 Poster: A snowHead
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Heading out to Mayrhofen tomorrow for our lads (10 x old blokes all around 50yrs old) trip. We’re a group of mixed abilities from two week beginners to good intermediates who’ve been skiing for many years. This was postponed the last two years due to Covid so we are all chomping at the bit for a great holiday.
I will aim to post daily reports mainly focussing on the skiing but also the resort in the hope that some find it of interest and help in planning their own trips. Some of our group have been before but this is my first time to Mayrhofen. I generally love skiing in Austria having been to St Johann in Tirol, Feiberbruhn and Soll a few times so thoroughly excited to try a new resort.
If anyone has any good recommendations or experience of Mayrhofen and would like to contribute to making a good thread please do.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I am heading out 4th March for the first time to Mayrhofen , will watch this with interest.
Have a great time,
Andy.
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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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its a great resort. Have fun.
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It is a great resort, sure you’ll have a great time. It’s well worthwhile making use of the busses/train up and down the valley to visit the other resorts on the lift pass. Variety is the spice of life etc.
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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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Heading out for a long weekend at the start of March with a group of 8 x 50 year old blokes, so will be reading this with interest. Learned to ski in Mayrhofen almost 20 years ago but not been back since. Loved it though and always wanted to go back. Huge ski area to explore which I'm sure others can advise on. As I learned there I didn't get to explore a huge amount of the skiing but the Ahorn area would be perfect for your 2 week beginners to find their feet as it always seemed to be nice and quiet. When I was there the Ice Bar was the lively place when you came down the gondola with Europop and dancing on tables in ski boots. Mo's was our bar of choice though with lots of good live music.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you come off the mountain early, excellent lunch at Mr Lei's (near Mo's bar).
Lively après at the Bruck'n Stadl.
The Butcher Bar (in Hotel Perauer) near the Ahornbahn is nice and chilled.
Enjoy - it's a great town!
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Always my favourite although trying saalbach this year. Scotland yard pub always a firm favourite in the village and kasermandl on the hill
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Loved our trip to Mayrhofen last year in March.
Great town, great feel to it.
We did 3 days skiing around Mayrhofen, 1 day at Hintertux, 1 day at Zell am Zimmer and a day at Kaltenbach. All worth a trip. If you have a car, then it's an easy drive. But the bus/train is reliable and regular.
Beginners (and actually all abilities) will like the Ahorn. The pistes over at Rastkogel were probably my fave and the red 64/75 with a stop at the Waldhutte was lovely.
You can read my trip report here for any tips etc - https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=159407&start=40
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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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Thanks for all the tips so far, good stuff. I’m at that stage where despite being a full blown adult on the outside, on the inside I’m 7yrs old and it’s Christmas Eve, just know I’m not going to sleep tonight as over excited! 
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The Ahorn is a small ski area but has a great run from the top all the way down to the village.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Well our group all eventually arrived yesterday in Mayrhofen despite various delays on flights from around the UK, apparently delays were due to fog at Innsbruck and then because Crystal transfer to resort coaches were delayed too.
Anyways we mustered at 0730 most of us staying at Gasthof Eidelweiss for continental breakfast which was plentiful and set us up for the day. Jumped on the skibus around 0830 from directly outside the hotel to Penkenbahn and gondola up to Penken.
Spent the day doing circuits off Penken and Horberg. The few blues were fairly busy with ski schools but we did a few to accommodate our least experienced skier and then really enjoyed the reds. The red runs are pretty steep and some would definitely be black in some resorts we’ve been to, but they are really wide so even novice skiers can enjoy them by taking out the gradients by traversing.
Enjoyed Black 16 which was deserted and in good condition.
Conditions in general were really good thanks to the snow over the end of last week. Few hard packed patches but largely very good snow. Light was very flat today with just about half an hour of sun. As we finished the skies darkened and heavy snow started falling. Forecast is for a few centimetres top up overnight so tomorrow should be good.
Most off piste is tracked out and thin but the odd bit to sides of pistes still calf deep.
Just had dinner at the Gasthof Eidelweiss and food was superb, really nice restaurant and it’s raining in town so we decided to stay here rather than go walkabout. Rain down here means fresh snow up top so happy days.
All in all we had a great first day but all suffering a bit of soreness and stiff joints having not skied since Covid in 2020. First impressions of Mayrhofen and the Penken slopes is a good one and looking forward to tomorrow.
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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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If you get the chance, head up to Hintertux as long as the weather is ok, and at the end of the day in to the Hohenhaus Tenne for some traditional Austrian Apres. Last bus back down to Mayrhofen at 7pm I believe.
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@swskier, on the agenda we’re just waiting for the best day weather wise. Love the Austrian après for sure
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You know it makes sense.
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@jirac18, great pizza in the lounge at the Edelweiss. Round the corner from the Scotland Yard! Good location.
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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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@jrac18, if you want some easy gradient off-piste, try just off the sides of the pistes of Wanglspitz in the morning. We were there over Christmas and got a good morning bouncing off the sides after a few cms of overnight snow
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Poster: A snowHead
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Heading out in a few weeks - is there night skiing locally? Reading online seems ambiguous.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Easy to access between pistes and the trees around Knorren and Larchwald. Especially good for low light. Also to the left of the new Moselbahn piste. Under the Eggalm Nord lift from the top station if good cover can be fun too.
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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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Quick report as tiny bit tipsy 
Overnight snow was welcome with freeze level down to about 1000m I guess. Maybe a foot of fresh up top, off piste pretty good between pistes knee deep for the most part.
Went upto Penken did a bit in the bowl at the back then most of the day off Raskogel down towards Eggalm. The pistes were fantastic in full sun today awesome conditions as good as could be. Plenty of off piste too.
Unfortunately couldn’t download off Raskogel in the Gondola and the red down was seriously carved up with last nights snow creating as tricky a mogul field as you can imagine with a high wind blowing straight across. Frankly it was grim and anyone who got down in one piece can be proud of that achievement. Very busy and hard packed between mounded moguls.
After dinner we headed to Scotland Yard for some drinks and a bit of live music which was great fun. Gonna be some jaded heads in the morning.
Plan to spend tomorrow on Ahorn side. Light top up of few centimetres forecast for tonight. General impression of Mayrhofen is great for intermediates and advanced skiers but not so much for beginners or nervous skiers. Austrian red is defo French Black for me so far. Enjoying a great trip
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks for your report.
Love the Rastkogel side and Red 66 back can be tricky, why couldn't you download back to the Penken bowl using the 150 er TUX was it shut or did you fancy some sport?
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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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@Uncle Rico,
Red 60, 61, 68 and blue 67 were excellent, the blue is so wide that there are many different routes you can take down it. Best run of the trip so far.
Couldn’t find a way back up to the gondola, the pull rope was not functioning and so we had to endure the red 66 down which was moguls, scraped and windswept. Unpleasant to say the least but heck of a good challenge.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Agreed all the Ratskogel runs are a great way to spend a day. Once you've got your legs going on Blue 67, the reds are so 'generous wide with only small sections of steep followed by a 'blue' section.
Never really got on with Red 66 at NY it was moguls top to bottom whereas previous years there's been some 'respite' to a piste after that first steep section. I'm back out in Feb and hope they've got the pulley option for my old knees.
Enjoy the rest of your trip
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I’ve been going to Mayrhofen with a gang of lads for around 10 years. We love it and usually do 4-5 days. Red 10 over by Horberg is one of our favourite runs apart from the first 50 metres where there is a very steep ramp down off the lift. There’s a nice bar 2/3 of the way down called the Sonnalm. Route 66 can be very challenging on the way home but the Rastkogel area is fantastic. There Skiroute 75 down to Eggalm is a great run and Eggalm is always nice and quiet. Good grub in the Vogelnest at the bottom.
I was always trying to get our lads up to the glacier but they never wanted to do a 45 minute bus trip in the morning. So now we ski over to Eggalm and down the bottom you can branch off to the right and end up at the village of Tux. Then it’s only a 15 minute bus trip to the bottom of Hintertux glacier.
Kaltenbach and Zell am Ziller are really worth a trip too. If you have a group just ask your hotel to call a taxi/minibus. Sometimes the train can be a bit of a walk up to the ski lift.
One word of warning… the home run in Kaltenbach is really narrow and gets really mogulled and busy. And the last bit down from Zell am Ziller is icy and very steep. So they are best not skied but you can get the gondola down.
Zell am Ziller over to Gerlos is amazing, some really stunning long runs and you are going in a straight line. We ski over to Konigsleiten and back.
We also do Apres in Those resorts when we travel there. The Poste in Kaltenbach and Tenne in Hintertux are good spots.
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A few other tips… if you go to Kaltenbach, hit the Vettelhutte for lunch.. really top class. The pizzas in the restaurant at the bottom of the Penken Park are good.
