Snowlife » Mt Hotham

History of Mt Hotham

Broz — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:28:20 +0000

You might be surprised to hear but our ski resorts and alpine villages are filled with a vast rich history of European involvement dating back as early as 1835, when stockmen worked the land. Australia might be a young nation but we have our roots and it’s ever interesting reading up on them.

Right now, Hotham have this great history documenting the early times of the region from stockmen, to mining to the very first ski club in 1944. It’s made me quite excited about it all so hoping to find more soon. But in the mean time I suggest you head over to the Hotham website and have a read.

Season ’11 Opening Weekend Action

Broz — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:49:40 +0000

It’s here everyone, season 2011 officially kicks off this Saturday June 11, weeeee! Some resorts have even decided to kick the party off on Friday. So while you’ve probably already sorted out your plans, here is a quick rundown of what all the resorts are expecting in terms of lifts and coverage as well as festivities! Party on, snow enthusiasts.

Mt Buller

Expect around 40cm with 4 lifts turning. Those being Holden, Blue Bullet, Bourke St Carpet and Wombat. Buller have been quoted offering “discount passes” but we don’t know exactly what. What we do know is you can ride a couple hours for FREE on Friday! On top of that expect live music, complimentary glühwein and hot chocolate, fireworks and the popular Barry Possum Show for the kids.

Hotham

30cm of natural snowfall plus snowmaking will see The Big D, Summit Trainer and Playground (to mid load) open on Saturday – with one day lift tickets at $49. Harry the Snowdragon will be out and about for the kids while The General Store have a huge lineup of music and DJ’s to welcome season 2011.

Falls Creek

Lift tickets will also be going for $49 at Falls this weekend and with some luck the guys are hoping for up to 50cm on the ground by then. Expect Towers and Falls Express to be turning as well as Mousetrap Carpet for the kiddies. I dare say everyones favorite Pete the Snow Dragon will be out and about as well as a bunch of parties as per usual for the social folk at Falls.

Mount Baw Baw

This little mountain was forecast to get the most snow throughout the week and so far have 35cm sitting on the ground with hopefully more overnight. No word on which will be going but I’m sure they’ll be enough to shred and it’s where I’m choosing to enjoy my season opener.. Oh and Denise Drysdale will be kicking around the resort too!

Thredbo

They’ve had 25cm fall this week and have been blasting the snow making, Thredders plans to kick things off on Friday as well with Easy Does It chair for riding and Kosciuszko Express only for sight-seeing. Saturday they’ll knock it up a notch with Easy Does It, High Noon, Cruiser Chairlift to ski and board on Walkabout and Ballroom, Merritts for access only and possible Gunbarrel Chairlift depending on snow and weather conditions over the next few days.

Perisher

Also a good natural base with solid snowmaking, Perisher is opening V8, Mitchell, Perisher Express and a few Carpets for beginners. Tickets will be discounted to $80 for Saturday but the real winner is Friday at $60. Oh and if that doesn’t suit your style then how about The Snowy Mountain Music Festival which is happening all long weekend? Yeah, thought so!

So there you have it folks, huge plans happening across all mountains and this above is just some of what is actually going down. So grab your friends, load the car and hit the mountains. Remember to drive safe, ride safe and have a great time. Welcome to season 2011!

And It Begins SNOWING [Gallery]

Broz — Wed, 11 May 2011 03:35:41 +0000

In case you missed it, it’s been cold today. And with that comes this joyous little thing called snow! Each of the majors have had their first substantial falls for the season, some resorts recording up to 20cm. Just too damn exciting.

Here are a bunch of pics courtesy of the respecting resorts’ Facebook pages. Get excited folks, one month to go!!

First Flakes Fall!

Broz — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:09:10 +0000

In case you didn’t realise it was cold yesterday! And it was that cold front that brought the first snow to the Aussie mountains for 2011.

If you weren’t already counting down the days start now cause it’s coming fast. All the major resorts got some sprinkle of snow but looks like Hotham may have the most. It’s all melted of course but geez doesn’t it just get you stoked for what is to come!! Here is a snapshot of what Hotham was looking like yesterday.

Bring on Winter 2011!

Fly Into Hotham This Season

Broz — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:41:09 +0000

What would be better than flying direct to the snow? Couldn’t think of anything easier than landing a sweet 20kms from Hotham resort and Qantas will again take you there in 2011.

QantasLink is running flights from Sydney to Hotham all season long. The ride only takes 80 minutes and there is transfers available once you land. For more on this ultimate luxury, check out the Hotham website.

