Snowmobiling

Anyone can do it. All you need is warm clothing (provided), nerves of steel and a love of mind-boggling speed – the tools of the average committed skier. You also need to bring along a valid driving licence and be sober. Swedish police with breathalysers apparently also ride snowmobiles.

The reward for me was two hours of unequalled adrenalin- and petrol-fuelled action against a wild winter landscape that came complete – on cue – with a whole herd of grazing reindeer.

Dog-sledding

If you are standing on the runners of a dog sled trying to convince 10 Swedish-born Alaskan huskies to give it some paw power, don’t say “mush!”

“Framät,” whispered my instructor, Ricky, from Åre Sleddog Adventures (30381; www.aresleddog.se). He was a mechanic from Stockholm but somewhere along the line swapped wheels for worming pills and answered, Jack London-style, the call of the wild.

“Framät!” I yelled. The response was roughly similar to what happens when Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button floors it on pole. Somehow I managed not to tumble off the back.

I did try braking – pushing down on a bed of vicious spring-loaded spikes that dig into the snow. But the dogs were so fresh and strong it was like speed-ploughing a field. However, they soon calmed down as we glided along the edge of the lake and through the surrounding woods. It’s important, I’m told, to show your team who’s in charge.

“Vänster [left]!” I shouted at my leading dogs. They promptly turned höger – right.

Ice-karting

This is the lake equivalent of go-karting and every bit as much fun. You race around a prepared track on the lake. If you get your line wrong and miss a bend, there’s no wall of tyres to hit – you just slide out off the track.

Ice-fishing

Buy bait, rent a rod and – most importantly – the kind of heavy- duty electric drill used for setting a slalom course. You cut your hole in the ice, apply maggot to hook, and wait. Warm clothing or even a pop-up tent are useful extras – along with a bottle of local firewater. The reward should be brown trout or delicious Arctic char on the dinner table.

Zip-wiring

This is flying without wings. On the mountainside above the lake, Åre claims to have the largest zip-wire park in Europe. Certainly, it’s got to be one of the fastest – 60m above the ground but safely strapped into a harness you hit speeds of up to 45mph. A lower age limit of eight years applies to the easier runs and 15 for the upper runs.

Prices

Prices in Åre are similar to those in a major French resort, but the food quality is generally considerably higher. You will pay £16-£22 for a main course in a restaurant, £6.50 for a glass of wine (£35 a bottle) and £5 for a beer. Supermarkets can only sell beer with a strength of up to 3.5%. All other drink must be bought in the state-run off-licence, where prices are much the same as in Britain. A six-day lift pass costs £170, less expensive than in many comparable Alpine resorts.