The season starts early in Sweden
The SkiStar group, which is Scandinavia’s largest ski resort operator, which runs the region’s most popular holiday resort Åre, as well as other well-known centers such as Hemsedal and Trysil in Norway and Sälen and Vemdalen in Sweden, has already started its ski season 22-23 in September.
They have done it by creating a year-round ski slope at their “urban” ski resort Hammarbybacken in the Swedish capital Stockholmm.
The group has achieved this by investing in an all-weather dry slope from Italian specialists Neveplastthe company responsible for many of the world’s most interesting dry hill projects, including the famous hill that encloses a giant green energy power plant in Copenhagen (below).
Neveplast Copenhill
Skistar says that the new slope, one of the world’s largest of its kind, at Stockholm Hammarbybacken, is an important milestone in their development towards year-round operations.
The main slope is almost 500 meters long with an area of 9,000 m2 and there is also a summer version of the SkiStar Snow Park with a number of features such as rails and boxes designed by SkiStar’s new ambassador, freeskier and Olympic medalist Jesper Tjäder. A separate beginner area is easily accessible by conveyor belt lift.
First to try the hill at launch was none other than World Cup rider Kristoffer Jakobsen, pictured below, who commented,
“I think it’s a great idea and will help skiing continue to grow. It’s also great to be able to do it in the capital. It was really exciting and cool to be the first on the hill on a day like this.”
Neveplast and SkIStar both have very high environmental goals so Neveplast worked to create an even “greener” version of their surface by using a higher percentage of recycled plastic in it, while the slope material itself is designed so that it can itself be recycled at the end of his life.
“Our unique SummerSki venture in Sweden is finally underway. It is fantastic to be able to offer all Stockholmers and visitors the opportunity to ski, even outside the winter season, and discover the joy of skiing all year round. This investment brings us closer to our sustainability goal of encouraging even more people to start exercising and become more active to improve their health and well-being; the new Stockholm Hammarbybacken center is an important part of this, says Stefan Sjöstrand, President and CEO of SkiStar AB.
In addition to year-round skiing (the slope can still be used when snow is covered in winter), the arena has a new SkiStar climbing park, Mountain Coaster and Mountain Tube, which opened earlier in the summer and has attracted many visitors.
SummerSki at SkiStar Hammarbybacken in Stockholm is open 14.00-20.00 on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 14.00-18.00 on Fridays and 10.00-18.00 on Saturdays and Sundays. Skiers must purchase a SkiPass from skistar.com or the SkiStar app before they can ski or board. Other activities will also be open from Thursday to Sunday during the autumn and autumn holidays.