Riksgränsen

The national border gained a permanent population thanks to the construction of therailway, Malmbanan. Until 1982, the railway was the only way to transport up to the national border, after that the E10 was ready. In 1928, Friluftsfrämjandet, then Skidfrämjandet, opened the gates to its tourist station Laplandia and established Riksgränsen as Sweden’s northernmost ski resort. Sweden’s oldest ski school was started by the slalom pioneers Olle Rimfors and Sigge Bergman in 1934. A few years later in 1950, Olle Rimfors became sports manager at Riksgränsen. During his 16 years as sports manager, many Swedish ski instructors were trained, such as Karl Erik “KEP” Persson, Bengt-Herman Nilsson and Ulf “Mr Ski” Edborg. Several of the slopes in Riksgränsen are named after these ski instructors.

The village Riksgränsen is located on the national border between Sweden and Norway, hence its name. Riksgränsen is the country’s rainiest place and receives large amounts of snow during the winter. At the beginning of the 1900s, the community Riksgränsen was dismantled, the amount of snow was overwhelming. Today, the large amounts of snow is instead the town’s signature and it attracts skiers from all over the world. Here there are unique conditions for fantastic skiing until midsummer.

The first lift was inaugurated in 1952 and in 1968 the upper part of the lift was also inaugurated. Since then, more have been added and today there are a total of six ski lifts and 17 slopes. Much of the skiing involves off-piste and Riksgränsen has repeatedly won the award as Sweden’s Best Off-Piste Mountain. Plenty of nice pistes are also offered here, and alongside the pistes there are countless easily accessible off-piste skis. In addition, there are plenty of challenges for the more advanced skier. Such as “Uffe’s wall”. “Rimfors” and Nordalsfjäll where the NM in extreme skiing is arranged in May every year. Simply, fun skiing.