Mayrhofen makes it big; Hochzillertal gets better

26th October 2006, by Chris Gill

New lifts are often referred to as the ‘biggest’, ‘highest’, ‘longest’, ‘top-performance’ and so on.

For Austria’s Zillertal region, preparing for another winter season equates to new developments accompanied by an equal measure of adjectives to describe them.

Mayrhofen tops the chart in 2006/07 with a new lift deemed Austria’s biggest cableway, with “the longest haulage cable in Europe”. Enter: the Ahorn cable-car.  The new lift begins operation on 9 December from a base station in the town centre, close to the Penken gondola. The 160-passenger cabin will cover the 3km journey up to the gentle Ahorn slopes, in just over 6 minutes. This major improvement for Mayrhofen is expected to rejuvenate the small sector often overshadowed by its valley sibling, the Penken.

Also vying for our attention is another Ziller valley resort, Kaltenbach. The Hochfügen-Hochkaltenbach ski area, as it is also known, is expecting to open two new lifts this winter. Construction is underway of a “top performance feeder lift” (gondola) to parallel the existing village lift.  The base area around the new lift is being developed to improve access for the disabled and will have a ticket office and hire shop. On the mountain a whizzy new 8-seater is due to open on the Öfeler Joch, providing quick access to the newish Kristallhütte. This small chalet is, apparently, making a name for itself as one of the better mountain huts in the Alps.

The slopes at Hochkaltenbach were recently connected to those at Hochfügen, increasing the skiable terrain to 145km/ 90 miles. It’s popular among families and has a good beginner area. The resort is easily reached from Mayrhofen and is included on the area lift pass.

Back to the adjectives, and the Hintertux glacier was enjoying the best snowfall conditions of all the Austrian glacier resorts recently.

• mayrhofen
• lifts
• hochzillertal

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