Lots of time to kill at the airport so typing the trip report on my phone.
We flew to Salzburg as we had a second set of flights via the BA Flightpass deal and going to Radstadt for half term. Mayrhofen drive took just under 2hrs from the airport.
We stayed here with Sunweb in the 4 room chalet which was £1282 including lift pass for the week starting 13th April. The apartment was absolutely lovely and very high quality fittings etc... the main bathroom is bigger than some bedrooms I have known!
The walk too Penkenbahn lift wasn’t too bad (even with or children 9 & 12) as long as I carried my 9yr olds skis . There were lockers you could hire at the top which took at least 2 sets of skis and boot for €9 a night but we didn’t use them.
We were exceedingly lucky with the weather, it snowed overnight on the day we arrived, topping up the snow nicely and being the last week of the season it was quiet in resort, absolutely no lift queues anywhere. In fact this was causing some issues on occasions for the ski school classes with little ones that couldn’t ride on their own, several times we encountered them waiting for enough adults to get the class up. First day was a white out, with gorgeous fresh snow, then we had mainly sun which meant second half of week some of the runs were getting quite slushy quite quickly but a very good number were staying in lovely condition.
We used SMT for 3 whole days for private lessons for my youngest which worked really well for her. My eldest joined her on the first day and I joined her on the third day. SMT have a lunch club which the girls had no complaints over for the days we booked them into it. They were also allowed to join the race on thursday but they were just against each other so go gold and silver.... it is a bit of shame they didnt put them in with a suitable standard group but distinct even expect them to be able to do it at all (my daughter was desperate to do it so very grateful).
On the last day, my hubby decided to do the paragliding which is operating from there, as is something he has wanted to do for a long time. He thoroughly enjoyed it.
So lucky to see this much snow this late in the season.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Also in case others care about this as well cheapest hot chocolate we found on the slope was €2.80 most were €3.20.... most expensive we found was past security at Salzburg airport €4.40!
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?
@NickyJ, what were your favourite places for lunch on the mountain?
Favourite place was Stieralm, has the steak sandwich there - was delicious but not what I call a sandwich as was two chunks of steak on 2 slices of toast with a lovely salad.
Several places had shut by this week.
The place off the side of Red 10, that looked like a pyramid was nice but REALLY slow on service which cut too much into skiing for my liking
We made the mistake of eating out on Tuesday evening and a lot of places were closed that evening - ended up in the chinese.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Stieralm went through a big refurb last summer. I haven’t tried the steak sandwich.
We have seen the Chinese but haven’t been brave enough to try it! What’s it like?....
It was nice - dishes were definitely freshly cooked. Not the cheapest meal but it has been a very long time since we have had a Chinese it made a nice change. They had some sushi on the menu but that wasn’t available sadly as both my girls chose that initially.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
For car hire we used Europcar booked via Expedia ended up having to pay £386 for a standard wagon. We went with Europcar as one of the car hirers who didn’t charge you extra to go into Germany from Austria, and wasn’t that much more than Megadrive.
We used Megadrive when we went in Feb and by contrast Europcar were much quicker at processing at the desk (we had observed this while we were being dealt with in feb). When we booked our Feb car in july we we only paid £259 for the standard wagon but we had left the April trip to book the car hire after our Feb trip to find out how we got in. The prices all went up significantly by doing this. Lesson learnt!
Despite booking a standard wagon (Passat estate being the example car) they had run out and upgraded us to a
ALFA ROMEO AR STELVIO B
This took three attempts to actually fit all our bags in! Came very close to us having to go back in and say do you have something else. We had everything fitting into a Seat Toledo but do to package issues know that the Toledo is exceptionally good and hence we always book a standard estate to be sure we can fit stuff in. Thankfully just managed it but also had to use the foot wells for all three passengers.
After all it is free
After all it is free
I have provisionally booked to go to mayrhofen next april with my 2 sons. We have booked the first week. Will there be enough snow. How did you find your trip in April. I like the sun but also hope for good skiing too.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Snow depth at top was 155cm this season. Though Austria had an exceptionally massive snow dump in January which put down an incredible base. The week before was apparently raining a lot of the week but then it turned colder for us and have us a good extra dump of snow.
If worst comes to worse we can drive to Hintertux for the glacier - we didn’t bother as we found plenty there.
Have a great time and welcome to snowheads
Nb you may wish to change your username away from your email address
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@p_mill@sky.com, Make sure you don't unintentionally book the same week as Snowbombing as its not really family friendly.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Does anyone know when that is?
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.
p_mill@sky.com wrote:
Does anyone know when that is?
I tried finding out a couple of weeks ago and failed miserably! However this year it was the week before we went.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@NickyJ, we were in Tux in January and the road to Hintertux wasn’t open until about Thursday of the week we were there. I recall walking the dog along by the river in the afternoon and there was suddenly a loudspeaker announcement ‘Achtung, Achtung’ and then something I couldn’t understand, so I asked another dog walker as I thought it sounded rather urgent or threatening, and the answer was that the road to Hintertux would be opening at 5 pm. It had meant that the slopes around Tux had been busier than we had hoped.
Thank you for info so far. Does mayrhofen or surrounding ski areas have many tree runs. My kids like the skiing between the trees.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
There is quite a bit of tree-lined skiing and quiet a bit above the tree line.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@NickyJ, I was just down the valley in Hintertux so we shared your weather! Glorious sunshine after a miserable 1st day on the Sunday.
@p_mill@sky.com, the tree line is about 2000m. That late in the season, runs in the trees (if still open) might be a bit slushy. Hard to say for next season, but you can't guarantee tree runs in April.
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?
@p_mill@sky.com, Do you mean tree lined runs or runs through trees?
There is a fair amount of accessible runs through trees but much of it is fairly steep and is densely packed, although there is an open area off the top of the combi bahn. My daughter from a few years ago on 7th April in fresh powder.
But of course at that time of the year you have to take what you get. My kids loved doing stuff like this when they little, this is from back in 2009 just off to the side of red 31.
Thanks for all the above, I've been working on Mrs H to try Austria and will use the above as ammunition. I've only ever been with the lads back in the day so have been doing research into a good place to sell to her, probably over night both ways in Strasbourg and see the Cathedral etc on the return trip.
If you are interested it will show the type of snow to expect for the first or second week of April over a long period.
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.
Just as you said, it was an awesome last week of the season. Snow in the first weekend and a proper heating period with blue sky towards the end of the week to make the transition to the summer season appropriate. I was planning to go to Montafon but changed my mind 3 weeks before departure. And the Zillertal area did not disappoint. Like said in the report, very few people at the mountain. I guess the superslush towards the end of the week played a role in that. Still, it was good skiing on the north faces even on those day. What a great Easter it was
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Without a doubt we will be back to that area. I don’t know quite how I have let 31yrs go by before going back there, it was the area which started a life long love of skiing... won’t let it go that long again
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
. There were lockers you could hire at the top which took at least 2 sets of skis and boot for €9 a night but we didn’t use them.
