A schwieger Tag. Zum schluss muss ma mit Gondel unterfahren wegen Lawinegefahr am normale Talabfahrt. Jetzt nass und mude.
Thu March 14 - Patscherkofel Got the 9:30 train from Munich to Innsbruck arriving a bit under 2 hours later. Cross the road to my hotel, drop gear, quick change then a 5 min walk around the corner to Silpark to catch the J bus to Patscherkofel. A good system they have now. The J Bus is free and runs between Patscherkofel and Nordkette and runs every 15 mins - easy. So was skiing by 1pm. Patscherkofel is the place where Franz Klammer had his famous downhill win in the 1976 Olympics. It has one main lift - a very nice 8 seater gondola, plus a few beginner lifts. The day was quite grey with low cloud but good vis. Pistes were basically hardpack, a bit heavy in parts near the bottom but ok skiing and fine for a first day. Got 3 hours in, weather closed in later and started to snow lightly.
Friday March 15 - Schlick 2000 Was raining lightly in Innsbruck in the morning (as it had been previous night). Got the free ski bus from just a couple mins down the road to Schlick 2000. Also a good system - they have buses going to Axamer Lizum, Schlick and Stubai - do a hotel pickup first then head off to the ski areas. Mostly English speakers on the bus - Americans, English & Kiwis - I passed myself off as the token Austrian. Many of them were heading to Stubai which I couldn't understand - why would you head off to a glacier on a poor vis day? I notice none of them were on the 5pm return bus so they would have quit early and gone back on the regular buses or taxi. I had my own problems with vis where I was but at least in the lower alpine you get some perspective from the trees. As mentioned earlier there had been new snow - probably 20-30cms higher up and it was snowing through the day so vis was a problem especially above tree level. It was time to replace my old googles which simply were coping. Went down and bought a new pair which did a much better job but was still hard to be able get a good read on the terrain. Was hard to pick the bumps and did ski into a snow bank at one point. Found a few reasonable powder lines, but for the most part was taking things pretty slowly and cautiously. Later in the day was planning on a final leasurely run down from the top gondola station to the base but on the way the ski patrol had closed the run due to potential avalanche hazard from the slopes above, so had catch a different lift, then back track to the top gondola station and ride it down. Temps at the base were slightly plus C, so the snowfall in the lower part was quite damp, so did get fairly wet. So generally a slow cautious day, no big vert. According to Skiline I got in 7,254 vert.m., 47 downhill distance, 18 lifts, 445 minutes fun - though it probably wasn't all necessarily fun.
Saturday March 16 - Fendels The original plan for today was to ski Nordkette, then head to my next destination - Ried in Oberinntal. Got the J-Bus to Nordkette but on arrival was told that they were doing avalanche control work. They weren't able to say when they would open, maybe an hour maybe two. I decided then to jump on the next bus back, head back to the hotel, pick up my bags, catch the next train to Landeck, then bus to Ried. I knew Ried had a small local ski area Fendels a few minutes walk from my pension, so headed there for the afternoon. Conditions had completely changed from last couple of days, to warm spring conditions and clear skies. Fendels is a small old school ski area with a gondola to access the ski area, then a chair and a couple of T-bars. Snow was very much spring like. By the time I arrived there were people sitting outside the huts than skiing. Enjoyed the views across the valley to Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis. There was actually an avalanche on the upper part of the mountain which ran through one of the ski runs - not sure if it was from yesterday or this morning. The t-bar was reasonably long and did get a bit tiring. The little trail through the forest was quite pretty. In the heavy conditions though I was quite happy to call it a day after around 2.5 hours of skiing.
Ried in Oberinntal looks to be basically a little farming village in the valley. I chose to stay here because I found a very nice Pension for just E37 a night, much cheaper than anything in Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis. Had a quick walk around late afternoon - a few places to eat but with fairly standard menus - Pizza, Pasta, Schnitzels being the main stays.
Sunday might have some flurries for Fiss but still mild down lower. Colder from Monday with a bit of snowfall. Fingers crossed @Heinz
Sunday March 17 - Fiss-Ladis A warm spring day. Temps were around 2C up top and 8C below, although was quite windy up high and increased somewhat during the day. Concentrated on the Fiss side with one run down to Ladis which was nice but already quite soft in the morning. The wind on the Zwölferbahn side kept the snow there firmer and with a bit of windblown snow. Was fairly busy today, bus from Ried in the morning was packed and there were queues for the lifts - mainly the gondolas early morning, but these dissipated once people spread around the mountain and especially once they started stopping off at the huts. Was quite happy to cruise around and take in the views which were quite impressive. Had a late lunch outside at the Zirbenhütte which was quite pleasant though was still a little brisk with the wind. They were certainly busy - would have been probably 10 or so wait staff working all dressed in lederhosen including the girls and they do a pretty good job a taking the orders and delivering them. After that worked my way back to the front side and through the heavier snow to the Waldbahn in time for the 3pm bus back to Ried.
