A warm thank you to all who were part of this great pilgrimage to Ragunda. Here's some material about the experience and the thoughts I had.
We had the pleasure of spending a few days with Peter Ladan as our guide on our journey in Ragunda, Sweden, where he took the time to introduce us to local entrepreneurs, as well as enabling us to experience the natural beauty of the area.
The meaning of this was to get new views, tips and ideas to help Ragunda navigate into the future.
The Almåsa ski resort
We met with the owners of the Almåsa skiing camp/resort, who are concerned with the future of the camp and large investments that will need to be made. There is an inn and ski rental facilities.
The business has been famous and the current owners have worked it for a few years and are now growing. There will be training for international downhill skiers in conjunction with the world downhill championships to be arranged in Åre in 2017.
There are also possibillities for snowboarding and cross-country skiing. The owners hope to be able to finance a restaurant also at the top of the 700 m hill.
Almåsa has 11 slopes, 2 lifts and an investment for artificial snow to prolong the saeson has been made. Winters are apparently warmer today, so this is a real problem.
Many guests are expected to come and there is an urgent need for acommodations. Only a few rooms are available at the resort.
There are discussions of Bed-and Breakfast arrangements with the local community and a frantic search for financing localities at the premises.
Maybe the resort should look at adding activities such as hang-gliding, that are not so temperature-critical. One way to get financing is also to find political power that will guarantee loans, since the banks are very hesitant in this region. Another welcome thing would be an awesome homepage with films and so on using famous skiers as spokespersons and user experience. Also locals, politicians and administrators could have good things to say.
Glösa Älgriket
95-year old Curt Lofterud has built and administers the many attractions of the private museum Glösa Älgriket. The first building is called Glös-hallen, Then there is an autenthic winter dwelling and the Älghallen with exhibitions. There is also an area with authentic trapping pits for moose.
The activities include guiding and lectures for different groups, café services and autenthic eating (moose and fish soup), fire making, javelin throwing and archery.
The problem seems to be that Curt will not be around for ever and no-one we learned about is ready to continue his life’s work. Premises, artefacts and attractions are all there, so maybe an organization of volunteers could take over when the time comes.
Granåsbuan Fäbod
In old times the villages kept their cattle together during summer to graze and especially the women had simple living quarters there. Milk was collected and made into butter and cheese. We had a chance to see this and hear stories of how life was back in the day, courtesy of Jonas Andersson, Elin Dahlin, Anna-Märtha Johansson, Per Olof Bengard and Robert Falk (Municipality of Ragunda / Ragunda Kommun), Lars and Carl-Göran Söder of Zorb.
Frösö Park
We stayed for two nights at the Frösö Park hotel in the ex-airforce base at Frösön outside of Östersund and had a possibility to visit the Gastronomy Festival. Jämtland really produces high-quality ingredients from nature and the assortment was hugely impressive. Creative gastronomy really shines in Jämtland.
AIM Sweden
We had a chance to visit AIM Sweden, one of the most visionary companies in the field of 3D printing doing additive manufacturing in plastic/polymers, metals for industrial and medical use (mainly transplants) at Frösö Park.
AIM integrates education, development and research as well as manufacturing in one of the fastest-growing technological areas. This is indeed said to be the fourth industrial revolution.
The most positive decisive factors are superior quality, short lead time and a cost-effective possibility to manufacture anywhere effectively without material waste using the same machines for different designs.
Additive manufacture is definitely the technology for the future. Thank you CEO Göran Elovsson and crew.
The floating restaurant
We also got acquainted with dining on the river on a barge with tables. Fantastic nature experience, since the lake is calm and the landscape around it marvelous. The food was professionally presented and delicious.
This is another little working enterprise, like so many in Jämtland, run by hard-working and industrious people. The challenge is the same –how to lure more people to this experience. Social media and the internet and working together with the authorities of Ragunda. Most of the resources needed are already in place.