A La Carte in the Park Finishes Up

Broz — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:20:45 +0000

Hotham’s 2010 À la Carte in the Park Series came to a conclusion yesterday with the final event of the season – Spring Sessions Sorbet Slopestyle presented by Oakley.

Competitors hit the kickers on the Summit Terrain Park in an effort to impress the judges and Aiden O’Brien, MC of all the previous À la Carte in the Park events was encouraged by the locals to hang up his microphone to compete on the day. He snuck into first place with extraordinary style in a brightly coloured retro suit and a huge back flip on the first jump.

After the event competitors were treated to a BBQ and sorbet at Swindlers where the winners of the À la Carte in the Park series were announced. Allie Coates and Hannah Studd were presented with Oakley watches as the winners of the Open Series. Hotham ambassador, Nik Grey successfully defended last year’s title as top of the snowboarding juniors while Jake Rast took the junior skiers victory.

Riley Teague won first place for snowboarding in Grommet 1 category. The Mills family did an excellent job with Cody and Carter Mills winning the Grommet 0 skiing and snowboarding sections, while Charlie Mills jumped to the top of the podium for Grommet 1 Skiing.

Thank you to all competitors and staff who entered and helped to put on a great series of five events this season!

Aiden O'Brian won 1st place in yesterday's Spring Sessions Slopeslye in the Open Mens's, followed by Will Snowball in 2nd place and Rutyer Jonkes (Dutchie) 3rd.

Village Chair at Hotham Reopens Today

Broz — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:47:34 +0000

After the weekends wild weather and landslips, good news out of Hotham with its Village Chairlift to reopen today, Wednesday 8 September, from 12noon.

This will provide direct access to the Village for not only those coming from Heavenly Valley but the Davenport Access trail too. The upper slopes of Blue Ribbon will also reopen tomorrow from 12 noon.

The area has been cleaned up following the weekend landslip and the former ticket office has been temporarily replaced with a hut for lift operators only. The chairlift (although not directly impacted by the landslip) has undergone an engineering safety assessment and has been cleared for full operations from tomorrow.

Tickets will not be available for sale at the bottom of the village chair. Guests should ensure they have a valid lift ticket before entering the skifield.

Lift Tickets will be for sale from 7.30am at Hotham Central and 8am at Big D, Jack Frost and Hotham Sports outlets including DP Pinnacle.

Hotham currently has an average natural snowdepth of 129cm, a snowmaking base of 178cm and 12 out of 13 lifts are operating across Hotham and Dinner Plain.

The snow conditions are fantastic for Spring and it’s a great time to get good value on your next snow holiday. From 13 September, Hotham lift pass prices will move to value season which means you can ski or ride for only $80 per day (adult), $68 (youth) and $40 (child).

Image courtesy of Flickr user Brava13

Hotham reports best August falls since 04′

Baso — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:18:48 +0000

The lunacy of weather has continued in all sense of the word this week with Mt Hotham recording 35cm in the last 7 days and overnight reporting the mountain has seen its best August falls since 2004.

‘A mixed bag of weather this week with the day of the season to date last Tuesday, fresh snow, sunshine, more snow, dry snow, wet snow, windhold, rain and more! It is now snowing again and in the last 24 hours, 10cm of fresh flakes has fallen.

We’re in the middle of this next storm and have received 16cm of snow in the last 48 hours and 35cm in the last 7 days. More is expected by the end of the weekend. Currently the snowfall for August is at 119cm – the best August snowfalls since 2004.’ MtHotham.com.au

This is a huge feat for Hotham, but also all other resorts recording substantial falls in August also. Considering July didn’t live up to expectation, its excitement to finally see the 2010 season take off.

Hotham Demo Weekend

Baso — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:17:44 +0000

What better way to experience that long awaited dump of white stuff than on the very latest gear from a huge range of brands.

Mount Hotham and SKImag are doing a full weekend of demos so you can ride your next board or set of skis for a measly $30!! So try it all out before you buy over this coming weekend 7th and 8th August. At the end you’ll receive a goodies bag and a subscription to SKImag.

All you have to do is register here and enjoy what looks to be a sensational weekend ahead at Mount Hotham.

Old Spice Hits Hotham

Broz — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:00:11 +0000

Ha, this is pretty good! Surely you know who Old Spice guy is by now. If you don’t I’m not really going to bother explaining it to you, simply say that Old Spice had a killer week last week, see here for why.

But seems his influence has spread far and wide, making its way all the way to Hotham where video snow reporter Toby Levins has pulled off a pretty funny send up. Check it out: