complete with sauna, or choose among cosy apartments and cabins in the compact city centre. There is a ski bus service that connects the accommodation areas and the slopes.
And what of Hemsedal apres-ski? It would be fair to say that Norwegians, like the rest of the Scandinavians, know how to party and the nearby Danes are known to occupy many of the busiest weekends of the season.
Norway is most definitely not the cheapest place to drink alcohol, an average hotel wine list starts with bottles at £35, and apart from an occasional small glass of red to accompany a meal, it was a refreshingly teetotal week. My liver thanked me.
The food experience was perhaps the most surprising of all, however. I’d spent the week before I left writing an article on the Paleo diet and in Norway I found the real deal. Forget snack box deliveries or the newest post-workout protein bar. The mountain menu featured the likes of elk and cloud berry stew. My Viking genes – and tastebuds – felt right at home.
Lift passes are fairly priced at around £36 per day. Ski and boot hire is good value and very high quality, and the ski school is less than you would pay elsewhere.
TRAVEL FACTS
Amanda Hamilton’s family travelled with SAS from Aberdeen
and stayed at the Skarsnuten Apartments.
Ski Norway – the operator to talk to with unrivalled experience
of the Norwegian ski scene – offers a seven-night stay at the Skarsnuten Apartments and exclusive access to ski schools with exclusive direct resort transfers and flights from London, Manchester, Edinburgh or Aberdeen from £839 per adult (18+ years) and £739 per child (up to 17 years) based on four sharing, departing on January 10, 2016.
Contact: 020 7199 6010, enquiries@ski-norway.co.uk,
www.ski-norway.co.uk