A couple of decades ago, a group of Swedes came to Vesterålen to try their luck at alpine skiing – combined with winter cod fishing on the open ocean. They chose Øksnes Vestbygd as their home base.
The local young people had been skiing in alpine terrain for as long as they could remember – on the more or less steep mountainsides. But with the arrival of the Swedes, we learned a new skiing term; the Swedes had come to ski off piste.
