Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis 2022/23

A snowHead

Back in Serfaus for the first time in two years Smile

Snow really not too bad considering the recent rain but there is a fair amount closed. Obere Scheidbahn lift and run is closed creating a bit of a bottle neck on the way to Masner. They seemed to have groomed the top of the run and just stopped.

Great snow as usual around Masner this morning, even managed to ski a little bit of powder and some fun crud down to the bottom of the Scheidbahn. After lunch ventured to Fiss for our annual visit and did a couple of runs down the Nordzeiten. The top of black 27 was superb and then quickly got very icy. We managed to find a bit more heavy powder off the side lower down and tried out the new 12 er Bahn chairlift. Very impressive and will I’m sure take the pressure off the gondola which can get very busy.

Then it was survival skiing through the crowds and icy pistes to the Waldbahn for return to Serfaus.

Back to the hotel for a break and then out for night skiing. If you haven’t done it before get involved - brilliant fun:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cmuhjj6MnuZ/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

A snowHead

A very nice couple of days. Yesterday we went up early and were treated to a sprinkle of fresh snow and the pistes were in great nick first thing. I had a private lesson with the kids as I was skiing like a donkey and needed a fix. The ski school private lessons become progressively cheaper during the week and Friday is the cheapest day.

If you are a good skier very important to ask for a level 3 as below that you can’t always guarantee what you are going to get. We had Peter Schlatter who was top notch, very technical but just what we needed, got the fix I wanted and the kids made big improvements. He also leads tours and does Freeride days so hopefully we’ll get to use him if we get the snow next year.

A good run first thing is the red from the top of the Alpkoph bahn to the village, always quiet and in great condition as no one can be bothered to ski all the way down.

Later on we headed to Masner and found some wind blown powder but the pick of the day was down the side of the Scheidbahn, the gullies to the right of the piste hold great wintry wind blown snow and we lapped it several times before doing some bumps just below the top of the Plansegg bahn

A couple of things to be aware of if you are coming out with kids - Play serfaus is closed for the season, I don’t know why and the roller coaster at see Alm is shut till feb - again not sure why.

It’s also noticeably more expensive to eat up the mountain. German friends who are regulars at the Kolner Haus reckon they are paying nearly double from last year and even suppenkaser has gone up considerably so may be worth selling a kidney if you are coming out with a family.

We finished off the day by getting absolutely mullered in Patchschi with some German friends, and dancing to a song about Niki Lauda’s Mum - I mean WTF! Laughing

Today it was a sluggish start but we eventually made it to Masner and then quickly headed back to Pezid as a friend had alerted us it had just opened up for the first time this season and there was untracked powder on the itinerary. It would probably have been really nice if I was on my Freeride skis and not on race carvers (lame excuse I know) So I skied like a weapon but it was good fun. Then it was back to Masner for a couple of laps and skiing really nice wind blown to the side of the black on the front side.

We finished off by lapping the gullies in the Scheidbahn again but with the temperature rising the snow had just started to get a little heavier. It was 10 degrees at 1800m tonight so will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings - the run down back to the village was a complete slush fest

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Keep the reports coming. This area is very much on my list. But not likely for this season due to the lift pass deal I have from the Dolomites which will effectively tie me to the Dollies this year

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@JHS, the area has strengths and weaknesses like anywhere. It’s become more of a family thing for us, we’ve found a great hotel with stunning food and made some good friends. What I like about it is the lack of Brits (although noticeably more this year)! Also when we do get snow we can ski untracked powder for days after a fall and even this week when it’s probably been the worst since 2015 we still found some nice bits to ski on. So the rules are if you come to Serfaus and you are British, only one family per week please and obviously don’t tell anyone else wink

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Guernseyfreerider, I feel similarly about San Vigilio. The fewer Brits the better.
I also happen to be a huge fan of the entire Bailiwick of Guernsey.

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@Guernseyfreerider, @JHS, Get a room

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@Guernseyfreerider, re the lack of Brits there, I found the same: I was there for a week and heard one group speaking English, a couple from the US doing a resort review. My hotel owner said I was the first American to ever stay there! The flip side: not everybody serving you will speak English. Not a big deal, and I like how that makes it a little more authentic.

After all it is free

First place I ever skied in Europe back in '89 at New Years. Awesome experience. Need to get back there one of these days!

First visited in 2008, don’t think we heard any Brits all week. Great resorts, little pricey but you get what you pay for.
The one thing I thought lacking in Fiss (where we usually stay) is the lack of restaurants - other than in the hotels, but all things considered a great resort best kept to those in the know.

