 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm thinking about going to Mayrhofen the last week of March.I'm not too worried about the snow as the skiing is relatively high for Austrian standards and the hintertux glacier is close anyway. But what about queuing? Is it calm at this period (no Easter), or is it always busy in Mayrhofen?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Mayrhofen's reputation as a party venue is currently on the rise, thanks to Snowboming - "the biggest and most eclectic music festival of the winter season" (www.snowbombing.com/en). The week-long festival takes this season from March 31 - April 6, and combines club nights, live music and competition on the slopes. So you won't be bored 
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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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bart_bdv, Mayrhofen has a reputation for huge queues, which is only partially deserved. If you insist on turning up at the Penkenbahn between 0900 and 0930, you will queue for about 40 minutes to get up the mountain. If you leave the mountain between 1500 and 1530, you will queue for about 30 minutes to get down. Outside of the peak times, the queue is the same length, but the window in which it exists is maybe half as long.
Peak times are New Year, UK half term(s), and Easter. Late March should be OK, but for best results, either get the bus to Finkenberg or to the Eggalm lift, or be at the Penkenbahn at 0825 each day, and ski until you are thrown off the mountain at 1630. From Finkenberg, I've never queued for more than 5 minutes, even at the busiest times.
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angel_ski, Fortunately, I woud assume that "last week in Match" means he leaves on the 31st, so he won't be subjected to that 
But I thnk Mayrhofen is always fairly busy, just not quite as much so away from the main holiday dates. But I don't think the queues are usually too bad, apart from the one for the main Penkenbahn gondola.
If it is bad there, you can always use the (included on lift pass) trains and buses to visit other areas in the valley - Kaltenbach rarely has noticable queues, and I don't think the Zillertal Arena has many either.
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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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And if you arrive at like 10 am, are queues generally finished by then? And how long will the bus take from Mayrhofen to Finkenberg?
Last year we went to Sölden, and we always took a drink before entering the gondola. It was funny to see how a huge queue disappeared completely in 15-20 minutes.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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alex_heney, Zillertal Arena had 0 queues when I went up, but due to the Stroh Juchee (sp?) event that weekend there were a lot of extra non-skier day ticket holders, so coming back down was a bit slow. AFAIK, there's a new lift from the carparks up to the midstation.
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| bart_bdv wrote: |
| Last year we went to Sölden, and we always took a drink before entering the gondola. |
Very wise... Before, during and after is the best way when it comes to beverages and Gondolas
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| red 27 wrote: |
| bart_bdv wrote: |
| Last year we went to Sölden, and we always took a drink before entering the gondola. |
Very wise... Before, during and after is the best way when it comes to beverages and Gondolas |
Too be honest, it was at most 1 beer or a coke, waiting until the main queue had disappeared. Alcohol before skiing, would just kill my legs.
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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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bart_bdv, still a decent effort, beer and/or a line or two before battles commences!
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If you go during Snowbombing week then there shouldn't be too many queues as they book a huge number of beds, and nobody rolls out of them til 10am cause of hang overs (sweeping generalisation there)!! It is worth checking out the packages to see how they compare, especially if you're DIYing as they lay on transfer buses from Munich, Innsbruck and Salzburg airports. If you're not interested in the bands then it might not be worth it.
If you do hit a bad spot with the queues or with a bit of planning then you can get a free bus to the Horbergbahn, Finkenberg Almbahn or Rastkogelbahn which all link into the Penken area and shouldn't ever be busy. I can't find a new bus timetable, however it shouldn't change too drastically from the 06/07 one here.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I concur with ousekjarr and bart_bdv advice of going early or late to Penkenbahn which is at the heart of Mayrhofen.
