Mayrhofen Skiing & Snowboarding
The Mayrhofen ski terrain suits all abilities, is across a wide expanse and on all aspects (sun and shadow). Most aspects are generally sunny and south facing with the exceptions being the backside of Penken and Horberg plus the valley trail from Ahorn.
The resort consists of six different sectors with the funky names of Penken, Horberg, Ahorn, Finkenberg, Rastkogel and Eggalm. All are lift interlinked except Ahorn, which stands alone across the valley from Penken. Each area has different terrain, aspects, views, and trails.
Of the six main ski areas within the Mayrhofen lift ticketed area, five are directly interconnected by lifts and ski trails. They are:
- Penken - valley lift access from the centre of Mayrhofen.
- Horberg - valley lift access from Hippach or Moesl.
- Finkenberg - valley lift access via a new gondola from up valley above Mayrhofen.
- Rastkogel & Eggalm - both accessed via the town of Tux in the Tuxer valley or the Tux cable car from within the resort.
The sixth area, Ahorn, is located on the opposite side of the valley to the rest, with its huge cable car access only a few hundred metres from the base of the Penken gondola.
See the Mayrhofen ski trail map.
With a few exceptions, all on-piste trails and off-piste terrain are near to or above the tree line. The notable exceptions being ski route #30 down to Hippach, the new advanced trail down to Moesl, and piste trail 5 into the town of Mayrhofen. Ahorn's piste trail #5 has nearly 1,300m of skiable vertical and a northerly aspect - seriously fun top to bottom skiing. In the days following fresh snow, a vast off-piste awaits those that are hunting powder. Some challenging steeps and wide-open alpine bowls predominate, but if the snow is deep and low, many opportunities to freeride the meadows and trees down into the valleys present themselves. Beware the barb wire fences!
Trails down Eggalm provide huge panoramas down the valley toward Mayrhofen.
Mayrhofen Skiing Highlights
Whilst there are many highlights to skiing & snowboarding Mayrhofen, try to tick off the following when visiting.
- Do the ultimate cable car dawn patrol in mid-winter! Early in the morning on a clear day, jump on the first cable car up to Ahorn (they start at 7.30am!) and get the heart started & legs pumping with a full 1,300m vertical descent back into Mayrhofen.
- On a sunny non-powder day, take it easy and leisurely ski to all the wonderful mountain huts & restaurants in the region. Have coffee at the Panorahma restaurant on Penken overlooking the mountains & valley. Lunch at the Gschösswandhaus on the cliffs overlooking Mayrhofen, afternoon tea at the Schneekarhütte on Horberg and then drinks all the way across to between Rastkogel & Egglam at the Vogelnest. Take the bus back to Mayrhofen from Tux.
- From the top of Eggalm, enjoy the amazing views and divert off the piste to ski in amongst the hay barns - a fabulous Austrian Alps experience.
- Complete the steepest run in Austria, the infamous Harakiri slope, as fast possible. Take it easy on the first try - it is quite steep in the middle section!
- Freeride the challenging steeps below the Tux cable car.
- Explore off-piste options in the trees & meadows below Penken summit toward Finkenberg & Tux. Barb-wire fences are potential hazards!
- Spend a day at each of the other Zillertal resort: on the glaciers of Hintertux, the superb terrain at Hochzillertal, and the long rambling trails of Zillertal Arena. Be prepared for some lengthy days.
Ski Lifts
Mayrhofen ski resort has invested heavily in a range of modern lifts throughout the resort. They provide extremely efficient uphill movement. Leaving directly for the centre of Mayrhofen, Austria’s biggest cable car, the huge Ahorn, and the incomparable Penken gondola transport one to a range of modern chairs in the alpine, including a combo chair/gondola (funnily enough called the Kombibahn). Away from the centre of Mayrhofen, modern gondolas also head up to the slopes from Hippach, Finkenberg & Tux. A new valley access to the popular Horberg via a gondola from Mösl was installed for the 2019 season, further expanding uphill access, plus a new advanced trail down to a lower mid-station.
Nearly all Mayrhofen’s chairlifts are modern 6-seaters. The Powderhounds have rarely come across the sight at the top Horberg where three 6er chairs converge on the one relatively small mountaintop.
Other than the Tux cable car, lift queues are almost non-existent. The Tux cable car is however an important linking lift to get to the Rastkogel & Eggalm sectors, and also to access the region's gnarliest steep terrain.
Appropriately, several surface tows and conveyors service novice areas around the top of Penkenbahn and Ahorn.
For all good powderhounds that love an early start, during the main part of the season, all the access gondolas (Penken, Horberg, Mösl) open by 8am, and the Ahorn cable car opens at 7.30am for super-early (and dark!) dawn patrol runs back into town.
Lift Passes
During the winter season, a standard Mayrhofen day lift pass is valid only at Mayrhofen (Ahorn, Penken and Horberg), Finkenberg, Eggalm & Rastkogel.
All lift tickets of 2-days or more duration are the Zillertaler Superskipass valid for all Zillertal ski resorts. In addition to Mayrhofen, these include Hintertux Glacier, Zillertal Arena, and Hochzillertal – a total of 544km of trails. Free use of the public bus, ski bus and train within the Zillertal is included in the price (subject to conditions). (For more information see the Getting Around Mayrhofen page.)
