 Poster: A snowHead
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Resort: Zillertal Valley (Hintertux/Mayrhofen/Zillertal Arena/Hochzillertal)
Country: Austria
Author: gortonator
Date: March 9-15 2008
Our holiday: Just wife (likes red/black pistes and some off-piste) and me (what's a piste?  ). Both have skied much more in North America than Europe.
Website : The official website is http://www.zillertal.at. This links to each individual area.
Basics : One ski pass covers the areas of Hintertux, Mayrhofen, Zillertal Arena (Zell am Ziller, Gerlos, Koenigsleiten, Krimml), and Hochzillertal/Hochfuegen. Apart from the large area at Hintertux, these are basically 3 other large linked areas, all with a free and regular bus service and train to get around. we used public transport, and it worked perfectly.
Lift system : Too many lifts to describe. Lots of gondolas and fast lifts, some slow ones but didn't tend to be on important links. Overall, very good - we didn't have to wait anywhere more than 10 minutes, and 2 minutes was probably most common.
The terrain :
(Includes links to blog for more details/pics, andi can't figure out how to get to highlight full URL, so you'll have to copy/paste into browser should you be interested - help anyone?)
Hintertux: Some long red pistes with good pitch, and some really nice ski routes. In good conditions, these would be a real hoot. (see http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!1790.entry for more details/pics)
Mayrhofen: Mostly rolling and gentle-ish, interspersed with some fun black pistes. As snow level was about 1500m, the available terrain was mostly above the tree line, wide open terrain. If snow had been better, there'd be lots of opportunities for exploration off-piste. (see http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!1772.entry and http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!1823.entry for more details/pics)
Zillertal Arena: A highly varied area, with some fun red pistes, the odd black, and lots of open, above tree line terrain which was excellent fun, especially at Koenigsleiten. We had also had nice snow, which helped. (see http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!1782.entry for more)
Hochzillertal: The link to Hochfuegen was closed due to wind, but the terrain at Hochzillertal had plenty to keep skiers of all levels happy. Didn't find anything too steep, but some great rolling reds and lots of off-piste to explore. (see http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!1805.entry for more)
The snow : There's been little snow and warm temperature for weeks before we arrived, so natural snow level was at least 1500m. As the week went on, we got a few decent snow falls, and this transformed conditions. Off-piste wasn't exactly busy so I found plenty of nice fresh snow, especially at Koenigsleiten and Hochzillertal (where skiing is mostly above 1600m). And or course the snow up high at Hintertux was a fine thing.
Off-piste : At Hintertux, for obvious reasons I stuck close-ish to marked ski routes, and enjoyed them immensely. It's a jagged, craggy place, but I imagine a guide would know a few good lines.
At the other areas, the terrain had many off-piste opportunities which I explored extensively (except Mayrhofen, as we went there on hardpack days). The snowpack was stable and I basically had no problem following people's tracks, and was led to some really excellent off-piste lines. Mostly wide open terrain, with nice pitches, dips and rolls, and a few trees to pop in to. I definitely only touched the surface of the available options.
The resort : We stayed in Vorderlanersbach, as we wanted a small traditional village to stay in. It was quiet, but there was enough to entertain us for a week (see http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!1824.entry for where we ate/drank/stayed)
Food : Forelle did delicious trout, Tuxerbier brewery in Lanersbach had very tasty food and beer, and good traditional dinners at very respectable prices were easy to find in local restaurants.
We're 'quick snackers' at lunch (there to ski, not eat), so stick to self-service places. And they were all perfectly respectable. I enjoyed my goulash soup-a-thon immensely.
Accommodation : Hotel Kirchlerhof, I'd recommend it highly as long as you're not looking for absolutely luxury and can walk 7 minutes to the gondola. I suspect a good alternative place to stay would be Zell am Ziller. Or Mayrhofen if you want to feel like you're in Brighton 
Costs: hotel was 64 Euros per person/night for bed/breakfast. Lift pass was 179 euros for 6 days. Soups and drinks at lunch about 13 Euros for two. Beers about 3.50 euros, wine similar, and 20-25 euro-ish by the bottle in restaurants for good local wine. Most dinners we ate were in the 9-13 Euro range per person for food. So not expensive in my view.
