L i f e I m a g e s: Storulvån

Skis? Check!
Food? Check!
Warm clothes? Check!
Family? Check!
All the family stuff? Will check again.

A skiing trip in the mountains is quite a project when it involves bringing little children with you. The idea was my impossibly optimistic cousin Kalle's to begin with and we were lucky to have the opportunity to rent a neighbours log cabin in an area called Storulvån.

Besides figuring out how and where to put everything in the cars (we ended up borrowing a huge trailer from another neighbour), you also have to work out how to fit the essentials for dragging children up mountains in World War II toboggans. That is where the real adventure begins. Also where the struggle begins. Snow is slippery and mountains are steep. World War II toboggans are heavy.

Lessons learned on our skiing adventure:

Don't try to save money by not getting proper climbing skins ( furry straps with sticky glue on the back, attaches to the skiis and enables you to ski upwards without slipping, kind of like a nordic spiderman).

Don't use army surplus toboggans from World War II to transport equipment and children up steep mountains. People were tougher back then and were trying not to get shot by germans, ie they had more incentive. I had my optimistic cousin insisting on a view.

Don't drag your kids up (or down) steep mountains, stay in the valleys even if the view is better further up. Kids don't care about views, but they do care (a lot) about crashing face down in snow while stuck in a toboggan.

One gets very sunburned even if it's winter and snowy outside. All it takes is sunny weather. I am a piggy pink as a result of not taking the above in to enough consideration.

Chill out with good food and wine in the evening when you're back at the cabin again. You deserve it.

Storulvån is a magnificent place and I would like to go back again, but I will keep this trip's lessons in my back pocket for the next time we go.