Mayrhofen

This issue with ski lifts is the same with fairground rides. Its basically a fear of the thing brekaing down, a screw coming loose, the thing not having been serviced, etc. Bottom line is that if something breaks or comes loose, it could be a disaster. The thought of dropping to one death is the ultimate fear. Its quite irrational, but at the same time its entirely possible that something COULD go wrong.
Same with flying. People are not scared of flying, they are scared of crashing, as they know full well it means alomst certain death, and a pretty horrendous one at that.
HOWEVER, look at the stats. Thats the way I dealt with my flying phobia. You are so so so unlikely to be on a plane that crashes, or a chair lift where the cable snaps. In essence, these things simply dont happen.
When you analyse plane disasters, it is never one sinle thing that cuase the accident. Its always a sequence of events, and usually things that could have been spotted or prevented.

As for sitting on a plane, I always try to have a window seat so I can see whats beneath me, as I love the thought of all those wonderful places I have gone over. I also like to see whats going on if its turbulent, and looking out the window is reassuring. Its also great to watch take off and landing as you are close to the ground, being able to pick out places etc.
I also dont like being hit by the trolley when it passes on a aisle seat!

Having had a fear of flying until only a few years ago, I can strongly urge anyone with a similar problem to take the window seat, see whats going on, try to make it an experience, read some books and watch some programmes about disasters to reassure yourself that planes dont just fall out of the sky...

As for the chair lift issue that started this all off, I cant answer it, apart from to suggest taking in the spectacular views from the Penken Gondola, as you can see right down the Ziller Valley to Zell and beyond. At the end of the day, its a means to an end, and the end is the skiing that we all love, so be strong and brave and get on with it I say!!!!!

No disrespect intended, but as your in-laws are relatively new to the sport and given their years in relation to that fact, once they have mastered the lift thing, there is no better easy access, modern, cruising destination that I have been to.

I went to Mayrhofen last year and I have to say I couldn't belive how high the lift went off the ground.

We the day we arrived we there on earlier enough that we could go up for a couple of hours skiing before our normal 6 days started.
My friend and I went up the lift and I started to do up my boots at the same time that it hit the first pylon where it changes direction.
As I wasn't looking it gave me a shock for a split second as I contemplating falling to my death! lol
Once we went past that point it doesn't go as high.

The weather was cloudy and we broke through to a spectacular view. Shame I had no camera that day!
The following days my wife had a mini scream everytime we hit the same point which gave a few people a laungh.

I'd agree with Tony in that none of the chair lifts were particularly scarey as they stay fairly close to the ground.
The Penken is the biggest hurdle but as its an enclosed bubble car they may be ok.
He should not look out of the window at all though if he is scared of heights as its very high.

fantasticlee wrote:I went to Mayrhofen last year and I have to say I couldn't belive how high the lift went off the ground.

We the day we arrived we there on earlier enough that we could go up for a couple of hours skiing before our normal 6 days started.
My friend and I went up the lift and I started to do up my boots at the same time that it hit the first pylon where it changes direction.
As I wasn't looking it gave me a shock for a split second as I contemplating falling to my death! lol
Once we went past that point it doesn't go as high.

The weather was cloudy and we broke through to a spectacular view. Shame I had no camera that day!
The following days my wife had a mini scream everytime we hit the same point which gave a few people a laungh.

I'd agree with Tony in that none of the chair lifts were particularly scarey as they stay fairly close to the ground.
The Penken is the biggest hurdle but as its an enclosed bubble car they may be ok.
He should not look out of the window at all though if he is scared of heights as its very high.

:mrgreen:
That "corner" gets everyone first time!
Youre right, the gondola does go very high on the initial stages.







Mind you, the Ahorn Cable Car isn't exactly one for people who don't like heights either:

I'd forgotten how high they both are! I want to go back now.

Wanna go Penken

As long as there's snow I'd like to go up the Penken too.
Not sure about coming back down though, waaaaay too busy at the end of the day!!

fantasticlee wrote:As long as there's snow I'd like to go up the Penken too.
Not sure about coming back down though, waaaaay too busy at the end of the day!!

I have been at Xmas and again 1st week in Jan, and coming off the mountain does involve some queuing at the Penkenbahn at the top. However, we never queued for more than 10 mins. UNTIL we went on a day trip on 30th December last year, when we queued for 40 mins to go up, and another 40 mins to get down again. It was not an enjoyable start and finish to the day, and proved to me thatr going out of peak season is definitely the way forward.

You can take the Horberg Gondola back down without anywhere near as much queuing, this delivers you into Hippach from where there are regular buses back into town which takes 10 minutes. Its a short cut to get on and off Penken that not that many people seem to use )

As for snow up there, I have never ever ever found there not to be any. In 2007 everywhere struggled and Mayrhofen was no different, but nearly all the runs were open and had good coverage. My friend Skidaddle has been many more times than me, and will also confirm this fact regarding snow conditions. In fact, on his last trip he complained of TOO MUCH snow!!!

God, I really want to go back now, thinking about it.