Sportlov

Wintery but a little brighter all the time.
Wintery but a little brighter all the time.

The last week was Sportlov in Sweden, a one-week school break for kids, which most families use for a ski vacation.  The original purpose for a break in winter was to save money on heating costs of the schools, but I think the ski resorts and domestic tourist boards capitalized on the opportunity and pushed for people to use the time off to do outdoor snow sports.  And hence the sportlov name was coined and has stuck.  This is the ‘fint vinter’, the part of the winter where there is still snow, but it is a bit warmer and there is more sun. The week off is staggered across Sweden so as not to overwhelm the ski resorts (so practical!) Two weeks ago the south of Sweden had their break, and next week the North will have their break. Not everyone skis with the time off; our buddy Camilla spent the week with her family in the Canary islands. I worked this last week, but we did some XC skiing last weekend (35km all together over two days) and we did almost 25km today in our longest single ski to date… we want to enjoy the snow as much as we can while it is here. There is likely to be an ugly period while it all melts and we can’t ski but it won’t exactly be picnic weather either.