Åre in Sweden in mid-February

Norway is similar to sweden. Weak drinks (up to about 4.5%) are available in supermarkets. Otherwise it's the state shop which opens at v odd hours

and if you are in Hemsedal, the state shop is about 25 miles away! We learned our lesson by the time of our 2nd trip.....

Bedrock - I do believe that the booze shop is now in Hemsedal town itself. Didn't go because we were happy with beer and the spirits we brought over in our luggage.

Snow looking very good in Are now :-)

https://www.skistar.com/en/Are/About-Are/Weather-lifts-and-snow/

Hi Dan. It is looking good. Bring your thermals though - looking a bit cold at the minute!

Just read the blog on the skistar site which includes pictures. Looks like they've had a lot more snow than the snow forecast.com site has indicated. Still quite a few pistes shut but presumably that's due to wind or perhaps they are readying them now they've had fresh snow? I've been unduly nervous about booking as we've got use to the mega resorts and the amount of skiing on offer even when part of the resort is shut down. We were frustrated one year in Hemsedal as only 50% was open due to a lack of snow. We also hate drag lifts.... However, Mrs BB is telling me to chill and book the damn holiday! I think we may go for 4 nights and 4 skiing days and then a couple of days in Trondheim at the end. The krone has strengthened over the last month which will increase costs by 5% - services me right for dithering.

Hi Bedrock. Snow depth seems to be consistent with the previous two years, so not looking too bad. I get the impression that if there aren't a large number of punters around then they don't open as many lifts. The Skistar website suggests that they don't open a lot of the higher Hogzon lifts until the start of February. I reckon you'll be OK so long as you can get the skis in your car and drive between the different areas. Duved looks good for our family and we'll probably be spending a lot of time there if the main mountain is blown out by the wind.

Bedrock/Dobby,

A lot of the runs don't open until Feb 8th as Peak season starts then. Snow was a little later than usual this year but it seems to have caught up!! Duved is very family friendly and we used the ski buss from the centre to get there. It's the only part of the resort you can't ski directly to. Having said that there are loads of great easy runs in Are itself so you may not need the car. I'm counting down now, 4 weeks on Saturday :-) Just got the prospect of an 8hr drive from Stockholm to look forward too.......