Mayrhofen

Jim
Good report, glad you enjoyed it. Its interesting hearing someone elses take on a place I have been to several times. I really dont have any idea where the Benidorm on Snow comes from.....Mayrhofen is a lovely Tirolean town, and whilst there are plenty of places to drink late into the early hours, not one of them is in your face or causes a problem. Yes, its well used by Brits, but as you say once you are up the mountain its not so easy to hear a British voice, and it seemed to be mainly Dutch, Germans and Austrians in the past.
Blue 20 - a nasty little track, and definitely not the place to try to find your ski legs! It merely serves the purpose of getting down to the bottom of Horberg from Penken without attacking the quite difficult reds down the back. I am glad you found you could use red 1 soon. It does get very busy and quite mogulled by the end of the day, but first thing in the morning red 1 (and 11 into the bigger and faster chair) is nice to zip down.
I am pleased you liked Rastkogel. The runs up there are lovely and open, and good to boot it and cruise down. Plus you get the sun up there.
The red ski route down to Eggalm isn't steep as far as I remember, but the route back to the Rastkogel Bahn gondola isn't my idea of fun.
The reds over at Eggalm are my favourite of the whole area (apart from Red 7 at the top of the Schneekaar at Horberg). Not sure what freaked you out up there, but it is quite high up on the peak I guess, with some steep reds immediately off it.
My buddy Skidaddle is out there until tomorrow, and said its been really warm and that the snow is awful later on in the day, but he still managed to water ski the bottom section of the Ahorn Abfahrt!

Glad you also found that its easy to avoid the lift queues as I have previously said on here. If you want to wait until 9am onwards to go up, it will get busy. Getting up the Penken at 8.15 is the answer, and you get 45 minutes of quiet skiing as well which is nice. The Horberg gondola is also much quieter, as you found out.

As for the town, the Ice Bar is always rammed with singing Germans and Dutch, and whilst Happy End does get busy, you can always find a seat if you wait around, and the hospitality is as good as you can get in there. Coupe & Moore is definitely more chilled out, and Mo's is still one of my favourite places in a ski resort to eat and drink, just such a good atmosphere.

The Kramerwirt is an excellent hotel. Far more expensive than anything I ever stay in in town, but i have eaten there and its quite upmarket, so a good choice.

There is so much it seems you have not skied there, so you have to go back. Having read your little review, I am tempted to go back and have a cheap week next season. I might even drive over and book a B&B direct! Glad you liked the place.

Great report Jim :thumbup:

Well done for ski-ing the reds on Friday after your nasty fright on Thursday. And I'm glad to hear you went through a slalom course as well :D

Ally

Jim, many thanks for your report totally agree a truely great place. as ive stated Im back there on Saturday and really looking forward to it, I was there last year and loved it that much im returning to the Strass Hotel for a week. My brother in law went 4 weeks ago and wants to return next year :lol:

The Strass? Oooo get the Posh bloke....!!! )

Tony I work hard and play hard, Last year I went at Half term with my son Tom, for a week Skiing neally cost me 3 Grand :cry: But hey it was worth it as youve eluded in your reviews its a great resort I too was a bit bothered about the so called Benidorm Scene. No way !!! a cracking place with great Skiing and Good social bars :thumbup:

Cool. Enjoy.

I was out in Mayrhofen last week - had an awesome time. Brilliant resort, with loads for all abilities. Had loads of fun doing an off piste run under the 150er Tux after a couple of feet of fresh powder. Wouldnt advise that though, unless you are with someone who knows the way.

The red run all the way down Ahorn was still very much ski-able, and the snow everywhere was still great. Loved loads of the runs on Penken where you are spoilt for choice really. Red runs 7,2,3 are great, and the park was brilliant fun.

My only slight gripe is that we stayed in the Villa Strass, next to Penken Gondola station, and it was pretty noisy at night!! We were out most nights to be fair, but when we werent, we were woken up constantly through the night. Loved the resort, but if you are planning on getting some sleep, i would stay somewhere off the main street!

getjim....you walked from the top of the Eggalm to Vorderlanersbach??? Bloody hell mate that must be harder than skiing it ;) it's one of the most beautiful runs I can think of also. Glad you enjoyed it, I miss the satisfaction of breaking a barrier, it was black and White when a red was a challenge, then a black, then an itinerary etc. Now it's less tangible but still huge fun. I ran the the black from Furgg to Furi in Zermatt this morning about 9.30am as Italy was shut, and overtook everyone on it, a mix of improvement, perfect piste and abandon. Did it again 90 minutes later to a much lesser effect. I get frustrated when tired, guess I have to work on my fitness and leg strength now. Not as much fun as setting a target of your first red or black, but a target nonetheless.

Congrats, the big M is great, I'll be there in 10 days :)