Conclusion: A very fun week. A huge amount of skiing is available on one pass. From Vorderlanersbach, it took some time to get to the further away areas, but it wasn't exactly a big deal, and free on buses. I'd love to go back when the snowline is lower, and iId especially like to explore Hochzillertal/Hochfuegen a lot more. I was impressed by what I saw there.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Resort: Zillertal Valley (Hintertux/Mayrhofen/Zillertal Arena/Hochzillertal)
Country: Austria
Author: Ordhan
Date: March 15-23 2008
Our holiday: Group of 15 mostly of pisters and two newbies
Website : The official website is http://www.zillertal.at. This links to each individual area.
Basics : One ski pass covers the areas of Hintertux, Mayrhofen, Zillertal Arena (Zell am Ziller, Gerlos, Koenigsleiten, Krimml), and Hochzillertal/Hochfuegen. Apart from the large area at Hintertux, these are basically 3 other large linked areas, all with a free and regular bus service and train to get around. we used public transport, and it worked perfectly.
Lift system : . Lots of gondolas and fast lifts no heated seats, some slow ones but didn't tend to be on important links & quicker lifts available . Overall, very good -no really long waits except for couple of the lifts back to Penken in Mayrhofen where busy near the end of the day but other than that great
The terrain :
A bit of everything
Mayrhofen: Snowed all week when we where there and the off piste was amazing especially under the 150 lift near the board park. If you take it all the way to the top and head to finkenberg top of 2 & 2a There is a great off piste route back to the board park through seldom tracked out powder with no one around if you time it right. Down through the trees at run 20 was fab but tracked out very quickly. Anywhere to the sides of run 27,7 and 17 was great especially the run of 7 through the cliffs and avalanch barriers to the lift at the bottom of 27
Zillertal Arena:Only went on the bobsled thingy down here great fun on the first sat as the snow was so bad
Zell em Ziller: All the off piste off the back was amazing and the guide we used from SMT was brilliant. Snow was Knee deep minimum and at one stage it was about 2 hours before we seen any civilisation. Will probably spend more than one day at Zell Em Ziller when we go back
The snow : When we arrived it was 17 degrees and the snow was like slush but Sunday was fantastic temp dropped and the snow fell and didnt stop till Friday night. Visability was poor at the best of times for the whole week but the powder made up for it. By friday the place was well tracked out unless you knew where to look and the piste conditions on Thursday and Friday where some of the best I have ever seen
The resort : We Stayed in Mayrhofen livley spot. Some ski challange thing on sponsored by sabb which added to the number of people around at night.
Food : Great resteraunt down the dip behing the Penken Gondola never to busy and always room to sit. Lunch is a quick stop but always a nice atmosphere and everything from the soup to the meat and chips was good anywhere we stopped from previous years the middle station of the Glacier has a fantastic resteraunt to eat in
Accommodation : We Stayed in Mayrhofen in pension Manni Great location and great service and food for the basic price we where paying
Ski School:Used SMT and had 3 diffrent guides through the week all locals with incredible knowledge of the local area and great fun to ski with
Conclusion: The Zillertal is a firm family favourite and has been for a long time and this year was no exception have a big soft spot for here and it is down to the locals and the amount of varied terrain.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 25-03-08 16:54; edited 1 time in total
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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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gortonator, Thanks for your interesting report. You're right about Hochzillertal/Hochfuegen being a good ski area, but keep it quiet - it's one of my favourites!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Ordhan, sounds like you got similar snow to we got in Ischgl last week. It was epic ...
Alastair Pink we tried to do a second day at Hochzillertal, but the weather was pretty grim on the Friday so didn't seem worth the trip. it's certainly a place I'd liek to return to - but I won't tell anyone. Looked flat to me anyway
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