 Poster: A snowHead
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Currently skiing in Serfaus, last week I was in 4 valleys, it is much busier here even though I didn’t think there were any school holidays, I would say as busy as skiing France over Xmas! I can see the appeal for families but finding it much tougher going than France or Switzerland, though the runs our young child gets to go on impress me as there’s nothing like it in France. Lots of red & black runs to get anywhere, never skied busy black runs like this before, almost like connecting black runs hence amount of people on them, the difficulty of even some blues has surprised me. Maybe conditions aren’t the best hence the hard times! At least it seems like a pretty lively place and the hotel we are in is super fun.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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the runs our young child gets to go on impress me as there’s nothing like it in France
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What sort of runs are those?
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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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I skied a lot in AUstria and only the last couple of years in France.
I noticed also that many slopes which are blue in Austria are red in France (as regards as the difficulty)
Except that Austria has not Green slopes as France
Blue-Rot-Black
As regards as how busy it was , we have to get used of it.
According to many reports in the German forums, there is no more the well know "Januarloch" in Austria and S.Tirol
Januarloch = the time after 6-7 January till end OF January which until now was more or less really quite
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| pam w wrote: |
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the runs our young child gets to go on impress me as there’s nothing like it in France
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What sort of runs are those? |
In France all you get is 1 or two shallow gradient training pistes with either a magic carpet or tow lift usually some basic cones dropped out over the course. Here you get about 10 tunnelled magic carpets - really short ones for the 3 year olds & then a long one for more abled & lots of properly set up practice props, except the long magic carpet has numerous options off it, a proper set up slalom, a fun slope with mini rollers etc, a proper banked winding slope for turn practice. Then there are about 4 separate themed pistes in the vicinity, a bear run with tunnels, noises & props, a murmliweg trail again similar idea for kids, a haunted witch trail & a rabbit trail again for narrow winding turn practice, all these runs are of similar length or longer to a decent sized training piste length but through woods & not just an open area, with lots of fun surprises & sounds along the way. There are also lots of things to play on for non skiers like tubes which are dragged round automatically on snow for babies, slides, climbing wall bouncy castle. The lunch area for kids is also crazy, mini houses with individual tables in for different themes and then a teenage restaurant too that again has gone to great effort with props & themes but with lots of info on famous skiers or racing. If any child didn’t come away loving the snow concept it would be remarkable!
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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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Sounds great!  I really like the idea of play areas for little non skiers.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Serfaus promotes itself as a family friendly ski area so no surprise very well set up for kids. Having a 4 year old now, I do find it difficult to find suitable long shallow runs for him. The equivalent of French greens, which isn't on piste map of other countries.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Tue 23-01-24 14:44; edited 1 time in total
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I always wonder how the kids progress from the kids training pistes in Serfaus. There aren't many blue runs.
The queue for the Plansegg lift can be horrendous, is that the main learning section after the kids slopes?
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Our recently turned 4 year old only spent his first morning in the learning area this week as he was top set of the littles (the ones that can already turn). They have just taken him on the other themed runs or do an initial practice run in the training area first thing, today he did 3 blue runs, one of them goes from ski school to komperdellbahn mid station so fairly long way and not complicated with the lifts.
I do agree that generally the pistes are all harder & steeper than in France (even the blues), but he seems to be surviving and he’s not athletically built. I guess they actually just cope with what they are told to do, most kids have endless energy but choose not to engage with it under parents instruction or have there own idea of what they want to do at all hours, but I have never met a child that actually wants to “stop (an activity of choice)”. I agree plansegg lift has been busy and seems like a bottleneck though not horrendous, max 8 mins wait at busy times this week, but apparently this is quiet time and I’m surprised by any queues in January! They however haven’t taken him up plansegg yet, maybe later in the week. Less relevant for ski school as they get fast track queue up. I would think for a 2, 3, 4, 5 year old you will not find a better set up anywhere!
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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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I can't imagine kids anywhere being taken to unsuitable areas by ski instructors. Kids are probably more resilient than their parents generally believe! All mine learnt in Austrian ski school on our first holiday, all the other kids were German speaking, and the instructor for my 4 year old spoke no English at all. They coped! Though the 4 year old did tell me that "German is a very cross language, Mummy". The instructor, to whom I spoke in my rusty 0 level German, was charming and I doubted that she was ever "cross". My eight year old, a complete beginner, was in a group with Austrian 4 year olds, over whom he towered. Though that didn't bother him till the ski school kidnapped him and kept him prisoner for over an hour one lunch time!
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I don’t even know why an instructor would even need to speak English to a 4 year old  . For a moment we tried to teach our child to say hello to another child in German on the first day but he immediately made up a new word & said he’s speaking gobbledygook instead, both kids just laughed…
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It's surely natural for an adult teaching a child (or even taking them for a walk, or to a shop) to talk to them? Not to explain about the important of transferring weight to the outside ski, but perhaps to tell them they're doing well, to tell them to follow his tracks, to chide them for whacking Hermann with a stick (once they get to the sticks stage) to comfort them if they fall over and cry and at lunchtime to ask if they want to go to the toilet. I find it odd to suggest that communication is completely unnecessary!
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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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Well I assumed that too, but it’s not, this is what parents worry & think about. It’s about eye contact, touch, silly/happy/smiley faces, just taking/showing them to the toilet, not telling them, cuddles when they fall over. Since when does a young child like to be told what to do. And this makes sense & are things children respond well too, they haven’t yet grown out of all those instincts. Someone speaking a foreign language is not what makes a young child unhappy or worried & I’ve noticed that quite clearly in all age groups in the hotel we’re at this week (they get to about age 12 where we’re staying). We can understand alot without words, to stop a child hitting someone with a pole we can do other things than say no, is no even that effective an intervention, they basically ignore ‘no’ they hear it so much. A nod of the head or a block with an arm are also things we can do without language to stop misbehaviour. Anyway digressing from the topic but I have found this aspect interesting because we haven’t seen any English people here and those fears I had are my adult parent fears.
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