History

CULTURE, HISTORY, LUXURY & GLAMOUR – 80 YEARS AT HÖGIS (1937-2017)

We feel sure that daring entrepreneur J.W. Klüver, who built the original Sälens Högfjällshotell back in 1937, would approve of our exciting plans for the future. And while it might sound a touch egotistical to claim that no other alpine hotel has a history like ours, the fact is it’s true!

Thommy Backner

1930s: Norwegian entrepreneur finds location for Sälens Högfjällshotell
Young and daring Norwegian entrepreneur J.W. Klüver had a dream: to build a luxury alpine hotel at Sälen. After first studying snow depths and temperature conditions, he settled on Sälen for its long winter season and deep blanket of snow. Klüver’s proposed hotel site lay above the tree line, however, and, at the time, there was no way to get there. Another difficulty lay in finding financing for his daring project.

1935: Wallenberg invests
In an attempt to solve these problems, Klüver invited Sweden’s biggest names in finance, including Jacob Wallenberg, to visit Sälen. The only way to convince them to travel up to the mountain was to have 12 men shovel snow for two weeks to allow them access to the site. Ultimately, the financiers were carried up the mountainside in sledges.

Once they arrived, Klüver presented his grand development plan – a million-krona investment in the heart of the alpine wilderness. Klüver had a French chef serve his guests whole roasted suckling pig and lamb by an open fire to help persuade them and was ultimately promised financial support to build his hotel.

Local newspaper reports on the deal included the following description: “Million-krona construction project 8 kilometres beyond civilisation’s outer limits: Sälens Kur- och Högfjällshotell is likely the boldest tourism-industry enterprise ever founded in Sweden”. The hotel ultimately cost 1.5 million kronor to build (or approx. 300 million kronor by today’s standards).

1937: Luxurious Sälens Kur- och Högfjällshotell opens Easter Sunday, 1937
Swedish nobility from around the country attended the hotel’s grand opening. Most gentlemen at the opening wore full evening dress and the ladies, evening gowns. Their primary interest was not in skiing, however, but in having a good time, enjoying the pleasures of life and taking in the healthy, invigorating mountain air.

Klüver buys 17th-century waffle cabin
Klüver went on to buy up surrounding land for walking trails, sports grounds, fish ponds and weekend cottages. He also leased the resort’s lands for grouse hunting and bought a 17th-century log cabin as a place of interest for visitors to visit on walks. This log cabin now houses local hotel and restaurant Gammelgården Hotell & Restaurang.

Sälens Kur- och Högfjällshotell becomes royal refuge
Nazi Germany seized control of Denmark and Norway one spring day in 1940. Norway’s Crown Princess Märtha and her children fled to the hotel at Sälen and were secretly accommodated here as a means to avoid capture by their pursuers. Harald V, current king of Norway, was one of the children who followed the crown princess to Sälen.

1950s: Klüver forced to abandon his life’s work
Klüver eventually ran into financial problems, which led local businessman Per Daniels and partner Ove Ohlsson to take over the hotel in 1950. Reindeer and riding horses were brought in to make the location more attractive to visitors during the summer season. Daniels and Ohlsson also built the hotel’s own ski lift and a roof over the swimming pool at Vinterträdgården.

1960s: Högis sold to Torsten Widing, prominent hotelier from Falun, 1964
Torsten Widing continued to run and further develop the hotel and its facilities until 1983. Thanks to its swimming pool, the hotel could now be leased to the local county council as a convalescent facility during the summer months.

1970s: Onkel Jean – a restaurant for true connoisseurs
Hotelier Torsten Widing had once worked as a chef for the Dane Jean Iversen and had promised him that if he should ever open a top-class restaurant, he would name it after Iversen. As promised, the restaurant Onkel Jean opened in 1978 with three county governors in attendance. Onkel Jean offered its guests fine dining with a unique view out over the mountain.

1979: Cooperative housing association Bostadsrättsföreningen Högfjället builds timeshare holiday apartments.

1980s: Högis becomes pleasure seeker’s paradise
The resort property was bought up by brothers Mats and Erik Paulsson via the Lindvallen company, now known as SkiStar. The Paulssons developed the hotel’s restaurant and entertainment offering to the point that Högis became a magnet for pleasure seekers.

1989: Storfjället is built: 109 self-catering apartments with ski-in, ski-out access.

1990s: Thommy Backner arrives in Sälen
Current hotel owner Thommy Backner became involved with Högis in the 1990s and the resort has now become something of his life’s work. None of Backner’s predecessors managed Högis for as long a time. Backner is constantly dreaming up new and exciting ideas and has become one of Sälenfjällen’s most prominent and best-loved personalities.

Fun fact about hotel magnate Thommy Backner: Backner has always been fascinated by winter sports and, in his youth, enjoyed success in both freestyle and speed skiing.

1993: Swedish society and defence association Folk och Försvar visits Högis. 
The association’s annual national conference is held here for the first time and has returned every year since. Prominent conference attendees over the years have included Sweden’s prime minister, the Swedish king, Sweden’s crown princess, Sweden’s minister for defence and the secretary general of NATO.

1995: Högis acquires 21 apartments after the Winter Olympics held in Lillehammer, Norway.

1999: Family-owned business Topeja takes over Sälens Högfjällshotell.

The Backner family takes over the resort’s operations in full via the Topeja company. (“Topeja” being an acronym of the family members’ names: Thommy, Petra and their son, Jack.)

2002: Local hotel and restaurant Gammelgården Hotell & Restaurang acquired
By 2002, things had come full-circle again, since it was Klüver who originally relocated the cabin housing Gammelgården to its current location as a place of interest and waffle cabin back in 1945.

2008: Scandinavian Resorts founded
Scandinavian Resorts is a group of hotels with that classic and genuine Scandinavian feeling: Hotell Skansen, Riviera Strand (Båstad), Torekov Hotell (Torekov), Gammelgården Hotell & Restaurang and Sälens Högfjällshotell. The business also includes Topeja Event & Catering and the restaurants Pepes Bodega and Hamnplats 3 in Båstad.

2014: Luxurious suite apartments – Clüwerbyn
Clüwerbyn: a group of eight ultra-modern and well-equipped suite apartments are built right outside the hotel.

2017: Högis celebrates 80 years of fun, outdoor adventures, fine dining and personal service.

2019: THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT! SÄLEN BECOMES INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAY DESTINATION WITH OWN AIRPORT
Sälens Högfjällshotell is one of the prime movers behind the construction of the new Scandinavian Mountains Airport, soon to be an international airport.

While the scent of cigars smoked by the counts and barons who once visited Högis may have faded, every moment of our hotel’s history continues to live on in its heart – a heart whose lifeblood draws its vitality from deep within Sälenfjällen’s majestic mountains.