Go check out the smoked meat at Leithe Wirt Restaurant Heinz. Massnerkopf and Pezid hold up quite well in the warmer conditions. I remember doing a report from there circa 2006-07 and you commented that the dots above my Os must mean i was typing on a german language keyboard .
War schon auf dieser Seite von Serfaus - wahnsinnig viel Gelände, höher und kälter. War heute vielleicht 20cm Neuschnee und so viele Pulverschnee möglichkeiten aber leider hab ich im Tiefschnee etwas im Knie gespürt und war dann nacher sehr aufpassend gefahren. Bin langsam zürück zum Fiss Seite und beim Möseralm gegesssen - Spargel, Erdapfel und Speck. Wegen umlaut - Hab ich dass geschrieben? Kann nicht errinern. Umlaut kannst auch ohne Deutsche Tastatur schreiben. zb Alt 0228 = ä, Alt 0246 = ö, Alt 0252 = ü
Nordkette Views from base of Nordkette (as far as I got) with BergIsel View of Nordkette from the railway station just before leaving. You can clearly see the slides they triggered.
Monday March 18 - Serfaus Explored the Serfaus side today. There was probably around 20cm of new snow higher up overnight and temps were quite a bit cooler today. Around 0C in Ried and I saw -5C on the mountain. Was clouded over early on but did clear through the day. The terrain in Serfaus is huge, bigger than the Fiss side with so much terrain not groomed. Can easily see why @Kletterer recommended it. Takes a fair while to traverse. The highest point is at the far end at 2800m. I did sample some of the offpiste terrain off the side of some of the runs - the first bits I tried didn't ski as well as they looked - hit the old crust and frozen old tracks underneath. Then unfortunately on another I tweaked my slightly dodgy left knee so decided it was best to take it cautiously on the groomed for the rest of the day. Worked my way back to the Fiss side for a late lunch and then ski down to the skibus stop.
Serfaus There is quite a panorama of mountains to the west, south & east. Much of it was clouded over though from this vantage point at the time. This is part of it with views into Italy & Switzerland.
Looks like you went over to Massneralm. The area beyond the Bistro is excellent particularly with good fresh. Stays a bit colder out that back end. Its a long way from the far end back to Fiss though. Keep the excellent TR coming Heinz. Check out the Hexenalm for apres - she a good old holzhutte.
Very good. Temps have stayed minus the last couple of days so pistes have stayed firm. Some new snow higher up freshed it up also. Only slushing up very bottom of mountain in the afternoon. Expected to warm up though next few days.
Tuesday March 19 - Fiss Another coldish day today. -5C in the valley in the morning and it stayed in the negative on the mountain all day. Figured then as the snow was going to hold well I thought I would stay more on the lower part of the hill. Higher up it was very firm. Stayed mostly frontside of Fiss doing several laps of the Frommesabfahrt including a few down to Ladis while it was still good in the morning. Snow stayed in good shape all day, while just a few slush bumps at the bottom of the runs into the village.
I know the Dutch have always been keen on skiing in Austria, but I have been amazed at how many there are here. Germans you always expect, but last couple of days I reckon I have been hearing Dutch on at least 3 out of every 4 lifts (mainly gondolas). Heard more of it in the last few days than ever before including Amsterdam as there you hear plenty of other tourists. I would still be sure that there are many more Germans here, but I just seem to be encountering mostly Dutch on the lifts. Still encounter plenty of Germans and a few Austrians but that is almost it. There was one American couple, but significantly no English at all - they really seem to like their enclaves.
Fiss today Saw this at the entry to one of the Gondola stations (Möseralmbahn I think). Not sure if this is actually a thing at all although I did see a reference to Genuss evening's. Not sure how it would work. They would have to run the Gondola slowly or do several laps. Lunch today at LeitheWirt - Käse Speck Rösti. Liked the menu cover also. Ski bus stop
Wednesday March 20 - Serfaus Another really nice day. Clear skies and cold again to start but certainly warming up in the afternoon. Head over to the Serfaus side again. Start off with a few lower elevation runs while they were still good. Then headed over to Pezid area where I had been on Monday. Today though there were no clouds - stunning. Got into a bit of the offpiste which was ok, but some of the lines looked amazing, though I didn't get anywhere near those. Lunch at the Masner 'Hütte' although that seems a bit of a misnomer - these places are huge - this one looks quite new also. A couple more runs then worked my way back to Fiss side and the return bus.
Serfaus Gegend ist gross. Die Frage war immer - wo san ma dann jetzt? Gut das die Pistemarkierung gut war und viele Karte dabei war.
