Mayrhofen

This quaint Tyrolean village, framed by beautiful mountains, is located just 43 miles from Innsbruck and welcomes hoards of British package holiday makers every year. It offers the largest ski area in the Ziller valley now it is linked with Hippach, Finkenberg and Eggalm/Rastkogel and altogether offers 157km of pistes. The highest peak is only 2500 metres, it can sometimes suffer from poor snow conditions, but there’s plenty of snowmaking to cover the main trails.

In the early days, Mayrhofen had the reputation of being a bit of a hard boot carver’s place; this has changed however, and today there’s a large number of freeriders and freestylers checking out the terrain. Having a Penken Park located in the centre of the resort helps quite a lot to attract all the low-pant wearing boarders. For the not so advanced freestylers they have some smaller kickers and rails just next to the one for the big guys.

For those staying in the centre of Mayrhofen, the only way up and down is the Penkenbahn gondola as it is not possible to board back into Mayrhofen. Even though the lift is high speed, there can still be big queues early in the day. To avoid the crowds you can take the free ski bus to the Finkenberg or Mühlbach Gondolas or stroll over to the 160-person cable-car that’ll take you to the beginner haven of Ahorn. A Taxi to/from the Horbergbahn (Mühlbach) costs 10 euros and takes 10 mins, last ski bus back to Mayhrhofen at 5pm. Finkenberg lift a 15 min drive away

Take Schneekar lift and visit the Schneekarhütte restaurant at the top of a nice black run (Route 17). It still has a big log fire and good food which can be washed down with all sorts of organic schnapps.

Hintertux is a 20km drive further down the valley, this is the only resort in Austria to be open 365 days a year. Another nice place for a day trip is the small resort of Kaltenbach. This place often has lots of untracked powder after a dump because no one goes there! You can also take the same train to Zell am Ziller, and then a bus or taxi to their lift. Unfortunately your Super Zillertal pass isn’t valid here, but it is still worth a visit as it is a large area linked to Gerlos and Konigsleiten, which is famous for its tree runs.