From my Jan 08 trip I found the 3 main areas HochZillertal, Zillertal Arena and Mayrhofen in Zillertal Valley all have short queues at the peak times. These 3 areas are comparable in sizes but Mayrhofen is the deepest in the valley and so it tends to be less crowded relative to the other two which have huge car parks for the day trippers. From my experience the longest queue in Austria could be regarded as just a short queue in some French mega resorts. Crucially the queues in Austrian resorts are concentrated at certain bottom stations only and they are rare elsewhere in the resorts.
Ahorn is also a short walk from Penkenbahn, say less than 10 minutes, but it is very small. It should have no crowd because its cable car is the largest in Austria.
I took the car in my last trip and didn't meet any queue at all by driving to a bottom station at the right time. That was the case in every area I visited in the Zillertal Valley.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Mon 13-10-08 13:50; edited 1 time in total
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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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Actually, that's a good point saikee, what you could do to kill an hour is go up Penken and do the valley run to get warmed up
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saikee, May I ask how often you have skied in French mega resorts? I have done most of them and in different periods (new year, january, half term, march and easter) and I almost never had to queue! I haven't been too often to France lately (prefering Italy and Austria for good quality hotels at a decent price), but I can hardly imagine it has become that bad. What I have seen though over the past years is that as lifts became faster and more modern, queues became smaller or non-existant, but the pistes were much busier!
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You know it makes sense.
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andytb,
I targetted Ahorn to warm up in the first day. It is ideal to spend a morning there, then come down, walk downhill to Penkenbahn and go up the deserted cable car to the main area of Penken/Horberg/Rastkogel/Eggalm.
I stayed in a B&B in Mayrhofen midway between Ahorn and Penkenbahn but went up Penken cable car only once. For other bottom stations I drove. It was just before 9am and absolutely no queue in Penkenbahn but that was the last week in January this year. I believe during the weekends the three main skiing areas in Zillertal Valley could have a large number of day trippers from Innsbruck and Munich.
From observation many Austrian resorts do not have a vast number of accommodations but huge car parking facilities for the day trippers. Thus they can only be real busy at the weekends and even that is peanut comparing with the crowds in France.
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For the record I once queue nearly 2 hours in Serre Chevalier.
I got separated with the wife when we came down Meribel from Les Menuires at closing time.
Meribel is the best place to see crowds. Think I have enough of France after seeing about 40 small and large resorts of them.
It appears to me in Austria children and learner skiers go to small local resorts. The French seldom appear there. The resort infrastructure seldom big enough to absorb a large number of week-long overseas skiers and so during the weekdays Austria (and Switzerland too) is ideal to have the piste to yourself.
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Mon 13-10-08 14:22; edited 1 time in total
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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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The problem may be that we will have one or two beginners in our group. So either we bring them on the Ahorn without queues (but then we don't see them untill evening), or we take them to Penken so we can meet at noon and at the apres-ski before going down (but then we'll have to queue for the Penken in the morning...). It also makes it hard to go to another gondola, as the beginners will have to be skischool meeting point.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Just be there for first lift up and you'll be fine  I think the main problem is everyone rushing for the same lift at ski school time.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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bart_bdv,
Ahorn is ideal for the beginners as there are 3 charlifts and the runs are mostly blue.
Penken is of course much larger but like others said you can avoid the queues before 9am or after 10am.
If the snow is bad, which is unlikely for Penken but may be in Ahorn, you can take a bus to Hintertux glacier which can be skied in summer. Zillertal Arena, access via Zell, is only 6 miles from Mayrhofen. Any ski pass bought for 4 or more days will automatically permit the purchaser to ski every area within Zillertal Valley.
Each area in Zillertal has its own piste map which you can get only at that area. Zillertal Arena is a very long resort which can take a day just to reach the other end and come back, otherwise its Konigsleiten area is one of the best genginner places I could find in the valley.
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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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bart_bdv, Ski school meeting points are at the top of the gondola. It is simple if you are there before 9 you will not Q. If you are there between 9-930 you will Q
Once up the gondola there will be very few if any queing as the crowd disperse out across the mountain.
Snow wise you should be fine
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