With a flair for snow

Many people associate it with something white that falls from above and wraps the whole landscape in an undulating blanket. And, with a bit of luck, it stays in the mountains at least until Easter is over. But there's much more to snow than that. At least if you ask Kim Sørlie Myrvang, who is, among other things, a snow groomer in Stöten.

- Snow is so many things, it's a science in itself and there's so much more to know about it than most people realise. There are many different types of snow, and of different quality. And there are no shortcuts to knowledge. It's all about experience. I myself have learnt from those who have worked with snow for 20-30 years," he says.

Stöten fan as long as he can remember

Kim is 26 years old, from Trysil in Norway, and has been a full-time employee of Stöten since he was 20. But how long he has been here regularly is a bit unclear, but it is at least as long as he can remember. With a father who started working in the facility in the late 90s, it was natural to be in Stöten as soon as the opportunity arose, and Kim was introduced at an early age to life in the workshop and all the possible technology and equipment required to keep a ski centre running.

And when the ski patrol sometimes needs to be relieved, it can be Kim who steps in and provides first aid on the slopes. He can simply turn up anywhere. Kim describes the path to where he was going to work as very clear, although with a deviation that he decided to become a concrete worker, which he also trained for. But the longing for the mountains became too great.

- The concrete life was not for me. I longed to go back to the mountains all the time," Kim recalls. And that was probably a good thing. Because here he met love in the then seasonal ski instructor Evelina Lindh from Östergötland, who is now the reception manager at Stöten and Kim's new partner. But what do you actually do during the parts of the year when there is no snow at all?

- Haha, that's actually when you can say that we work for real. That's when all the service and maintenance work on piste machines, lifts and all other equipment is done so that everything is in top condition and works perfectly when we open for the season. In order for the slopes to be skiable when the season starts in mid-December, the slopes must begin to be prepared as soon as it gets below freezing.

- As soon as we see that there will be a week with stable sub-zero temperatures, usually around the end of October and beginning of November, we start laying snow. We have everything from manual to fully automatic snow guns and with our new snowmaking system we can guarantee snow on more slopes than before already at the beginning of the season.