A delayed update about the life in Åre
It has been already two months that I moved up north to Åre (more specifically Duved) and I didn’t had the opportunity to write about what have happened here after moving. Most of the time I was thinking “well, this is not enough information for an update” and this feeling keeps going on and on and on and, when you least notice, months have passed and nothing has been done. But, I think I delayed too much so here comes a quick recap of all this time period!
The Life in the City
Duved is quite a small town and I basically live next door to everything that I need. There’s a supermarket on the right of my building with a sports equipment store and a veterinarian for my pets across the road from it, a restaurant that I love that serves great local food right in front of my building, and the slopes of Duved right behind my house. I couldn’t ask for a better location! Even the train station is just a few blocks away so any travel situation can be solved in a 5 minutes walk.
This “micro-world” kind of living has given me a lot of peace of mind. On a regular working day, I can wake up early in the morning, buy some fresh breakfast on the market, work, go to the slopes for my lunch time (as I would go to the gym back in Stockholm during lunch time), work again in the afternoon, shower, cook or have a dinner in front of my building, and relax till the next day either reading a book or analysing all the camera footage recorded during the day. And this is quite good! I’m feeling more fit, more healthy, less stressed and full of energy. Stockholm is not a big city in my view (specially compared to my hometown, São Paulo, in Brazil) but this micro city life is a blessing.
A “bad thing” about living away from almost all the friends I made in Stockholm is that sometimes it can feel lonely. But, the good thing about it is that we can all make new friends, specially since people up here in the north seem so more friendlier than the regular Stockholmers (is that a word?). Also, I’m basically living in a Ski resort so my friends are coming to visit almost every week so it is not being that bad at all! ;)
The Åre ski resort
When I decided to move here I had no idea how the resort and the slopes would look like. What if it was terrible? What if Åre sucked? Well, ok, I’ve read about this place and it is considered the best/biggest/coolest ski resort in Sweden so it had a good chance to impress me. And, yep: it did!
This place is quite big! Not like the huge resorts in the Alps but it is quite an impressive collection of slopes and free ride areas! It is comprised of four areas interconnected either by the ski bus or by the slopes themselves. They are: Åre, Björnen, Duved and Tegefjäll. I’ve been here snowboarding every single day since I moved and I still haven’t seen all of it yet, mostly because some slopes are still in preparation because of the winter conditions and also because I already got some favorite runs and places so it is hard to go away from them. ;)
Speaking of conditions, this place is cold! Oh gosh, how can it be so cold? I thought I had with me all that I needed to go through the days of snow but, at some point, I had to go to a shop in the middle of the snowboarding day to buy liners for my mittens (which were frozen, by the way) and an extra middle layer because I couldn’t handle the -30°C thermal sensation that day! But, now I’m ready for whatever may come (I hope)!
The Snowboarding Progression
This season has been great for my snowboarding! As I mentioned, I’ve been going to the slopes every single day since it opened to the public on the 18th of December (aside from 2 days I spent in Stockholm to fix some things related to my previous apartment in the capital).
My initial plan was to write every week to talk about what I was doing but it felt to me that it would be too boring for anyone to read. I was just getting back in shape, progressing my handling, my board control, my speed, and, out of a sudden, I went over all my previous blockages without noticing, like a frog being cooked in a slowly heating pan filled with water.
For instance, during the last season I remember being the slowest one of my friends on the mountains. I was a bit too scared of speed, to run flat with my board and maybe catch an edge and get hurt because I had not much control of it. Also, last season in total I had 16 days of snowboarding (and the one before that also 16), so, it is hard to practice and gain confidence when you have so few days to practice with big gaps in between them. But, wow! What a difference it makes to be able to do it every single freaking day! I want to write about my favorite run here in Duved and my crazy speed records but this can be its own story.
The Conclusion
Well, this was just a short update to get things moving here in the publication again. Now I have quite a good amount of material to write about and it might be a bit more interesting. New boards, new techniques, new achievements, new places, tips about the area and so on.
So, if you’ve been following me, thank you for your support! If you haven’t, please, stick around, and we might have some fun! Also, don’t forget to drop me a message if you’re coming to town so we can ride together!
Cheers and have a good ride!
