A Postcard From Trysil, Norway
By Rebecca Miles
Close to the border with Sweden, the mountain resort of Trysil, in Norway, is classic Scandinavia. Lots of pine trees, log cabins and snow-covered rolling hills unfold in every direction and my first impression is just how much space there is here. I’m visiting at Easter with my family to catch the end of the ski season and, being this far north (Trysil is two and a half hours north of Oslo), we’re greeted with plenty of snow, crisp temperatures and long, light days. We later learn that Easter can be a bit of a sweet spot – visit earlier in the season and while the snow conditions may be better, the temperature doesn’t often get often above freezing.
Norway’s largest ski resort, Trysil has over 70 slopes, including a fun run packed with jumps and banked turns that my six-year-old daughter would happily spend all day on if she could, lots of gentle green and blue runs that sweep through the peaceful pine forests, and some seriously steep red and black runs.
Doing his best to make sure everyone feels welcome is the resort’s mascot, Valle the snowman. Regularly dropping in on the children’s ski lessons, we spot him leading an impromptu conga on skis and high-fiving all the kids as they get on the ski lift.
It’s just one of the things Trysil offers to make this a very family-friendly ski resort. Others include free lift passes for children up to the age of six, the friendliest and most enthusiastic ski instructors going, and lots of ski-in/ski-out accommodation (including ours, the SkiStar Lodge Trysil) so everything is as easy as possible for little legs.
Trysil is as popular in summer as it is in winter, with lots of hiking trails and cycle paths
Between hot chocolate stops, sledging, swimming in the hotel pool and lots of skiing, we also fit in a horse-drawn sleigh ride from the Trysil Hestesenter, into the woods and a teepee that the family build at the beginning of winter to hold dinners.
Hosted by Svein Eriksen, we eat lingonberry soup followed by moose stew then apple cake with cloudberry ice cream. As we sit around the fire, Svein tells us the moose had been shot a kilometre away from the teepee by one of his 17-year-old apprentices and had kept them going all winter. It’s all about keeping things local here!
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This is a feature from Issue 21 of Charitable Traveller.
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