First of all, we hear voices. We are in the fir forest along the trail known as ‘Femman’ at the back of Dundret, where it borders a nature reserve. The voice rings out in a classic Gällivare accent, then we spot a dog on a lead and after that the owner of the dog. This is Johan Olofsson and his malamute Juno; they have already done a couple of runs in the forest on the back of Dundret.
— I usually head out as soon as I get a chance and when I think the conditions are good. I say I’m taking the dog for a walk and then we go touring here.
— I found this spot ten years ago and I’ve been at it since. Walked up and rode down into the cauldron.
Johan walks on a split ‘noboard’ with bindings he has made himself. Noboard riders normally walk on snowshoes and carry the board on their backs. A noboard, by the way, is a kind of snowboard without bindings – a surfboard for snow. It takes powder to be able to ride a noboard, and there has been plenty this winter.
— I started riding in November and here we are, in the middle of April.
Johan rides a noboard for several reasons. One is that he damaged a knee during his career and because of that bindings are a no-no, but perhaps the main reason is that it is a lot of fun.
An icon
Johan Olofsson from Gällivare appeared on the scene as a brand-new snowboarding star in the middle of the 1990s. Before long, his riding style was referred to as iconic. Johan took the tricks from the park to the mountain and into free riding. If you want to see some really spectacular snowboarding, check out Johan Olofsson’s scene in the snowboard film TB5 on YouTube. That ride gave him a place in Guinness Book of World Records and the Snowboarding Hall of Fame.
"Nowadays I tour the back of Dundret, and it’s almost even more amazing"
It is always slightly weird to speak about the past with someone who used to be the best in the world. The Johan Olofsson I meet here on Dundret is not the same Johan as the one who dropped a thousand vertical metres in 35 seconds in Alaska, in winter 1995. These days he is a family man and views past years from some distance.
— Of course it was crazy fun. But at the same time those days are gone. Nowadays I tour the back of Dundret, and it’s almost even more amazing. I do this for me.
Perfect pistes
On the second to last day of the Easter break I manage to get some turns in from the top of Dundret heading down into the valley. The corduroy piste is ideal. To my left, as I descend from the top of the cable car, is the park. The valley provides cross-country trails. I ski here once or twice every year, and every time I think about skiing more. It is always enjoyable. The pistes are perfect, and you can just let go. That snowboard park on my left is impressive, and the cross-country tracks below are some of the best in Sweden. We will come back to those.
Gällivare as a town calls itself Europe’s mining capital, and it is easy to understand why. Ever since 1888 when the first ore train on the Iron Ore Line took off for Luleå on the coast, this town has been characterised by its ore bodies. During these last couple of years, Gällivare itself has undergone a massive transformation, as its twin town Malmberget has had to move because of the mining. The entire area Repisvaara, located between Gällivare town and Dundret mountain, has come into existence in just a few years’ time. Because of this transformation, the mountain has “approached” the town, and it dominates the view from the town centre.
Riksgränsen Banked Slalom
It’s all about carving. No jumps, no flips, no rails. Just the beautiful art of turning on a snowboard.
Constant transformation
We are staying at the renovated Grand Arctic Hotel in the middle of town, in front of the timbered railway station designed by state railway chief architect Folke Zettervall. Zettervall designed more than 250 stations around Sweden and many of them along the Iron Ore Line – Ofotenbanan. This train line together with the mines in Malmfälten and the shipping harbours in Luleå and Narvik became Sweden’s industrial engine. Zettervall also designed Kiruna’s old station, Torneträsk, Abisko Östra and Vassijaure, to name but a few. The Grand Arctic Hotel has a comfortable spa and a steakhouse that always serves up a tasty entrecôte.
"This part of the world is Sweden’s most progressive area"
A town will obviously be affected by this kind of constant transformation. As Malmberget is demolished and in a sense moved to Gällivare, lots of things happen. The House of Knowledge in the centre of Gällivare was designed by architects Liljewall and MAF, and the exterior is a nod to a road up from a mine with an open-cast pit. It feels modern in the middle of a town profile that has been developing for 150 years. You can only hope that the award-winning (for its architecture) House of Knowledge will be followed by other interesting architecture. Architecture that is able to compensate for the loss of Hakon Ahlberg’s Bolagshotellet, and Jan Thurfjell’s Focushuset and Focuslängan in Malmberget.
This part of the world is Sweden’s most progressive area. Perhaps they choose to forget the sorrow of losing unique architecture, and perhaps they know new times are coming because that has been the case for as long as the mine has been here. But the House of Knowledge is still a light in the dark. Fat Tony’s is a stone’s throw from there, offering smashed burgers, pizza and a micro-brewery. It is also where I stop contemplating new town architecture and start partaking in town life.