Don’t miss Hans The Butchers (Gasser) across from the bottom of the Penkenbahn, the ribs are top class.
Mike’s Sports Bar is good for the rugby (6Nations)
The food is decent in Mo’s and they often do good live music.
Brasserie Q in Mayrhofen do a good steak.
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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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Disappointed with Mo's this year, no live music when we were there last week and said they had no plans for any to come.
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Today we stayed on the Ahorn which was lovely early on in the sunshine. Unfortunately the highest chair lift on the blue run was not working for several hours so we just skied the red. This was pretty hard packed and crusty after being bashed last night and we had the run almost completely to ourselves. Despite the huge width across the piste and few people skiing, a woman on her snowboard managed to cut straight across the front of my skis as I was in mid turn nearly causing a wipeout. She was the uphill skier and I had no real clue she was even near until she was on my skis. No apology from her so I thanked my lucky stars took a deep breath and enjoyed my day.
The weather closed in and temps were around -9°c but with quite a wind chill. The top chair lift opened later on so we had great fun on the big blue and the small snow park by the button lifts. Had a spot of lunch in the Panorama which was pleasant with a roaring log fire, goulash soup and apple strudel! Very pleasant indeed.
Light was very flat after lunch so a few more runs on the top blue and then I downloaded on the gondola suffering with a bad back and feeling decidedly unathletic to take on the run to the valley. Some of the group did ski all the way down, it’s only a narrow man made strip really but they said it was manageable and actually enjoyed it.
Forecast is cold with more snow over the next few days, I will try to sell some of your ideas above to the group for tomorrow and Thursday. Friday looks like a whiteout so we’ll wait and see on that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@donie75, the runs off Horberg on day one were really good, Red 10 was particularly good, snow conditions were perfect, Back 16 was a bit lumpy at the bottom and by that point I defo had a bit of thigh burn too so it was challenging but still a good piste
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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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Skipping back a couple of days as didn’t get around to posting.
Wednesday we took Penken up and skied across to Rastkogel and down into Eggalm. It had snowed about a foot overnight and the under ski conditions were about perfect. The run down through the trees was spectacularly beautiful and the advice to go to Eggalm was 100% spot on. Couple of chairs up and the reds off the top were wide, great snow and not too busy. They did get cut up a bit later around lunch time. The blue run down to the gondola to get back to Rastkogel was again beautiful among the trees. Be warned at the bottom as you enter the village and road by the stn it gets pretty carved up and tracked. As usual a few idiots hooning into the choke point too fast!
Skied back over and around rastkogel a bit then took the big gondola down rather than Red66. The tow rope pulley up to the gondola is interesting and I suggest you work on getting strong biceps and grip before using it. A few people couldn’t hold on too most others amusement!
We decided to have a quiet pint in the Happy End Bar opposite Penkenbahn après, this turned into a pretty lively loud many pints and a great time was had.
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We're going to use the final day of our holiday and superski pass to ski Zell am Ziller tomorrow, looking like it'll be a cold one, before we head on back to Innsbruck for the night then fly home Sunday.
Hoping the area has done well for snow, much like Saalbach has this week.
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You know it makes sense.
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Yesterday we headed out on the Green line bus to Hintertux. It had snowed heavily again overnight and viz was very poor. Unfortunately my advice to go there earlier in the week when sunny was ignored. -18°c at the top and we’ll we will just have to imagine the view because it was complete whiteout. The runs of the top were nice but the weather worsened and frankly made safe skiing for our level pretty much impossible. We had lunch in a very nice restaurant Spannagelhau half way down, bit pricey but very very pleasant indeed. We sacked it after lunch having done the red to the next gondola down and then downloaded to the bottom station.
We had a few beers in the Hohenhaus which I highly recommended. Fantastic decor very impressive inside!
A rather dicey bus ride back to Mayrhofen with a coach driver who clearly thought he was Sebastian Vettel! Apparently another bus tipped over on the same route the day before going too fast!
Most of the group went out into town last night, there was a pretty ugly fight on the by Harikiri nightclub doorway with one man being tended to by police and medics in a pool of blood and several others being cuffed and fighting with police. Really unsavoury scenes thankfully something I’ve not experienced before on a ski trip.
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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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Today we stayed below the cloud level, sun tried its best but ultimately failed to shine, mainly doing the reds and blues off Penken. Felt very sharply cold on the face today. Snow was in amazing condition and the runs we did were great fun. Lots of us carrying a few injuries and niggles so had a chill sort of day. I treated myself to ribs and chicken wings at the Butchers deli opposite Penken and it didn’t disappoint. What a cracking place that is highly recommend it, amazing choice of food served up quickly and great value! Loved it.