After getting back to Reid returned to hotel to pick up bags, then caught bus to Landeck where I am now. I have passed though Landeck railway station many times but this is the first time I have actually stopped over in the town. It is in a pretty spectacular setting surrounded by mountains and quite hilly as a found as I looked for the Gasthof I was staying at. Google maps said it was 350m or 5mins walk from the Landeck Zentrum bus interchange. Once I found the 'street' that Google maps was trying to tell me turn into which took a bit of finding to start with, I saw that it was a steep, narrow 'gasse' with about 60+ steps - that certainly got me warmed up! Then I had to find the back way into the place and wait for someone to turn up as they had a Ruhetag.
Heute war Ischgl / Samnaun (Gruezi Schwiez!). Was für eine Tag!! Traumhaft!! Unglaublich schön!! Kein Pulverschnee aber trotzdem wahnsinnig viel Spass. Ischgl is verückt aber gut so. Schneeverhältnisse Heute war super schön den ganzen Tag und auch von oben bis ganz unten mit Talabfahrt. Kein Zeit für die Hütten Heute bis zum Apres ski Zeit und für das gibt es kein vergleich zum Ischgl. Nur muss ich mit die Bus zurück nach Landeck. Aber jetzt hab ich ein Hunger. Bis später.. Servus.
Na, SchiBus von Landeck nach Ischgl. Dann mit Schilifte zu eine lange schöne abfahrt nach Samnaun. Es ist eine Duty Free Ort und Sie bieten 50 Geschäfte, aber einkaufen war nicht am Program. Zurück dann mit eine doppelstock Seilbahn zum Alp Trida und Ischgl.
Just remembered coming down different place in Samnaun then where the lift was and had to take a bus from end of pist to the lift again in order to get up to the border to Ischgl again. Some years ago - might have changed.
There are a couple of runs down to Samnaun - one was closed. The main one though just meant a long trail by the creek past all the shops to the lift station. Probably the bus ran when there wasn't enough snow on the trail? Not a problem today.
Thursday March 21 - Ischgl/Samnaun Fantastic day today. I had skied Ischgl 25 years ago and thought while I was in the region would check it out again. I remember back in 1994 it was a pretty crazy place, it is crazier now. There has been a heap of development in that time. Did have a look at accommodation options there but most were fairly pricy, so for a one day trip staying in Landeck and catching the free skibus was a better option. Got the bus just after 8am. It is about a 50min trip. On arriving I got an idea of how much it had changed. There are now lots of big fancy hotels. Lift pass isn't cheap at b54 Euro. Then saw the lift queue for the Silvretta bahn - crazy!, so wasn't sure about the day at that stage. But the queue moved fairly quickly - helps when you have an 18 person gondola! The infrastructure here is amazing - the cable car from Samnaun is a double decker and there is also a 28 person gondola from the Ischgl side. Felt a bit weird later afternoon riding one of these on my own. The gondolas have ceiling racks to hang skis - a good system. Doesn't work for snowboards but they are very much in the minority here in Austria. Once I got into the skiing though it was all good. It was a warm fine day but the pistes held up really well all day from top to bottom. The talabfahrt down to Ischgl is in a large part in the shade through forest so works well. Also once people got up the valley lifts they spread around pretty well. I did recall how there were lifts going in nearly all directions so at the transition areas you did have to keep an awareness of where everyone was going. Crossed over to Alp Trida on the Swiss side. Also remembered when I skied here 25 years ago it was in a white out, so had no idea I had skied into the Swiss side. This time I knew. Did the long run down to Samnaun which they promote as a duty free zone with 50 shops - but I wasn't here for the shopping. The cable car back up is now a double decker - first time I had seen one of those. Tried to get around to various parts of the resort but it is huge. Sometimes forget how big Euro resorts are. Continually had to decide where to head next - it was all good. Did several runs quite low down - mostly very quiet but snow in really good shape - firm but good grip. Some of the transition areas were still quite busy, but not as busy as some of the huts - some people were already stopping off at them at 10am, so while there were a huge number of people on the mountain, lift queues dissipated pretty quickly. I did have a bit of a look at some of the offpiste, found bits that were ok but mostly chopped up and refrozen. There did look to be some really nice lines about but would have taken a bit to get there and I basically was just enjoying the pistes way to much to be bothered. Nor did I bother stopping for lunch. Skied through to around 4pm then had to enjoy the other big aspect of Ischgl - the Apres - it is just mental in Ischgl - not seen anywhere else in the world to match it. You ski the final part of the run to the valley and immediately there are not a couple of bars but at least a dozen or so all packed out sitting in the sun. Just by the Silvrettabahn station there are 4 including the famous Kuhstall bar which I remember from 1994. So enough time for a couple of Hefeweizens before catching my bus back to Landeck. Amazing day. I can't recall a ski day not involving powder that was as much fun as today.
