“Funäsfjällen doesn’t have the highest mountains or the deepest powder in the world but much like Sport Maffian, those who live here do so because of the atmosphere,” adds Åberg, who enacts a quick beacon check before beginning the tow up our objective, Ösjövålen.
The view from the top of Ösjövålen offers 360-degree views of Norway to the northwest, the valley floor below and 1,797 meter (5,896 foot) Helags to the northeast, the tallest mountain in Sweden south of the Arctic Circle.
Although it’s been a below-average snow year in Sweden, the face of Ösjövålen still holds some great wind-blown snow that has yet to be skied since the most recent squall. With a hoot and a click of my poles I descend first, making long, arcing turns down the face, a rooster tail of chalky snow following in my wake. And while the snow was far from deep, the turns were still some of the best of the season, and some of the most memorable I’ve had, simply due to the environment in which I was skiing and the great company I had. I watch my companions take on the face and welcome them to the bottom with the roaring riffs of “Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden, to which our guides are particularly receptive. The Swedes love their metal.
Later in the day, following lunch at Restaurant 1000 back at Ramundberget, fellow group member Peter Kray inquires with Åberg about his plans for the afternoon. The local replies that he’s headed back out to Ösjövålen to dig a pit and study the snowpack, and that he’d be willing to take two or three of us back out for some afternoon laps on the face. Not one to be left behind, I wrangle my gear as fast as I can, and a small group of us scramble back out to the sled, eager to continue the adventure. The short tow into the wilderness deposits us once again atop the ridge, the waning March sun at our backs.
The following turns were much like those in the morning, but the aftermath, in my mind, was what skiing is all about. It was three new friends and I, thousands of miles from home, strangers in a strange land, reveling in our recent decent, the afternoon shadows creeping across the mountains.
“Funäsfjällen doesn’t have the highest mountains or the deepest powder in the world but those who live here do so because of the atmosphere…”
In regards to European backcountry ski destinations, thoughts of Courmayeur, Chamonix-Mont Blanc, Verbier, Zermatt and La Grave are surely conjured in the brains of most. While these places offer unrivaled access to some of the biggest terrain in the world, off-the-beaten path locations further north have similar access but with a different vibe and culture. Not to mention, they’re a jumping off point to some of the northernmost skiing opportunities on the globe.
Are you up for an adventure?
Related: An introduction to the all-new Columbia Titanium line in Jämtland Härjedalen, Sweden
