Storlien

Storlien
Location	Storlien, Sweden
Vertical	191 m (627 ft)
Top elevation	791 m (2,595 ft)
Base elevation	600 m (2,000 ft)
Runs	23
Longest run	1.5 km (0.93 mi)
Lift system	9 surface lifts
Terrain parks	2
Snowmaking	yes
Night skiing	Every Friday at "Slalombacken"

Storlien is a village and ski resort located in Åre municipality in Jämtland, Sweden, two kilometres from the Swedish-Norwegian border. The primary bases of the settlement are tourism and outdoor life – alpine skiing, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, hunting, fishing and hiking. During the 2000s, retail sales to customers from Norway become important, and most of the tourists in Storlien are Norwegians. The Swedish royal family has a house in Storlien, where they usually celebrate Easter and the New Year. There was also previously a sanitarium. Storlien was formerly the centre of winter activities for Skidfrämjandet, now Friluftsfrämjandet, an organisation that promotes outdoor leisure, and played a major role in developing downhill skiing in Sweden.

Storlien has, among other services, a hotel called Storliens högfjällshotell (Storlien Mountain Lodge) and a holiday village called Fjäll-lien. A large part of the village is owned by the Lars Nilsson estate, a real estate agent. The hotel was formerly the largest in the country. In 2011 Ulrich John, a Stockholm real-estate investor, bought it, the lifts and "a few thousand hectares of mountain", but he sold the hotel in 2013.

Until the beginning of the 19th century, Storlien was mostly used by Norwegians for hunting, fishing and summer pasturing. The village was first settled in 1844, and late in the 19th century began its development into a tourist centre. The Central Line opened in 1882, and the physician Ernst Westerlund opened a summer practice there in the same year. A few years later, two hotels opened. Thanks to its easily accessible high mountain terrain and railway station, Storlien soon became a centre for the activities of the outdoor activities organisation Skidfrämjandet. In 1924, on the initiative of female instructors, they held a four-day course in "modern ski technique" at Storlien in collaboration with the Swedish Ski Delegation and the Swedish Tourist Association. The instructor was Gunnar Dyhlén, who taught different ways to turn the skis, and the course is thus also considered the starting point for organised Alpine skiing in Sweden. At New Year's in 1931, the first slalom course in Sweden, Möllers Backe, was spontaneously cleared on the mountain slopes of Skurdalshöjden. In 1933 Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla received as a wedding gift from Skidfrämjandet a holiday cabin which is still owned by the royal family.

...
Wikipedia