Just trying to get an idea of how many people travel from abroad for a mountain biking holiday in either Oppdal or Åre (or both). I think both were covered in Dirt last year so I thought I'd see if they're becoming a biking destination.
Also, if you did visit did you fly into Trondheim?
I live in Sweden but would probably chose to go to the Alps as it is a long way to go and Åre is one big mountain, not nice valleys and villages like the Alps. I live in the south though. There is a quite a few little ski places that do DH in the summer. This is the one I go to http://www.vallasen.se/sommar_ledkarta.html. Not huge but a nice change. Loads of excellent XC though. I am sure Norway must be great but it is very expensive.
Cool, what I'm really trying to figure out if it is worth pushing to have some trails built at our local Ski area here in Trondheim http://www.vassfjellet.com/
The major obstacle to this is the fact it's only got a t-bars. Hopefully if they could be persuaded it had summer potential this might change.
I was thinking that if Oppdal and Åre were becoming destinations then maybe Trondheim would be in a good position half way between the two.
Went to the hajfell (sp?) bike park in Lillehammer - great place. Good runs, lots of variation, no braking bumps, great first aid!! 
Rachel
http://www.vangabacken.com/sommar.php I think they just use a button lift here.
OK, I had a look on the net but couldn't see any examples of using a button lift or tbars with mountain bikes. Is there anywhere with any information about how it's done?
over here in finland, they often change the contact point (e.g. button) to a hook which you put over the bike's stem. Then pulls you up. Simple enough.
I'd be up for a bike park in scandi. The biggeset i've heard of is at Åre, there is a megaavalanche style race if i remember correctly. What is severely lacking is some XC centres. There loads of natural riding here which is not so attractive to my GF or friends as they dislike that there are so many roots and rocks.
Consider flights and prices too...
I agree about the trail centres and I've wondered about it myself quite a bit. I think that the reason that they haven't taken off here yet is because the XC riding is still stuck in the race type mentality.
And by that I mean the XC racing that was done about 10 to 15 years ago in the UK. It's very much centered around head down and as fast as possible along fire roads. Still, I think technical XC is becoming more popular so hopefully we'll see a few more purpose built trail centres popping up.
Where are the good bike parks in Finland anyway?
I just had to chime in on this topic so i created an account.
First of all: it's totally possible to build a bike park at a ski area with a T-bar.
I live in Sweden and the idea that you can go to "riding destinations" is really catching on. There are loads of smaller Ski areas that are building small bike parks. The trail-center idea is catching on too. In Falun they have machine built trails that are inspired by Glentress. A couple of other places (Rörbäcknäs, Arvika, Bergslagen) are marking up loops that you can ride.
For Trondheim i would make sure that there is a local support for the a bike park. The smaller parks here in sweden exist because the riders want to have something fun to do after work. It's local trails built for local people. Trondheim is close enough to both Åre and Oppdal for daytrips and i doubt that you would be able to compete with them. But you can still build really fun trails for the local scene.
I second request for info on Finnish bike parks.
Sorry for long and winding post.
Not worth visiting the south of Sweden for DH unless you have no choice. Vallåsen is the best option down south, great lift and facillities, plus some of the trails are really good (not just saying that because I dug them lol).
Vånga hill is smaller but run and maintained by a dedicated crew, they use a button lift, basically you slip the button between your legs whilst sat on the bike and ride up the hill. Easy once you've done it a few times but not as nice as being sat on a lift seat.
Åre is as described by GEDA, it's ok but no Morzine etc. If I was heading up to ride DH then I would head to Hafjell
. This is generally recognised to be a better DH riding venue.
As for getting to Åre, most from outside Sweden fly into Stockholm and drive up, but it's quite a drive at ~4 hours. You could take an internal flight to Åre as there is a small airport there, but the cost can vary etc: Swedavia
As for XC in Sweden, it's 99% lycra crew, I know as I'm one of them!
Sweden hasn't really clocked onto all mountain type riding yet, of course there is the small numbers who ride it, but it's lightyears behind the UK.
I think mainly because the XC culture hasn't yet developed beyond lycra, and the same could be said for trail development.
But it's changing, I see more AM bikes being bought and sold, mainly around the big cities or the bike parks. It'll take longer down south in Skåne because it's almost completely flat, which kind of make 5-6" travel AM FS bikes pointless.
The bike club scene is all lycra; road, XC, and a little CX.
All that said, the cycling in Sweden is absoltely fantastic, I can ride singletrack for hours without seeing another person. Just no it's amazing as the ground is frozen solid so it's like riding on sandpaper, super fast and fun.
By the way, if anyone is thinking about a trip to Åre I can definitely recommend visiting during the Åre Bike Festival
http://dirt.mpora.com/news/bike-festival-2011.html
I was only there for a couple of days last year but the atmosphere in town was great and there were some quality riders floating around. Some good guided XC rides and workshops as well. I'm planning on spending the whole 9 days there this year
to get to Åre you can fly to Trondheim and then get a train to Åre (a couple of hours)
Åre is excellent with very good facilities and a number of bike hire shops and there are also loads of xc trails in the near vicinty.
Hafjell is the best in Norway at the moment though. A few hours from Oslo
I second request for info on Finnish bike parks.
There are two on the bigger hills up north:
http://bikepark.fi/?lang=en
http://www.yllas.fi/en/trek-bike-park
(these are located some 60km apart)
and some smaller ones all over the country.
I don't know if even the biggest ones would warrant visit from UK (those who have been around prefer Åre to Northern Finland if Alps are not an option) but if you are around they would be worth visit for a day or two. The gnarliest DH route on Levi is only about 2min ride for World class riders (Lehikoinen, Barel & Moseley were there few years ago) but it's a bit longer for us mortals...
the ski centres in Finland normally have some mini-DH routes in the summertime. They are usually lift assisted.
I live in Helsinki, where it is quite flat, so the nearest ones are quite small. However, looking at areas like Ruka, and you'll see some potential.
For me, it costs the same to fly to northern Finland as to the UK or the Alps. So it's unlikely i'd go there.
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