Skiing and snowboarding near Linköping

Hej everyone!

A lot of my friends and family go skiing or snowboarding at least once every year, and I always got a little bit jealous of them. It seems like a wonderful experience, being active and outdoors all day and ending it with a nice drink in the snow! Now that I am living in Sweden, I figured it was time for me to learn some snowboarding or skiing as well. Most big ski resorts in Sweden are more up north, for example you can find big ones in Sälen, Idre and Åre. However, traveling up north is quite expensive and time consuming so that isn’t always an option. Luckily you can find two mini ski areas near Linköping (near for Swedish terms!), they’re called Yxbacken and Spökbacken. I went to Spökbacken with some friends with the car, mostly because it’s less crowded than Yxbacken and because it’s a lot cheaper. I will put the websites in this blog, so you can find some more information about prices and accessibility.

I have never been to Yxbacken, but some friends have been there, and they said it was nice! It is approximately a 35-minute drive from Linköping and only 15 minutes from Norrköping. It can get quite crowded there though and the prices are a bit expensive for both the lift pass and rental of the equipment. In Yxbacken, you can find two big slopes, a red and a black one. There is also one green and one blue slope which are more suitable for beginners. In the picture here you can see the different slopes. As you can see, it’s not that big but it’s ideal for beginners. Maybe when you mastered snowboarding or skiing, you can go up north and experience the real deal!

The place where I went is a bit further away and it’s called Spökbacken. From Linköping, it’s approximately an hour with the car. However, it’s not that crowded and the rental of equipment is quite cheap. When I went there, I had to pay 305 SEK – included was snowboard, boots and helmet rental and a lift pass for the entire day (11:00 – 16:00). Spökbacken has two red slopes, and a green and blue one – so it’s also very suitable for beginners, especially because it is not that crowded.

To be honest, I wanted to give up after an hour or something because it was so hard, I kept falling and it got harder and harder to get back up. The lift was also really hard to master, I fell off soo many times ;). However, I had some motivational people around me that pushed me a bit to keep trying and luckily I did! At the end of the day, I could stand on the snowboard and go down the hill without falling. I also managed to get up the hill with the lift without falling! It was a great feeling and I can’t wait to go back again and see if I can make some more progress. My advice is to not give up that quickly, it is hard in the beginning but you will learn it quite easily and then it’s super fun!! 🙂

Just be aware that you need to bring the appropriate clothes yourself! It depends a bit on the temperature of course, but it is good to wear an underlayer and then ski pants, a sweater, and a jacket in which you can move freely. If it’s really snowy, it might be good to take some glasses as well because they don’t rent them there.