The conditions you need
One day later and in another part of Dundret I meet Marcus Hellner. He is a cross-country skier turned into helicopter pilot and entrepreneur with his own clothing brand. He glides along the cross-country track with seemingly no effort at all. I ask him if he comes here often.
— Honestly, I don’t think I’m here nearly enough by far, he smiles.
— I still like skiing, I did Dundret Runt last weekend, but the kids actually think snowboarding is more fun. So that’s what we do.
Terrain. That is what you need to become the best in the world – that, and what you actually use those conditions for. Marcus Hellner moved from Lerdala to Gällivare to go to the skiing college. He was no rising star or upcoming champion, but in Gällivare Marcus got the opportunity to train. There was snow here, and terrain. His physique was made for training. He became one of the best cross-country skiers in the world here, with double Olympic gold medals. An incline in Holmenkollen in Oslo and a stadium in Gällivare are named after him. Marcus says that Gällivare was the perfect place for training. The students at the school had a challenge that involved skiing all the tracks in one day at the end of a season: that adds up to more than 150 kilometres when the tracks are prepared for Dundret Runt. Those are the conditions you need. That is winter.
Aurora Safaris
If you take the traditional safari camp concept, founded in the deep traditions of traveling through Africa, and move it to the north, you get the award winning Aurora Safari.
Because of the mountain
The lift system at Dundret has a vertical drop of 320 metres. The first slopes were built already back in 1945, and the ski jumping tower was built around that time, too. It might sound strange now, but there was a time when ski jumping was a popular sport among Swedes. So it was no surprise that Sweden’s last great ski jumping world star, the man who developed the V-style: Jan Boklöv, was from Gällivare.
"It might sound strange now, but there was a time when ski jumping was a popular sport among Swedes"
This town and its mountain have fostered a world elite in several different snow sports. Boklöv won the combined world cup in 1988/89. Tomas Fogdö is also from Gällivare, and he is one of few male alpine skiers who has won a World Cup (slalom) in the alpine circus. Charlotte Kalla went to Gällivare skiing college at the same time as Marcus Hellner, and with her 9 Olympic medals she holds the Swedish all-time record.
I contemplate these skiers sat here with a pilsner beer from the brewery This is How, accompanied by some lunch tacos. The sun is shining, and I can feel the first hours on the mountain in my legs, that enjoyable feeling. Alpine, snowboard, ski jumping and cross-country skiing. All these skiers from Gällivare who have made history and joined the world elite. It must be because of the mountain. I ask another world-class skier.
A very long season
Kristofer Turdell’s friends signed him up for Scandinavian Big Mountain Championship in Riksgränsen in 2011. He was not entirely sure what it was all about, but after three days’ skiing, he ended up on the podium. One or two years later he got a wild card to the qualification round for Freeride World Tour. He won the qualification in less than a year and when he was allowed to go on the real tour, he won a stage and finished fourth overall. Since then, he has won FWT twice and SBMC in Riksgränsen five times.
— But Dundret. It doesn’t feel extreme, at least nothing like Bec des Rosses in Verbier.
— No, that’s true of course. But Dundret and skiing college taught me to make tight turns around poles, and if there’s anything that’s important when you’re skiing it’s knowing that your skis will turn where you’re planning on them to turn.
Kristofer went to the skiing college at Dundret, but his alpine career never took off. Perhaps he spent too much time in the park with the snowboarders. Today he is ranked among the greatest on the free riding scene.
— I think perhaps the most important thing about Dundret and Gällivare is that there’s winter. The skiing season here is very, very long.
The Master’s Playground
Freeride world champion, Kristofer Turdell’s amazing ride down Duolbagorni in the Kebnekaise massif.
All that counts
From the back of the mountain, with a noboard rider on powder, to the flats below the mountain where an Olympian speeds past, Dundret delivers the perfect winter this weekend.
Marcus Hellner says he sometimes regrets not training just a little bit harder.
— I had a body that responded well to training, and this place had all the conditions. I could actually have pushed myself a step or two further.
"Dundret delivers the perfect winter this weekend"
In the forest at the back of the mountain snowboard rider Johan Olofsson walks with a slight limp. Even if the knee operations were successful, the years he spent on a board gave him a few knocks. He is unable to use bindings with a highback and he uses normal boots rather than snowboard boots. But he can ride, and he loves to ride.
— This year has been outstanding. Winds and snowfall from the east, and cold as well, so the powder has been great quality. These days you can ride with a good head torch as well, which means it’s even better here at the back.
Johan lets us follow him up the track. He ascends with powerful, experienced steps. Juno the malamute is not overjoyed about yet another climb. Normally it is one or two runs. This is the third time he walks uphill. On the other hand it is also the third time they will head downhill, and for all those who love going downhill that is all that counts.
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