Hammarbybacken offers DH riding in the centre of the city.

MTB

9 Swedish T-bar lifts that run for mountain bikes

Here are 9 small ski hills that transform into DH paradises as soon as the snow melts.

Written by Hanna Jonsson

11 min readPublished on 10.04.2018 · 11:53 UTC

There seems to be mini-revolution in small Swedish ski hills running their T-bar lift for bikers in the summer season. An increasing amount of trails are being designed and built on hills all over the country, bringing lift-accessed riding closer to many riders’ homes and engaging local bike groups, volunteers and organisations to come together to create their own little bike heavens. It’s an amazing development for the sport and a cool opportunity to bring bike riding to the masses. Here are some of the best T-bar accessed bike hills in Sweden.

1. FLOTTSBRO

Sunshine and dry trails in Flottsbro.
© Flottsbro

Something for riders of all abilities.
© Mountainbike STHLM

”The many DH, Enduro and XC trails on the hill and in the nearby forest are signs of a long history of bike riding in the area. In recent years a lot of work has gone into the main ski hill to develop it for biking and today we can offer riders a big variety of trails for different abilities. What’s really cool about Flottsbro is although it is close to the capital city, it is a beautiful green area with forests, beaches and lakes. With the bike park situated just next to a lake you can easily mix bike park laps with cooling swims in the summer, as well as a few laps with the downhill cars. A top tip is to stay for the sunset to take some sweet looking golden-hour pictures on our Freeride trail.”

Where: Stockholm
Trails: 9 trails with varying terrain and difficulty. From the green beginner trail “Grön sak”, to the blue/red “Freeride” trail with lots of jumps, to the more difficult, steep black trail “Guldkannan” and the brand new trail “Bakfickan”, designed and built together with EWS rider Alexander Kangas.
News 2018: "We will be finish our Drop Zone with three drops in different sizes. We are also increasing our rental bike fleet to 20 bikes together with Moréns Cykel and are happy to announce that we will have full suspension kids bike for rent this year. Finally, we are working on setting the details for our popular event "Flottsbro Night Ride" this autumn."

Opening day 2018: Not yet set due to the long winter. Please check online for the latest updates.
Lift opening hours: Friday-Sunday. Extended opening hours from June.
Facilities: Bike rental and shop (clothes and protective gear) available in the ski rental area, café and restaurant, canoe and “bastuflotte” rentals, camping & camping cottages, walking trails and cross country bike trails, beach, kids playground, electric cars for kids and lift-accessed downhill cars.

Website: www.flottsbro.se
Facebook: @flottsbro.se
Instagram: @flottsbro

2. ALEBACKEN

You don't need a big hill to create a fun bike park.
© Tibor Altmann

For DH and Enduro bikes!
© Tibor Altmann

“Alebacken is an easily accessible bike park with trails that suit riders of all abilities - the perfect place to come to ride and train if you live in or close to Göteborg. The first trails came to life in the end of the 90s when a bunch of bike enthusiast started digging on the hill. Over time more and more people got involved and the bike community’s engagement grew stronger. By 2007 most of the existing trails had been built and in 2010, on the recommendation of Tom Pro from Gravity Logic, an easier green track was built to create an even more all-inclusive hill for both beginners and experts.” – Joacim and Chris, Alebacken Bike Park.

Where: Göteborg
Trails: 9 hand-built trails ranging from green to black.
News 2018: "On the 22nd of April we will host the first round the Sydsvenska DH Cup. We will be improving the entrance to the black trail as well as keep on top of general trail maintenance on all trails throughout the year."

Opening day 2018: 21st of April
Lift opening hours: Check Facebook for for latest updates.
Facilities: Café, staff with bike knowledge, bike courses & guiding available.

3. BYGDSILJUMSBACKEN

For kids and grownups!
© Jakob Andersson

Summer can't come soon enough!
© Robert Ungh

“Bygdsiljumsbacken Bike Park has been going for six seasons and is getting bigger each year. The aim from the beginning was simply to see if there was an interest in lift-accessed riding up here, so for it to have become so popular as it has is just amazing. Our goal now is to make it the cosiest bike park with a friendly, chilled out atmosphere - a place to have fun on the bike and meet new riding buddies. Also, we are proud to have trails that are built for proper DH bikes, and whilst you can ride everything on an Enduro bike, some trails are definitely more fun on the big bike.” - Bygdsiljumbacken Bike Park.

Where: Skellefteå kommun
Trails: 8 tracks ranging from flowy beginner tracks to some trickier ones for more advanced riders, including the 2016 Swedish DH Championship track.
News 2018: "Hopefully we will be able to build a ninth track this season."

Opening day 2018: 10th of June
Lift opening hours: 10:00-16:00 all Sundays (2nd weekend in June to 1st weekend in October). Group bookings available on other days upon request.
Facilities: Bike rental (12 DH bikes), small bike workshop and a small kiosk by the lift. When the lift is running the grill is available for anyone to use.

4. HAMMARBYBACKEN

Lift-accessed riding with a capital view.
© Joe Bowman

“At Hammarbybacken we have trails that suit both beginners and more advanced riders. Our trail builders always try to accommodate so that our trails are fun for riders of different abilities – from complete beginner to proper expert pinners. The lift has been running for bikes for many years, much thanks to “Stockholm Friåkare”, but has for the last few years been run by us at Skistar in order to provide more regular opening hours. The demand for lift-accessed biking has been growing steadily over the last couple of years, and we are happy to provide riders all over Stockholm access to the hill during summer.” - Magnus Hägle, SkiStar Hammarbybacken

Where: Stockholm
Trails: 6 trails from green to black.
News 2018: "We continuously maintenan existing trails and hopefully we can build som more flowy, fun trails.

