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Ski Resorts Guide – Mayrhofen, Austria

Solid All-Rounder

Mayrhofen is a firm favourite amongst us Brits. Located in the Ziller Valley, the village is picture postcard pretty, with lots of traditional chalets lining the main streets, and no high-rise buildings.

  • Highest Point: 2500m
  • Descent: 1870m
  • No. lifts: 58

The local area covers a very handy 142km of pistes, but the Ziller Valley is home to so much more. Hintertux, a short half hour bus ride away, is one of the few remaining resorts to stay open 365 days a year. The gondola to enter the Zillertal Arena is only a few kilometres from Mayrhofen and its home to the big Dutch party town of Gerlos with another 143km of pistes and great off-piste. On the same side of the valley as Mayrhofen is Hochfügen with another 88km of pistes. Not bad eh? There’s a bunch of resorts down the valley that can be easily reached by the train, which is free with your lift pass.

The village has hosted Snowbombing since 2005 and seen it mushroom into Europe’s largest snow and music festival. It’s a week of utter carnage, usually accompanied by sunny days with which to shred away the hangover.

SkiBro is also available at Mayrhofen. Whether a beginner or expert, SkiBro is the innovative online platform that helps you get the best out of your trip. Find your perfect instructor, snowboard school, or mountain guide and book with ease. The best choice, best info and flexibility – check out SkiBro here.

The Parks – 4/5

The Vans Penken Park in Mayrhofen is not huge but don’t let that put you off – it’s a great all round snowboard park that has helped nurture numerous pros over the past decade. Starting at 1820m, the sun-drenched south-facing park sits in the basin at the foot of the Horberg and Penken peaks, where it is served by the Sun-Jet chairlift. This lift takes a mere five minutes to get to the top, meaning you can notch up 30+ park laps a day very easily. The pro line has three awesome jumps in a row, with the likes of Jamie Nicholls riding there regularly.

Tania de Tomas with a front 9 on one of Mayrhofen’s big booters. Photo: Matt Georges

Usually squeezed between the pro and medium lines last season is the Fun Area, which has its own entrance, and features a few lumps in a boardercross style. On the right you’ll find the completely separated kids’ beginners park.

“The park lift takes a mere five minutes to get to the top, meaning you can notch up 30+ laps a day very easily”

Mayrhofen boasts a selection of rails to choose from, including down rails, double kinks, a zig-zag bar, elbow rails and selection of boxes and gas pipes, It is an awesome place for the rail rider to dial in their tricks. Next to Penken Park you can hang out and grab a pizza at the Grillhof, it’s got a huge outdoor seating area where you can chill out and watch people send it over the kicker line.

Mayrhofen's favourite son? Wolle Nyvelt boosts on home turf. Photo: Matt Georges

The Powder – 3/5

The area isn’t the most expansive for freeriding, but there are plenty of good places to look out for including some established ski routes down to Finkenberg from the top of Rastkogel, and if you can’t be bothered queuing for the gondola back down, there is a route back down to the Horbergbahn cable car. Well known local spots like ‘Baby Tour’ get tracked super quickly after a dump, so be sure to get up early on a pow day.

From the top of the Penken you’ll find the north-facing slopes into the valley offer the steepest terrain, and there is some good off-piste featuring small rock drops under the Nordhangbahn chairlift.

Further along the ridgeline, you can drop off the edge of the blue pistes into the Horbergtal valley – the further towards the 160er-Tux cable-car you get, the steeper it becomes. These areas can slide easily, so of course preparation and caution are a must.

The Pistes – 3/5

We wanted to show you Mayrhofen’s pistes, but Valerian Ducourtil had other plans. Photo: Matt Georges
  • Opens: 7th December 2019
  • Closes: 19th April 2020
  • 1 Day: €55,50
  • 6 Days: €266,50

Once you’ve queued for the Penkenbahn (probably with one of Hans Gasser’s fine hot pork rolls in hand) you reach the main ski area. Most of the slopes are nice and wide, though you will find a few narrow tracks with the occasional flat patch linking some of the areas.

Beginners will really enjoy the pistes near the six-seater chairlifts gerent and Unterbergalm, but should steer well clear of the black piste that drops into the Horbergtal valley: the Harakiri. This is Austria’s steepest slope adventure with a gradient, in a tiny section anyway, of 78 percent (36 degrees). It is one of the few genuinely testing pistes here, and on an icy day, make sure you get that video camera on standby as you pass over on the Knorren chairlift. Blue run No.28 is known by locals and seasonaires as ‘Side Hit City’ and is a long winding run down with unchallenging terrain and a plethora of side hits to boost off.

From the other side of the village, the pistes served by Ahorn cable-car are much quieter and great for beginners and intermediates to have a relaxed slide on. There is a 5.5km leg burner back to the village that runs from the bottom of the Ebenwald chair, but this should only be attempted if there’s been plenty of snow about, otherwise you’ll face a long walk down.

The Parties – 5/5

Mayrhofen partying is a mix of the traditional Austrian and the traditional British – in other words it’s all completely bonkers. If you’re starting your party early, make sure to grab a couple of beers at Pilz Bar, when the weathers good, they’ll open up ‘The Mushroom’ to get some sun in. On a particularly good day, you’ll find people crowd surfing round the circular bar. The local après ski is handled nicely by the Ice Bar, which is directly next to the bottom of the Penkenbahn. This place is already rammed by 4pm with plenty of Austrian, German and Dutch revellers, all fuelled on Jaegermeister and Euro-pop, or the even dodgier Schlager music. By 4.15, someone’s usually dancing on a table in their ski-boots singing “Oi oi oi!”. If you fancy a little boogie, head up to Bruck’n Stadl, you’ll find euro pop and one of the best parties in town.

“Many young loves and broken hearts have been made here as the locals, the Dutch, German, Swedish and British all culminate in one sweaty dancehall”

The English pub, the Scotland Yard, provides a good respite from this Austrian madness and is open until 2am. It’s usually the choice of the locals and seasonnaires. Make sure to head down to Mike’s Sportsbar to see any football you might be missing while you’re away. His dart board is always a good way to wind down after a day on the hill. Also good is local snowboarding hero Thomas ‘Beckna’ Eberharter‘s restaurant Tiroler Stub’n – Zillertal cuisine done to perfection, along with a local musical accompaniment to your meal. Find out for yourselves exactly what that means!

Just out of town back towards the Ahornbahn is the Gasthoff Zillertal, a youth hostel mainly serving the young and the rowdy with cheap beer, all night food and live music. Many young loves and broken hearts have been made here as the locals, the Dutch, German, Swedish and British all culminate in one sweaty dancehall.

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