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@Toadman, SFL is not Südtirol! But yes, it's a different language

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@Guernseyfreerider, thanks for the reports above, we're heading to Fiss with our three little kids on Friday. Can't wait! just wondering if you have any advice of which reds around Serfaus/Fiss that might be good for a more timid intermediate skiier? My husband is happy to ski anything and everything, but I'm much more cautious. Also from the map, it looks like most of the blacks are still closed?

You know it makes sense.

@Steilhang, agreed, assuming they meant Romansch, which I hear is similar to the (various dialects of) Ladin spoken in Südtirol. Right? All I heard was German....

@Skifamily, Fiss has a cruiser called Fromme which is about a mile wide and long, check it out. I found a good lap to do: From the top of Schönjochbahn II gondola, ski one of the several reds down to Schöngampbahn chair. Ride it and ski 7 Fromme down to the bottom of Schönjochbahn I, ride to the top (it becomes II at the mid-station, stay on board). Repeat. All wide open runs, plenty of room for the fast and not so fast to share.

I stayed in Serfaus and thought the dining scene was the weak point, but to be fair I was there late in the season and a few places were already closed. But none of the open ones were any good....the food was better on the hill!

I also think the subway is way cool.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Scooter in Seattle, They speak Tyroler dialect, which is definitely German... kind of. Romansch spoken in Graubünden (Switzerland), which is closely associated with the Ladina spoken in parts of Südtirol, and is a form of vulgar latin.

A snowHead

A snowHead

@Skifamily,

Good News - Fiss is the very best Ski resort in the Alps!

Bad news (1) - conditions aren't great atm

Bad news (2) - it's a tough area for the timid...

Sccoters circuit above is nice, buy even they are genuine red runs. Only the Bunny slopes of Komperdell offer much relief for the nervous beginner. In better times the run down to Ladis would be perfect, but likely closed / ice atm

Where are you staying? If the Schlosshotel then you are in for a real treat

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Skifamily, hi there, I’ve only ventured across to Fiss once this time, it’s very warm and slushy at the moment even from quite early in the morning although I think it’s due to get a bit colder. Your best bet in Serfaus at the moment are the reds on Plansegg which although slushy offer plenty of grip and the run down from the top of Scheidbahn to the bottom.

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@Skifamily, most of the blacks are closed apart from the main one on Nordzeiten (Fiss) which was great at the top the other day but sheet ice lower down.

Pezid in Serfaus has opened up and the black is in great condition.

Also the front of Masner but go early on that one it was very gnarly in the afternoon the other day, I was on race carvers and holding on big time and watched a border go top to bottom head first Shocked

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It’s warmed up considerably the last couple of days but the highlight of the week was yesterday. Incredibly there was still untracked snow on the pezid itinerary! I was back on my Freeride skis and it was great fun. I took some friends kids and mine and we just lapped it. There was a few cheeky sharks around which will keep the ski repairers busy but it just goes to show again how you can have untracked snow here for days or even weeks after snowfall.

We then lapped the Scheidbahn gullies again which were still very nice and finished off with a couple of laps of the park.

A couple of things to be aware of up on the hill - The Hexenhutte up on Masner only takes cash as does the Lawenspavilion, so watch out for that.

I also checked out the new Komperdell Bahn which will come into service next year. It’s state of the art ten seater, you take skis and boards in the cabin with you. The new mid station has been built (well the shell) it will have a restaurant and is also situated to allow people coming over from Fiss to have access up to Komperdell. The old lift will be dismantled and the base station completely remodelled with a new ski depot that can cater for 5000 people. It’s costing a whopping EUR50m but one thing this area has shown is that it’s not shy to re-invest.

Today was very busy, the Alpkophbahn broke down and Komperdell was carnage, so we took the Sunliner as the traverse to Komperdell is open. We headed to Pezid again and skied the itinerary, still a few turns in untouched but the sharks are really starting to show now.

The kids have been giving it the big one saying how they reckon snowboarding would be easy so I booked them a two hour lesson In the afternoon. Instructor was called Daira (she’s the only Daira apparently) and she was excellent. I saw her after half an hour and she reckoned she would have them on the chairlift in the next hour which she did and they managed three laps of the familienbahn. My daughter had enough so I took my son up Plansegg and he managed the red which was pretty good going for a first timer.

One thing I’ve noticed with the ski schools are some very big groups - I counted 12 kids in one and 14 I’m another. The ski school has always had a great reputation and maybe they are short of instructors but In my experience it’s always been a maximum of 8 here - really not great from a learning perspective.

