In the mountains of Mayrhofen, Austria

Back from a fantastic week's skiing in Mayrhofen, Austria.

We booked our holiday with Crystal Ski https://www.crystalski.co.uk/ - and stayed at the Strass Garni hotel on a half board basis with some friends.

http://www.hotelstrass.com/en/hotel-garni.html

Our room was spotless.  The bed was comfy and the shower was hot, two must haves after a day on the slopes.

We had a fantastic mountain view from our balcony.  Looking straight out onto the Penkenbahn ski lift, which we used each morning to take us up the mountains to the ski area.

The view from the Penkenbahn lift was amazing.

After getting a private transfer from the airport we managed to get on the mountain on our first afternoon to get our ski legs.  It was rather overcast but great to get out on the mountain on our first day.

I was in ski school for the first three full days, so Gary and our friends skied together while I had my lessons.

I took my lessons with http://www.mayrhofen-total.com/en/.  Andrew my instructor was great but I felt the group size of 11 was a bit too big for him to be able to give us individual attention.  Saying that I really progressed throughout the 3 days and can now ski "red" graded pistes with confidence and some of them were quite challenging in parts.

One run I didn't attempt was the Harakiri, Austria's steepest slope.  One of the chairlifts came right over the top of the Harakiri and we witnessed some nasty looking falls.  We also saw the helicopter hovering over it a view times, no doubt rescuing someone who had taken a tumble.  It has a 78% gradient in it's steepest part.  Not for the faint-hearted.

The views on the first day took my breath away, so beautiful.

We found some lovely bars both on the mountain and down in the village for apres ski refreshments.

The elchbar right at the bottom of the slopes had a great atmosphere

https://www.facebook.com/elchbar.at/

We loved the Happy End bar just as you come out of the Penkenbahn station back down in the village.

https://www.spiess.at/en/happy-end-en

The staff were so friendly and welcoming and the drinks were very reasonably priced. The local pear schnapps was tasty.

The Happy End is owned by the former Austrian champion alpine skier Uli Spiess.  He was a lovely guy and we chatted to him for a while.

All of his trophies are proudly displayed above the bar.

After a few apres ski drinks each night straight off the slopes, we headed back to our hotel for our evening meal.  The five course meal each night was superb and the staff were so attentive and friendly.  Great service and lovely food every night.

Day 4 - after completing my 3 days in ski school I got the chance to get out on the slopes with Gary and our friends.  Was lovely to explore the mountains further afield.  We stopped for a coffee at the lovely Schneekar Hutte.  http://www.schneekarhuette.at/en/

A shot of Jagermeister soon became a holiday tradition.

Amazing views from the terrace.

By lunchtime I was shattered,  I think ski school had worn me out so Gary and I headed down off the mountain and decided to take it easy for the afternoon and recharge our batteries.  We had a lovely lunch in the village @ https://www.steakhousetirol.at/

The village of Mayrhofen is so pretty.

Then we headed back to the hotel and took advantage of the hotel spa area.  A very much needed afternoon of relaxation #sauna #steamroom

Feeling revitalised on Thursday I was ready to get back on the slopes.  We decided to head to Kaltenbach on the train.

The bus and trains are all included on your ski pass if you have the super pass.  It took about 25 mins to reach Kaltenbach.  Unfortunately the weather was rather overcast and visability was not the best but we still had a great day out.

We headed to the Kristallhutte for lunch http://www.kristallhuette.at/.  All of our meals were lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed our relaxed lunch.  Even the wine was kept chilled with snow.

After a few more runs we decided to head back for the train.  The guys decided to ski back down to the village via the black run, but me and Becka got the cable car #sneakyJagermeister #hipflask

We spotted the guys on the way down, on the slope below us. Gary gave us a wave !

We beat them down so we hit the bar for a very well deserved glass of fizz.

They soon joined us for a drink.

When we got back to Mayrhofen we headed to the Bruck and Stadl for some lively apres ski drinks.  There was a great party atmosphere  http://brueckenstadl.at/

We had a boogie and a few drinks.

Our last day on the mountain was Friday and we woke up to a "bluebird" clear blue skies.  Perfect conditions.

We did a view runs to warm up and then skied over to get the Tux 150 cable car to take us up to the Rastkogel ski area.

It cable car holds 150 people and you feel like you are entering a whole new world when you step off.

Some fantastic ski runs and views awaited us.

We went to a lovely mountain cafe for our morning refreshment.  The views were breathtaking.

After some more fantastic skiing we skied back down to the Schneekar Hutte for lunch.  You can see the Tux 150 in the distance on this photo

Once again the service and food was first class.  The views outside were beautiful too.

All in all we had an fantastic time and could not have asked for a better holiday.

Great snow, great company, fabulous food and drinks ! Amazing memories.

Until the next time

xx