Mayrhofen

Mayrhofen
Coat of arms
Mayrhofen Location within Austria
Coordinates: 47°10′N 11°52′E / 47.167°N 11.867°ECoordinates: 47°10′N 11°52′E / 47.167°N 11.867°E
Country	Austria
State	Tyrol
District	Schwaz
Government
• Mayor	Günter Fankhauser
Area
• Total	178.78 km^2 (69.03 sq mi)
Elevation	633 m (2,077 ft)
Population (1 January 2014)[1]
• Total	3,858
• Density	22/km^2 (56/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	6290
Area code	05285
Vehicle registration	SZ
Website	www.mayrhofen.at

Mayrhofen is a town in the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is located approximately an hour from the Tyrolean capital city of Innsbruck.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1869	1,172	—
1880	1,114	−4.9%
1890	1,094	−1.8%
1900	1,096	+0.2%
1910	1,218	+11.1%
1923	1,514	+24.3%
1934	1,928	+27.3%
1939	2,076	+7.7%
1951	2,351	+13.2%
1961	2,523	+7.3%
1971	3,175	+25.8%
1981	3,270	+3.0%
1991	3,679	+12.5%
2001	3,751	+2.0%
2011	3,833	+2.2%

Tourism

The town offers a variety of summer and winter sports including skiing, hiking, mountain biking and paragliding. Mayrhofen is situated near the Hintertux glacier, which, at 3250m above sea level, is above the snowline. Skiing is available all year round here. Mayrhofen sits between the Penken and the Ahorn mountains which provide ski runs in the winter and mountain biking, hiking and paragliding in the summer. The Ahorn offers mainly easy and intermediate runs, but also has a long, steep black run (formerly red) which was once on the World Cup Downhill circuit but was removed as it was deemed too dangerous. The Penken mountain offers Austria's steepest piste, named Harakiri, as well as a large range of ski runs at different levels of difficulty. It is connected by lifts with the villages of Finkenberg, Lanersbach and Schwendau.

The Penken is reached by a Gondola system which is located on the main street next to the Sport Hotel Strass, in the centre of the village, while the Ahorn Cable car, which as of 2008 is the largest cable car in Austria (160 passengers) is situated at the southern end of the town. Mayrhofen is a snowboard-minded village with a funpark sponsored by Vans, and the snowboardhotel Gasthof Zillertal owned by the Dutch organisation 'SAIKO expeditions'. Mountaineer Peter Habeler and Downhill Racer Uli Spiess both come from Mayrhofen.

The Ahornbahn cable car has gondolas which can take up to 160 people - the biggest in Austria. The size of the gondola means that it can also be used as a "floating cafe" when the weather is bad.

The town also provides an excellent base for walkers - there are hundreds of clearly marked walks suitable for everyone from beginners who can walk along the Ziller valley to experienced walkers who can walk on the mountains. There are also excellent bus and rail services both along the valley and up into the mountains.

Events

Snowbombing piste-side music venue

Each spring (usually early April), Mayrhofen hosts the Snowbombing music festival. Since the initial event in 2000 (held in Risoul, France), snowbombing has gathered much notoriety and respect in the electronic dance music world as one of the major festivals. The event has been hosted by Mayrhofen since 2005.

Climate

Mayrhofen
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     55     1 −4     46     4 −3     63     10 0     74     14 3     97     20 8     131     22 11     149     24 13     131     23 12     97     19 9     65     14 5     75     6 0     62     1 −3 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: ZAMG
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     2.2     34 25     1.8     39 27     2.5     50 32     2.9     57 37     3.8     68 46     5.2     72 52     5.9     75 55     5.2     73 54     3.8     66 48     2.6     57 41     3     43 32     2.4     34 27 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches

Twin towns

• Chur, Switzerland
• Bad Tölz, Germany
• Bad Homburg, Germany
• Terracina, Italy
• Cabourg, France
• Bad Mondorf, Luxembourg

Transport

Mayrhofen has one railway station, which is located next to the Zillertaler Bundestrasse. The station is a terminus for all Train services operated by the Zillertalbahn, the valley's main public transport operator. The railway runs between Jenbach and Mayrhofen itself, and there are several intermediate stations, which provide access to many of the valley's well known Ski areas, namely Zell am Ziller (Zillertal 3000), Fuegen (Spieljoch) and Uderns (for the Hochfuegen and Kaltenbach ski areas). The railway operates year round, although in summer there are also a variety of "special" services, such as a steam train service.

The Zillertalbahn also run bus routes in the valley, which are regular and cover an extensive network. There are also many extra services in the winter, particularly during the Ski season, to cater for the Skiers and Snowboarders visiting the valley. For full details on bus and train times in the valley, visit Train & Bus Timetables for Zillertal

For Skibus routemaps in the Mayrhofen area, visit this link: Ski Bus route map

Statistics

• Elevation: Top: 2,500 m (with ski-lift)
• Lifts: 48
• Terrain: 157 km (98 mi) of groomed slopes in the region

References

1. Statistik Austria - Bevölkerung zu Jahres- und Quartalsanfang, 2014-01-01.

External links

• Mayrhofen Secrets
• Mayrhofen Business Directory
• Official Mayrhofen Tourist Information site
• Mayrhofen cable car company
• Zillertaler Flugschule - Paraglide & Hangglide