The piste team are doing a great Job but another week of weather like this and no snowmaking and it’s going to be a real challenge, serfaus and Fiss are mainly south facing and the lower slopes are taking a bit of a pounding. I hope the weather gods oblige for anyone coming out soon

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….And I’ve just looked at the forecast, little sprinkle tomorrow but importantly freezing level dropping so hopefully snow making will be able to get going again Smile

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Last day today. Very unmotivated after a week of mostly piste skiing but we headed to Masner. We hadn’t been there for a couple of days and I was surprised to see mud starting to appear on one of the pistes. My son dived into the snow on the side of the black and amazingly it was very good, soft on top and very skiable and we suddenly felt very motivated again and did a couple of laps snowHead

. At around 12.30 it started to snow but it was +3 at 2350m, we headed back to see alm for lunch, side piste as usual on the Scheidabfahrt was great.

Komperdell was absolute carnage, never seen it so busy, slushy bumps and people everywhere, must be a nightmare for inexperienced or timid skiers but it is peak season and of course not everything is open. But it’s not all bad, waiting times are still no more than 5 mins max up the hill and you can get away from it if you head to Masner.

We had lunch at see alm, it’s one of my favourite restaurants but today it was pretty average, sporadic service, think they were just a bit over run.

We headed over to Fiss in the afternoon, Flat light and wet snow up to the top, there didn’t appear to be much accumulation. We did a lap of the park and came back on the 12er bahn. When the snow comes the line under that looks very appealing and it’s very long too.

We skied back down the front on Red 52 (schonjochabfahrt) and then took the sattelbahn up for the return to Serfaus which was a bump and slush fest but thankfully by then not too busy.

Back in town it was raining and still drizzling as I write this, hopefully the runs up top should see some benefit as it was snowing quite hard above 2000m and there are lower temperatures on the way next week.

Kaiserschmarrn of the week award went to the Sportalm just below Komperdell. It’s been so great to be back after two years because of covid and as usual we have booked again for next year.

I hope everyone coming out has a great time and the snow gods deliver for you

After all it is free

@Guernseyfreerider, thanks for your great reports. Skipping a trip to Serfaus this year but enjoyed reading your updates. Brought back some memories of previous trips.

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Hello, family of 5. Kids 14, 12, and 8. Beginner/intermediate skiers.

Trying to decide between Serfaus and Fiss this week Wed-Sat. Also looking for the easiest ski-in-ski-out scenario for the kids to get back to hotel. Hoping conditions are okay. Any feedback on location or hotel is appreciated.

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There really isn't any ski in/out in Serfaus. Not sure about Fiss, but I suspect not.

However, with the underground railway many hotels are pretty convenient for skiing. We stayed at the opposite end of the village from the lift (Hotel Lowe - very good) it was a 2 minute walk to the train, they run every 8 minutes or so and it take you to the base of the lifts.

There's plenty of skiing for beginners and intermediates but I'd be very wary of the run down late in the day, it can get busy and will lkely be slushy this week - best to take the lift down for an easy life Smile

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If you use the ski depot at the base station to leave your shoes then it’s a easy walk depending where you stay or as Sah said just hop on the underground. Some of the hotels actually have the use of depots by the base station. The snow down to resort looks very thin so you might be downloading anyway but there’s still plenty of skiing above 2000m

Thanks for the responses. Is there an overall recommendation of Serfaus vs Fiss with a 14yr, 12yr, and 8yr old kids?

You know it makes sense.

There's much more terrain in Serfaus. It's easy to get across from Fiss but I'd favour Serfaus, it's just slightly quicker to get across to the big runs on Massner. To be honest I'd take either, just go for the hotel that suits you (and it is mainly hotels, there's very little self catering).

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I’d go for Serfaus definitely

A snowHead

Thanks

A snowHead

Ski school in Fiss is excellent. (Berta).Most accommodation in Fiss have Ski lockers at the base station, nobody walks around the Village with skis and boots, very civilized resort and family friendly. also consider Ladis as a base, Ski school accessible from lift to Fiss.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@DandMfam, another vote for Serfaus. More immediately into the main area and there's more fun things to do like the alpine coaster, normal sledging (if ok still with the snow conditions) and the indoor climbing wall at the base of the lifts. There's a mini bowling alley too though forget which hotel/bar it's part of.

Might be wrong but I don't think there's as much to do in Fiss. There are a (very) few places in Serfaus which are ski in at the lift end of the village but suspect they aren't by this time this season given snow conditions lower down.

I'd def recommend it, my kids of similar ages are very keen to go back (for the third time).

Help!!

Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis 2022/23

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