 Poster: A snowHead
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Arrived on Friday night for our annual trip. Best snow coverage I’ve seen this time of year In the seven years I’ve been visiting. With more snow predicted that night we hired an instructor for our first morning on Saturday to take advantage of the conditions.
Hari was our guide, level 3 Austrian Instructor who has been teaching in Serfaus for 17 years. My 12 and 14 year old were with me. They don’t do Freeride skis for kids in the hire shops so my daughter had to make do on slalom skis which made it a tough challenge.
The first few runs were on skiers right from the top of Plansegg. The area was completely untouched and it was beautiful deep light powder perfect for working on technique in a shallow gradient.
We then had a run in the Freeride area to the bottom of Scheidbahn which was just a touch heavier in the sun. After a couple of hours my daughter had enough but we extended with Hari for an hour.
We went up the Lazidbahn and just lapped variations of the front face and through the small trees at the bottom. They still hadn’t made the pistes down the front but you could access down the cat track before going off the side. The snow was amazing and again largely untouched.
Here’s a couple of links from my twitter feed showing the conditions and my boy skiing in the powder near the bottom of the Lazid face:
https://twitter.com/andreaustin1/status/1210966220536778753?s=21
https://twitter.com/andreaustin1/status/1211251073933025280?s=21
The rest of the day we just kept doing the same thing ourselves again. That’s the beauty of Serfaus, even if it’s busy when it snows you can ski fresh lines all day 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A real shame that you can't buy a package to these resorts -yes I know that you can organise flights, hotels and transfers (not sure how easy the last is if you don't want to hire a car) but I'd rather have the ATOL/ABTA protection in case of airline/air traffic control issues in both directions.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Thanks Guernseyfreerider, it looks lovely.
We will be visiting Serfaus, for the first time, at half term (driving from UK).
Any mountain restaurant recommendations and favourite ski runs or resort tips gratefully received. Thank you
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| muddewater wrote: |
| A real shame that you can't buy a package to these resorts . |
I agree. I always DIY to Fiss but have had a few epics with INN airport diverts and the transfer is either expensive of faffy
jilly What sort of runs do you like?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@jilly, you have made an excellent choice. As for on-mtn food: at Komperdellbahn mid station there is a place called Suppenkasper...15 kinds of soup, affordable, good, fast & well-located. Good kid place. For a fancy sit-down lunch, try Seealm Hög, assessed by skiing from above, or taking the Alpkopfbahn to the mid station. I'm not a big apres guy, but I had a end-of-day beer on the deck at Leite Wirt, near the bottom of the Königsleithebahn, easy & short way down from there. I went to Serfaus last year for the first time at the suggestion of some folks here, and I'm going back in March. Unless something goes haywire for you, I bet you'll return as well.
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@jilly, Can't help with the kids stuff I'm afraid but my favourite runs are red 92 'Waldabfahrt' I think, down into Serfaus and the classic red 7 'Frommesabfahrt' I think from the top of Schonjoch right down into Ladis.
All the runs on Fiss 'northside' are good too, so over the top from the Schonjochbahn.
Cracking area, you'll love it.
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@muddewater, but that would mean more Brits coming to Serfaus which defeats the object of coming here 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Guernseyfreerider wrote: |
| @muddewater, but that would mean more Brits coming to Serfaus which defeats the object of coming here |
Yep been to Serfaus Fiss Landis several times, part of the appeal is the lack of Anglo Saxons. But mostly it is a superb ski area. Don't get me wrong, I do love our nation, but on holiday I like to 'get away'
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@jilly, the bear run is open to everyone, it’s got a couple of features on the way down but they’ll probably have more fun in the park on Plansegg. I think there’s a new one at Fiss too but we haven’t bothered going over there this time.
If your hotel doesn’t have a ski depot near the main gondola station then I recommend you use the Patscheider depot there below the gondola station, saves you lugging stuff up there every day., you also hire your skis there and they have a depot up the mountain too where you can swap skis etc if you are not comfortable with the gear.
Restaurants up the hill are all good, you can’t book See Alm so get there early if you want to get a table. The Kolner house is the chalet below Komperdell and that does excellent rustic food with table service and is very quick. Suppenkasper as previously mentioned is a winner with kids and you get free bread with your soup. To be fair all the self service restaurants are very good too.
The lawenspavillion is a small rustic place at the bottom of the long red and blue lawens runs but don’t leave lunch too late or the sun goes down as it’s in a valley and you’ll freeze!
The Scheidbahn and Oberscheidbahn lifts access red and black runs with easily accessible off piste bits in between with hollows and rollers you’ll see it all as you go up the lifts.
Masner seems to always have great snow all day, it’s sometimes nice going there In the afternoon at 14.00 as most people start making there way back and you can have the slopes to yourselves.
I’m sure you’ll love it, service everywhere is excellent, it’s busy at the moment but I haven’t waited more than five minutes for a lift.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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More great skiing over the last few days. It was 5 degrees at 2400m this morning but the snow is excellent on piste but we still found powder today around Masner and some great wintry snow in the off piste below Scheidbahn.
We spent yesterday afternoon with some German friends and their 7 year old daughter and my kids. We kept lapping the off piste below the Lazidbahn to the side of the black. Deep, heavy snow and very hard to ski as they were all on slalom skis but they absolutely bossed it and had great fun.
