“ELLA,” I yell at my seven-year-old daughter, as she zooms ahead of me, toward the moguls at what feels like 75mph on the first day of our ski holiday in Trysil. “Wait for me!”
I point my skis forward, rather than in the pizza shaped snow-plough I usually adopt, and try my best to catch up to her but she’s already going over the first hump as I draw level. Her arms are held aloft, like a footballer who’s just netted a goal in the World Cup, as she drops into the dip and then up the second hump.
“Weeeeee!” I can hear her yelling, though it’s slightly drowned out by the sound of my own heartbeat thudding in my chest. I can’t quite believe that on her first day she’s already flying over obstacles.
To be fair, we are only on the green slopes, and what feels like 75mph to me is probably more like 15mph. But, to say it’s the first time she’s been on the snow in three years and she’s only had one lesson while we’ve been here, I’m super impressed.
We pull to a stop at the bottom of the kilometre-long green slope and I look up behind us. The long, wide run is sparsely populated with just a few skiers dotted along it, thanks to the fact that there are a whopping 33km of green runs here. Beyond that, higher up the mountain, I can see some of the red and black runs, where the more competent skiers are - including my wife and our ten-year-old son.
There’s no queue to join when we reach the lifts and we’re straight onto the poma. Halfway to the top of the lift we pass our hotel, the Radisson Blu which sits right beside a side slope that provides direct access to those 33km of beginner slopes and the ski school. A family are just getting into their skis with huge smiles on their faces, pointing with their poles toward Ella. Do we know them? I wonder, before realising that they’re actually pointing beyond Ella, where an eight-foot snowman is heading through a forested piste.
“Look Ella!” I yell. “It’s Valle.” Valle, the resort’s mascot seems to hear his name and looks toward us, waving, just before he disappears into the trees. Ella looks back at me and asks if she can alight from the lift at the hotel and follow him. Of course, we can.
Two hours later - an hour of which was spent following Valle up and down the mountain - we re-join my wife and son for lunch in one of the Radisson’s four restaurants. Norway has a reputation for being expensive, as do most ski resorts, but a light lunch and drinks for the four of us, minus alcohol, comes to a reasonable £50. To be fair, the massive smorgasbord breakfast, which was included in our room rate, could have seen most people through to evening meal in any case.
After lunch the kids want to check out the hotel’s pool, which sits in the basement, with prime views of the slopes. Once inside the pool complex the wife heads straight for the hot tub, while our son, Harrison heads for the climbing wall jutting out of the deep end of the water. Ella and I head over to watch a family surfing on the Flow Rider, the resort’s indoor surf wave.
As with the slopes, the pool isn’t busy, which is odd because Trysil is Norway’s most popular ski destination. A large part of this will be the family friendliness of the resort, and all those miles of safe piste to learn on, but it’s also because Trysil has the world’s best snow guarantee. Of course, there is no shortage of resorts that purport to “guarantee” snow, but SkiStar - the company that run the slopes and the Radisson Blu hotel - are so sure of their slopes that they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is. Trysil’s snow guarantee gives you the opportunity to re-book your trip, or get your money back, if they can’t deliver the all-important white stuff until the end of the spring season.
They even have a re-booking guarantee for the early season starting in November, that allows you to rebook without penalty if there isn’t enough snow to ski on. The November guarantee is probably best suited to Norwegians, who don’t need to book flights as well, but the rest of the guarantee is a safe bet for anyone given that we’re here in early April and there’s no sign of the snow thinning for several weeks yet.
After an hour in the pool the kids are wanting to hit the slopes again, so we change blow dry the kids’ hair and head out, past the on-site bowling alley, to the heated locker rooms where our equipment and ski clothes are kept. A few minutes later we’re kitted up and walking the ten metres or so it takes to reach the slopes.
The kids are beaming and Ella is pointing her poles, just like the family we saw earlier were.
“Valle!” we all yell, as the mascot heads toward the forest. “Wait for us!”
* Ryanair have flights from London Stansted to Oslo for as little as £14.99 each way in January 2023. From Oslo Airport Nor-Way.no run three direct buses a day to Trysil’s ski area with fares costing approximately £45 for an adult and half that for a child.
The Radisson Blu Resort Tryil has excellent pool facilities including a climbing wall above one and a FlowRider indoor surf wave as well as an arcade, bowling alley, spa and several restaurants, it is situated right next to the chair lifts and rental facilities.
The best deals are found on www.skistar.com, who are the biggest name in Scandinavian mountain holidays and also sell lift passes and rental equipment.
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