Mayrhofen 2013

Just back from a great week in Mayrhofen, a week of varying conditions due to rapidly changing temperatures.
Our 35 strong group arrived on Sunday to warm spring conditions, double figure temperatures.
Monday saw some of us join the hosting around Ahorn and Penken areas, a great introduction though by lunchtime it was very slushy in the warm sunshine.
Tuesday, we ventured up onto the glacier, a good decision as we rose through the cloud which had appeared overnight, others who stayed local suffered bad vis most of the day.
More bad vis low down on Wednesday so we returned at Tux, a super area with some great runs, overnight snow brought another element, powder to play in.
Thursday, much lower temperatures and great snow, but still cloudy. So on the rep's (great) advice we headed to Kaltenbach, another great area, well worth a visit. Again we made the most of iffy weather day.
Friday and we returned to Penken, we dodged bad vis all day, but knowing Saturday was forecast for perfect blue skies, we called an early finish.
The weather forecast for Saturday was spot on, cold with not a cloud in the sky, we shredded the Penken area.

So what do I think of Mayrhofen? I love it, an amazing group of ski areas have an awful look to offer, but it's not without it's down side, the amount of travelling to the well spread areas on the ticket affects slope time, as do the queues for the Penken lift, which were a real pain. Once up in the ski area, the lift system is impressive, is just spoiled by the bottleneck at each end of the day.
Also a lack of mountain restaurants meant a long wait for a table for lunch on a couple of days, nowhere near the amount of choice or service I'm used to in France, much cheaper, but I'm not sure it's better value.
Most of the group are keen to return in the future, I'm certainly keen to. Through the poor vis which effected us and a bug which left me not feeling 100% for the latter part of the week, I don't think I've quite done the area justice.

Anyone wanting to visit Mayrhofen, I can thoroughly recommend Skiworld's Stoanerhof Skilodge, outstanding value, superb hosts.

Andy glad you enjoyed Mayrhofen Im out there on saturday staying at the obermair hotel and really looking forward to it

Thanks Andy, lovely photos and a very interesting report :thumbup:

Glad you liked it there Andy.

Andy, (great photos).
My wife & I are flying to Munich airport on Tuesday 2nd April, for 4 days, Car rented.
We were in Ischgl week 1 Dec & Mayrhofen week 1 february.
We are considering Livigno Italy (v long drive)or St Anton Austria.
Where do you recommend in Austria for good snow/skiing this time of year???

regards Millstreet

Hintertux

went to Hintertux Glacier on April 2nd 2013,
Skied for 3 days.
it was great.
Thanks

Where do you recommend in Austria for good snow/skiing this time of year???

There is also a glacier at Stubai which is pretty good, A friend told me today he was there earlier in the week and that and the 10km unpisted route from the bottom of the main ski area to the the road was still skiable, but that at the age of 67 he could not handle the thin air at the top. I may go up to Stubai glacier one day next week as I will be in Innsbruck, but reality is that the best skiing is over :-(

For non-glacier your obvious high resorts are Obergurgl, and (closer to Innsbruck) Kuhtai. The same friend found Kuhtai reasonably good at the beginning of this week, without the very thin air at the top of Stubai glacier.