Check out the Zillertal Super Ski Pass resorts map below.
Trail Maps
The Mayrhofen trail map makes a reasonable effort of displaying quite a complex ski area, but one may find themselves ‘geographically embarassed’ due to its overall simplistic depiction of the resort. This is a ski resort where the reality is far more impressive than the fantasy on the trail map! The trail map’s most glaring deficiencies are the lack of detail in the area off the Penken and Finkenberg lifts, plus the depiction of some trails as being rather short, when in fact they are quite lengthy. This is notably the case for route number 75 (the link between Rastkogel and Eggalm) and the beginner trail number 29 (from Penken to the Horberg saddle).
The Mayrhofen ski trail map also fails to show much in the way of detailed landform. It doesn’t depict many of the off-piste opportunities, particularly the wonderful terrain in and around the Tux cable car, or amongst the hay barns on Eggalm.
See the Penken ski trail map.
See the Ahorn ski trail map.
See the Eggalm-Rastkogel ski trail map.
Snowboarding at Mayrhofen.
Mayrhofen is one of the more snowboard friendly resorts in the region (not too many flat spots!). Park junkies will love the extensive terrain park near the SunJet chair in a sheltered valley location between Penken and Horberg. It has a range of quality features for all abilities to allow for safe progression is serviced by a dedicated quad chair, the Sun-Jet.
On-Piste Terrain
The perfectly groomed pistes are a divine pleasure to ski but are far more heavily weighted to advanced & intermediate riders than novices & beginners. The extensive 142km of trails only gets more impressive as one considers the options at the other Zillertal resorts (all included in your lift pass).
Novice & Beginner
Novices will need to ascend the Penken gondola to get to the learn-to-ski area awkwardly located below the lift station. The main piste on the ‘Babylift’ has the Penkenbahn gondola and infrastructure grossly impinging on any ambiance it once may have had. An alternative is further up the hill on the Penken summit. For progressing beginners, two areas provide great terrain and facilities. The pick of them is atop the Ahorn. Easy progression is available in a logically set out area. Beginners will need to download on the Ahorn cable car as the valley run to Mayrhofen will be beyond them. Other beginner friendly zones include the Penken summit and the Tappenalm chair.
Other beginner lifts and terrain with good progression potential are towards Rastkogel but cannot easily be accessed by novices from Mayrhofen.
Intermediate
Mayrhofen is intermediate skier heaven, with nearly 50% of the trails rated red. Most of the intermediate trails are easily negotiable and most would prove doable for progressing beginners.
The Powderhounds favourites were the trails under the Penken Express 6er chairlift, the race slope off the back of Horberg near the Unterbergalm 6-seater chair and all the trails on the Eggalm ridge with their glorious views of the entire valley.
With an appropriate level of caution, many of the Mayrhofen advanced trails would be capable of being ridden by intermediate skiers including the Ahorn valley run.
Advanced
The signature advanced piste run at Mayrhofen is the questionably named Harakiri (trail #34). On a nicely shaded northerly aspect, it has a steep pitch in the mid-section (allegedly the steepest piste in Austria!) but is straight forward enough. You will go fast, that’s for sure.
In most respects, the better advanced on-piste runs are the sunny Devils run (trail #12) off the Horberg and the 5½km valley run from the top of the Ahorn - a thigh muscle liquefying 1,250m+ vertical (depending on where you start) - all the way down to Mayrhofen.
The route down to Hippach (route #30) is often closed due to insufficient snow makes a fantastic test of one’s leg strength in the 1,400m vertical from Penken to the valley. A better alternative is new valley trail down to Moesl.
Summer Skiing
Nearby Hintertux Glacier offers skiing every day of the year. In summer, a total of 10 lifts operate on 20km of slopes. The longest run in summer is 2km. Hintertux is better than most glacier ski areas in that many of its summer ski runs are a steeper pitch & more fun compared to Kitzsteinhorn, Saas Fee or Zermatt.
Off Piste, Freeride & Backcountry Terrain
There is more off-piste freeride potential at Mayrhofen than at first appears. A sunny day of reconnaissance will reveal broad open bowl skiing off the Horberg and skiers right of Rastkogel and intricate little sections between the trails off Penken. Tree skiing options are in the lower sections off both sides of Penken plus areas above the towns of Tux and Finkenberg. Full off-piste valley descents into Tux are also easily done (snow permitting!). On Eggalm, skiing amongst the hay barns is superb.
Experts will get a quality ski fix in the steeps under the Tux cable car. The lift queues can be painful, but the wait is worth it!
Backcountry access is excellent at Mayrhofen, particularly out past the Horberg and Rastkogel. Long ridges & wide bowls are interspersed with more difficult sections.
Across at Ahom, alpine ascents from the top of the lifts are possible for experienced and well-equipped parties.
On a powder day at Mayrhofen, after the piste and obvious terrain is smashed up, powder hounds should head to the Horberg & Tux cable car area, finishing with the long sunny off-piste descents into Tux.
If in any doubt about exploring the off-piste powder & backcountry of Mayrhofen, get a guide or instructor via our Ski Lessons & Guiding page.