A lot of people ignore that area as it turns back towards Komperdell and means going on two lifts but it’s a great place to lap after fresh snow which seems to stay around for days on the Northern aspects.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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Night skiing is grossly underrated. Tons of fun, often better visibility than by day.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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A good last day yesterday, noticeably colder with a small front moving in but unfortunately no much new snow on the way. The base is excellent so anyone coming out in the new week will enjoy good conditions on piste.
Highlight of the day for all the wrong reasons was at See Alm where my son went to the toilet and was washing his hands in the large trough in the toilets. An old boy came in and obviously got thought the trough was the urinal Ana started weeing in it - doh! 
We did an early Masner run and the snow was excellent. Later in the afternoon we lapped the park at Plansegg and did the bumps under the chair. Plansegg was quiet in the afternoon and I did some carving with my nephew and niece. They have been having a private lesson all week and their instructor has done them proud.
The Kaiserschmarrn award this year goes to Lassisda at the top of the Lazidbahn, good Portion with crispy edges.
One thing to look out for, when you take the Lazidbahn up from Komperdell, if you come from outside and go into the building their is rubber matting on the floor where the queue for the lift goes. Just as you enter and go to the right it drops a couple of inches and ice seems to get in the rubber matting. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have slipped badly including our instructor who virtually did a backflip. I know it doesn’t sound much but look out!
Have a great time anyone heading out this season. Couple of instructor recommendations: Daniel Marktl for intermediate/advanced/kids - young local lad who knows the area like the back of his hand and speaks excellent English
Hari - Level 3, super chilled guy who has been there 17 years and is the ideal man to take you off piste
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Guernseyfreerider wrote: |
A good last day yesterday, noticeably colder with a small front moving in but unfortunately no much new snow on the way. The base is excellent so anyone coming out in the new week will enjoy good conditions on piste.
Highlight of the day for all the wrong reasons was at See Alm where my son went to the toilet and was washing his hands in the large trough in the toilets. An old boy came in and obviously got thought the trough was the urinal Ana started weeing in it - doh!
We did an early Masner run and the snow was excellent. Later in the afternoon we lapped the park at Plansegg and did the bumps under the chair. Plansegg was quiet in the afternoon and I did some carving with my nephew and niece. They have been having a private lesson all week and their instructor has done them proud.
The Kaiserschmarrn award this year goes to Lassisda at the top of the Lazidbahn, good Portion with crispy edges.
One thing to look out for, when you take the Lazidbahn up from Komperdell, if you come from outside and go into the building their is rubber matting on the floor where the queue for the lift goes. Just as you enter and go to the right it drops a couple of inches and ice seems to get in the rubber matting. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have slipped badly including our instructor who virtually did a backflip. I know it doesn’t sound much but look out!
Have a great time anyone heading out this season. Couple of instructor recommendations: Daniel Marktl for intermediate/advanced/kids - young local lad who knows the area like the back of his hand and speaks excellent English
Hari - Level 3, super chilled guy who has been there 17 years and is the ideal man to take you off piste |
Hi,
We are heading to Serfaus in Feb half-term - did you book the instructor through the main ski school, or directly?
Any views from anyone on best ski hire deals - I can't see anything particularly good via the usuals (Snowbrainer/Alpinresorts).
thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@MontyP, You have to book it through the ski school but if there is someone you want specifically just ask and they will sort it for you. If you have kids the group programmes in particular Snowstars are excellent, I haven’t been in Feb but the only thing I found is that there were never any English kids in my kids classes when they did it which was fine with them but obvs some kids may prefer to be with other English speakers.
Rental: To be honest I’ve just got lazy on it now more from the convenience side as we just use Patscheider in the main base station where we store our skis too - I think they feature on www.alpinresorts.com
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Heading to Serfaus this weekend for a week and I'm tempted to "join the dark side" and learn skiing! LOL. I Love my snowboard but need a bit of variety if snow conditions are just average.
Does anyone know if there are lift passes for beginners? or passes with a points system? If I join the beginner classes, I might be wrong but I could end up using only the carpet lifts.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Drove from South Germany to Serfaus yesterday. Judging from the car seat, Arlberg seems to have had more snow that rest of the region (fresh snow on the road in arlberg, compared to nearly nothing at Ried) That said, fun afternoon snowboarding in Serfaus. I reckon about 20-25cm of powder at 2300-2400m (Scheidbahn/Obere Scheidbahn). It was not enough not to feel the old/hardpacked/icy base but still very fun nonetheless. Thin base and quite icy lower down. Its been snowing moderately on and off since 4pm yesterday.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Cedrick, that is the one weakness about that place, it has altitude but doesn't get huge amounts of snow but at least when it does it takes days for it to get tracked out 
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Enjoyable last five days. The first two days after the last snowfall were "powder day" like, although anything steep-ish (offpiste and ski routes) was so-so because the old hard/icy base could be felt instantly. The new snow has now blended in with the base and off-piste is quite enjoyable. Snow on the north-facing slopes (backside of Fiss, Scheidbahn, Pezid, Masner areas) is still very much "January" like, while the snow on south facing slopes is transforming during the day with the sunshine.
@Guernseyfreerider, it's so true, the offpiste takes days to get tracked out, which is great! I'm almost alone as soon as I step a foot off-piste. This would be impossible in Arlberg.
I will try to take/post pictures before I leave on Saturday. There is definitely snow, especially at altitude, but it's not the deepest base that Ive seen since I 've started coming here about 10 yrs ago.
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FAQ