So that’s Mayrhofen done, quiet night tonight before heading to Innsbruck Airport tomorrow.
Been a good trip, mixed conditions and experience across the group. Hotel Eidelweiss has been good, rooms are spacious and comfortable, the staff have been super nice and helpful. The restaurant here is very popular and needs to be booked at busy times. Food has been top notch. I’ll probably come back again at some point and just hope for better general conditions.
Now I need a holiday to recover and let knees and back repair!
I’ve likely missed out all sorts of info so any questions fire away. I’ll update anything I can think of at some point.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| jirac18 wrote: |
Skipping back a couple of days as didn’t get around to posting.
Wednesday we took Penken up and skied across to Rastkogel and down into Eggalm. It had snowed about a foot overnight and the under ski conditions were about perfect. The run down through the trees was spectacularly beautiful and the advice to go to Eggalm was 100% spot on. Couple of chairs up and the reds off the top were wide, great snow and not too busy. They did get cut up a bit later around lunch time. The blue run down to the gondola to get back to Rastkogel was again beautiful among the trees. Be warned at the bottom as you enter the village and road by the stn it gets pretty carved up and tracked. As usual a few idiots hooning into the choke point too fast!
Skied back over and around rastkogel a bit then took the big gondola down rather than Red66. The tow rope pulley up to the gondola is interesting and I suggest you work on getting strong biceps and grip before using it. A few people couldn’t hold on too most others amusement!
We decided to have a quiet pint in the Happy End Bar opposite Penkenbahn après, this turned into a pretty lively loud many pints and a great time was had. |
Love Mayrhofen and a few years ago a similar planned quiet night with a similar group dynamic ended up in an impromptu competition of who could carry the lycra clad local male ski racers around the bar the furthest. All parties were consensual of course! I love Mayrhofen hahaha.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Fri 20-01-23 18:04; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| jirac18 wrote: |
Yesterday we headed out on the Green line bus to Hintertux. It had snowed heavily again overnight and viz was very poor. Unfortunately my advice to go there earlier in the week when sunny was ignored. -18°c at the top and we’ll we will just have to imagine the view because it was complete whiteout. The runs of the top were nice but the weather worsened and frankly made safe skiing for our level pretty much impossible. We had lunch in a very nice restaurant Spannagelhau half way down, bit pricey but very very pleasant indeed. We sacked it after lunch having done the red to the next gondola down and then downloaded to the bottom station.
We had a few beers in the Hohenhaus which I highly recommended. Fantastic decor very impressive inside!
A rather dicey bus ride back to Mayrhofen with a coach driver who clearly thought he was Sebastian Vettel! Apparently another bus tipped over on the same route the day before going too fast!
Most of the group went out into town last night, there was a pretty ugly fight on the by Harikiri nightclub doorway with one man being tended to by police and medics in a pool of blood and several others being cuffed and fighting with police. Really unsavoury scenes thankfully something I’ve not experienced before on a ski trip. |
Very unfortunate that you didn't get the most of Hintertux. It really is lovely up there. And the fight is something that can happen anywhere but fortunately, is something that is incredibly rare in ski resorts.
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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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| jirac18 wrote: |
Yesterday we headed out on the Green line bus to Hintertux. It had snowed heavily again overnight and viz was very poor. Unfortunately my advice to go there earlier in the week when sunny was ignored. -18°c at the top and we’ll we will just have to imagine the view because it was complete whiteout. The runs of the top were nice but the weather worsened and frankly made safe skiing for our level pretty much impossible. We had lunch in a very nice restaurant Spannagelhau half way down, bit pricey but very very pleasant indeed. We sacked it after lunch having done the red to the next gondola down and then downloaded to the bottom station.
We had a few beers in the Hohenhaus which I highly recommended. Fantastic decor very impressive inside!
A rather dicey bus ride back to Mayrhofen with a coach driver who clearly thought he was Sebastian Vettel! Apparently another bus tipped over on the same route the day before going too fast!
Most of the group went out into town last night, there was a pretty ugly fight on the by Harikiri nightclub doorway with one man being tended to by police and medics in a pool of blood and several others being cuffed and fighting with police. Really unsavoury scenes thankfully something I’ve not experienced before on a ski trip. |
This is from December, you can just imagine it.
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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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This is from December, you can just imagine it.
Chicken rock!
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FAQ
