Schneekarhutte - Mayrhofen Austria

Website (but you need an Austrian or German mate to translate)
How To Get There

Loosely translated Schneekarhutte means Cablecar Hut. Ok, so it might not be the most romantic name, but believe me, this is a once in a life time experience.

So... to best experience the Schneekarhutte:- take between 10 and 20 mates; skis/ snowboards/ or good books; headache tablets; clean unders and head for the Zillertal in Tirol, Austria for a weekend you will never forget (or struggle to remember depending on your tolerance for Schnapps).

For the past 2 years, I have been lucky enough to go there for our annual team Christmas Party. You can only reach the Schneekarhutte by ski lift and after 4.30 pm there is no way to get up and down is only by fun Black run (not advisable by night, although tempting to a few of my more mental friends).

By day, the hut is an amazing rest 'n refuel spot on Horberg, accessed by the Schneekar Chairlift (ah, now you get it). By night, its an overnight hut with a large communal room built into the Pyramid as well as individual rooms. Oh and incidentally, the-most-amazing food.

As the point of this Blog is Breakfast and not insane gourmet dinners, incredible wine collection, stupid bar Olympics, cigar smoking and voracious schnapps drinking, I will limit myself to what you can expect in the morning for Breakfast. That is if you manage to crawl out of your bunk or haven't died from hypothermia, finding yourself face down in the snow outside. These are things that may or may not have really happened to people I may or may not know...

So to breakfast...first point. The view in the breakfast room is spectacular. With or without paracetemol you'll already start the road to recovery as you walk in. Things get even better as you see the buffet and amazing charceuterie plate on each table. There are delicious fresh juices, Bircher Mueslie, fresh fruit salad and more on the buffet and you can order eggs anyway you like them. So so delicious. Oh and the coffee comes either Austrian strength espresso or beedub friendly cappucino or latte machiatto.

If like me, you get overtaken on the baby slopes by 1 foot tall tadpoles in helmets, I recommend taking a book and enjoying one of the leather sofas and Gluhwein for the rest of the day while your mates ski and snowboard.

For €99 per person for a 4 course dinner, bed in the communal Pyramid and breakfast (drinks excluded), this place really is insane and I should also mention has probably the coolest, hardest working staff in the World. Make sure you go there at least once in 2011...

PS if you have any friends who snore like tractors, you might want to gently direct them to one of the private rooms...
PPS Thanks CW Family, TDA's and Wally's for the amazing memories