Opening day 2018: Not yet set due to the long winter. Check Facebook for the latest updates.
Lift opening hours: Tuesday & Thursday: 18:00-21:00; Saturday-Sunday: 12:00-16:00.
Facilities: Not available.

Website: Skistar Hammarbybacken
Facebook: SkiStar Hammarbybacken and Stockholms FriÅkare

5. SKÖNVIKSBACKEN

Jon Bokrantz in Skönviksbacken's green room.
© Mathias Lindkvist

What dreams are made of.
© Mathias Lindkvist

“We are a group of volunteers who want to create a place for locals to be able to ride bikes and have fun. The trails on Skönviksbacken have been carved out by the help of locals, who have put in blood, sweat and lots of love to create this little bike paradise. None of the trails are mega steep so the difficulty of the trail depends on how fast you want to go. One of the tracks - called Jedi Mind Trix - hosted the Swedish Championship in DH back in 2011 and part of the trail is still available today. Basically – it’s perfect for all kinds of riders on Enduro, DH and trail bikes, although to get maximum excitement out of the hill we’d recommend the Enduro bike.

We’d also like to point out how good the general trail riding is around Sundsvall - there are some proper little gems here. As none of the trails are clearly signed, just send an email or Facebook message to Sundsvall Stigcyklister for tips or a guided ride. We’re always happy to help!” - Philip & Tobbe, Skönviksbacken.

Where: Sundsvall
Trails: 4; two red, one blue and one green trail. There used to be more but a few harsh winters have taken its toll. A committed crew is currently working slowly but surely on repairing trails to bring it back to its glory days.
News 2018: "We’re going to be busy removing trees from trails and repairing sections after this harsh, long winter, but we hope to also have time to build a few more jumps and restore one or two of the older trails during summer".

Opening day 2018: TBC. Check for updates on Facebook.
Lift opening hours: One evening a week, except July, as well as one-off events throughout the summer.
Facilities: As it’s all run by volunteers it depends on who’s around – if you’re lucky there are hamburgers on the grill, music blaring and a ghetto workshop setup in the back of someone's cars.

Website: www.skonviksbacken.se
Social media: @skonvikcykelpark

6. BOLLEKOLLEN

“We only started building and developing Bollekollen for bikes 3 years ago. The ski hill had been abandoned for some time so we really had to start from scratch, but in a short amount of time we’ve managed to bring it back to life! The hill currently has a fast machine-built DH-track with berms and jumps that suit riders of different abilities and a bunch of fun and challenging singletracks in the forest and on the piste. Basically, there is a good variety of trail to ride and have fun on!” - Rickard, Bollekollen.

Where: Göteborg
Trails: 6 trails from green to black.
News 2018: “We’re excited to announce that we will start building a smaller beginner area this summer – prefect for those just starting out.”

Opening day 2018: End of May.
Lift opening hours: Weekends 10:00-16:00. Check Facebook for the latest updates.
Facilities: Bike workshop, bike shop and a café with hotdogs, hamburgers, sandwiches and more.

Website: www.bollekollen.nu (under construction)
Facebook: @bollekollen
Instagram: @bollekollen

7. YXBACKEN

“Yxbacken's terrain is pretty unique with its rocky, steep trails, but we also have an easier, fun machine-built track with some wooden bridges as an addition to the slightly more difficult trails. It all started with a bunch of us getting access to the lift whilst building a trail on the hill and after a few years the ski club realised its potential and suggested we’d open it up for bikers all summer.” - Mathias Sörberg, Yxbacken.

Where: Norrköping
Trails: 4 trails from blue to black as well as a pump track.
News 2018: "As the hill will be re-excavated this year, hopefully we will be able to add another blue/red jump track and a little Dirt area."

Opening day 2018: Sometime in May. Check website for the latest updates.
Lift opening hours: 3-4 days a week. Check website for the latest updates.
Facilities: Coffee, hotdogs and snacks available for purchase. As volunteers run the hill, help with mechanical problems is possible if they have time.

8. ÅKERSJÖBACKEN

“The park only opened in 2017 so everything is pretty new and exciting for us. We want to offer a family friendly park where riders of all abilities can learn, enjoy and develop their skills. The project is just in its start up phase and we are trying to develop the park and its equipment as much as we can. Hopefully it will become a fun and awesome place for families to come spend their summer holidays.” - Yvonne och Peter, Åkersjöbacken.

Where: Åkersjön, Jämtland
Trails: 4; two red, one blue and one green trail.
News 2018: "Two new tracks are on the go. One machine-built red track with steeps, kicks and a small wall ride. Perfect for more advanced riders that want to get some speed and airtime. The second one is a fun green beginner track with proper berms, bridges and some singletrack sections. It is about 300 meter long and can be accessed without the lift.

Opening day: After midsummer.
Lift opening hours: Check website for opening hours. The lift will run until the 16th of August.
Facilities: Bike rentals, camping, camping cottages and a restaurant.

9. ÖSTBERGET

“There is currently an official push to develop the riding on and around Östberget with the help of the ski lift. Local bike enthusiast have been riding DH on Östberget for several years so the municipality decided to start running the lift in collaboration with the bike community 4 years ago. Since then they have been working together to develop existing and new trails.” - Ulf Norlén, Östersunds Municipality.

Where: Östersund
Trails: 3 trails; one blue and two red.
News 2018: “We will continue to develop the park and its facilities for bikes together with the local bike community.”

Opening day: TBC – check updates on website.
Lift opening hours: Tuesday & Thursday: 17:00-21:00 (TBC – double check on website for exact times)
Facilities: Bike rental (Lagg & Hoj) in proximity to the lift.