Ski Hotham
Mt Hotham Resort officially has 245 hectares (605 acres) of piste terrain when it is fully open. The central parts of
Mount Hotham are most likely to be open (e.g. terrain serviced by the Village Chair and Heavenly Valley) along with the Big D kids’ area. The Gotcha area (double black diamond terrain) and the Orchard area (intermediate terrain) require a little more snow cover to cover creeks and egress routes, and these lifts are also more vulnerable to being on wind-hold, whilst the lower elevation Blue Ribbon area is often not open in early and late season. The Summit area has plenty of snowmaking so it’s usually open early and late in the season, but not when it’s blowing a gale.
Like most other
skiing in Australia, the vertical drop of Hotham skiing is not significant, and the terrain is spread out horizontally. As with other mountains in the Great Dividing Range, Mt Hotham is not “peaky”. It’s rather flat on top and the steeper terrain can be found down in the valleys.
A small part of the Hotham ski resort is situated in the treeless alpine, whilst many of the trails are tree lined.
Lifts
Mount Hotham skiing and snowboarding is serviced by 12 lifts and a couple of magic carpets. All the chair lifts are non-detachable and move rather slowly. As to expected, in stormy conditions some of the lifts have to go on wind-hold, yet a few of the main lifts are well positioned against the prevailing winds such that they can generally continue to operate in foul weather.
Night skiing at Hotham is available at the Big D on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Lift Tickets
As with the other major Australian ski resorts, the general lift ticket prices at Mt Hotham Resort are outrageously expensive, especially when you consider the lack of detachable chair lifts (etc etc). The only way to score good value for money is with an Epic season pass.
Crowds
Hotham Alpine Resort can get crowded, but it’s very quiet compared to Mt Buller. As to be expected, the size of the crowds varies between weekends and weekdays, and the time of the year. For example the July school holidays can be hectic and long lift queues often develop, particularly if only some of the terrain is open. Slalom Gully (aka Slush Gully or Sloppy Gully) can become one big mess of people, but on the plus side it’s a very social area.
Mount Hotham Snow & Weather
Mt Hotham only receives 3 metres of snow on average, but at least this is a little higher than its Victorian counterparts. Like other Australian resorts that are not renowned for good snow quality, the major problem is how well the snow is retained. Warm temps can melt it, the rain can wash it away, or the strong winds can blow it away. Luckily Hotham Resort has snowmaking on several trails to supplement the cover.
The quality of the Mt Hotham snow might be a fraction better than other Victorian resorts due to slightly higher elevation, but generally the powder that falls is of the heavy variety. Occasionally cold temps produce light powder, but as a general rule it’s the northwesterlies (and warmer winds) that bring the big dumps of snow. So it comes as no great surprise that lots of Australians go
skiing in Japan!
Snowstorms tend to be accompanied with big winds which close the upper and outer lifts, yet the HV and Village chairs tend to be able to continue to run (albeit slowly) due to their orientation. The uppermost parts of the runs may be wind blown and have low visibility, yet drop down a little and then Hotham comes to its fore as a great ski resort for storm skiing. The New Zealand ski fields must be mighty jealous.
Mt Hotham Skiing for the Beginner
The upper parts of the mountain above the road feature the beginners’ terrain. The advantage of both areas is that they are dedicated for beginners, so novices can learn in peace without fast skiers whizzing past them.
The Big D is inaptly named because there’s nothing “big” about it, and it’s a beginners’ area that is largely frequented by kids and used as a base for kids’ ski school. Unfortunately it’s not interconnected via the slopes with the main part of the Hotham terrain, which is a major pain for parents. From the Big D, it is possible for advanced riders to walk across the road and then scoot down a run (pending snow cover), but you can’t ski-in and it requires a bus ride to get there. A big pro for the Big D is that it’s tree lined and somewhat protected from the elements.
The Summit is the other beginners’ area where typically the adults go to learn. This mellow run is massively wide so there’s a lot of space for error. It’s just unfortunate that the only slightly steep pitch is right at the bottom where the beginners are supposed to be able to stop to get on a lift without crashing into the lift queue! The Summit is treeless and riding the lift is a nightmare in foul weather (if the chair is open). After a bad weather day, it’s a surprise that beginners want to continue to learn to ski after riding on this very chilly lift.
Ski Hotham - Intermediates
Mt Hotham doesn’t have much terrain choice for low-end intermediates. The first progression for beginners is the Sun Run and then onto Slalom Gully which is often chaotic. Even though it’s a dedicated slow zone, it has snow plowers along with fast rippers, and with too many people and mixed abilities on the one slope, it’s not surprising that the blood bucket is frequently in action.
For mid-level intermediates there is some terrain at the Orchard, which is located at the outermost reaches of the resort. Sometimes it’s not open and getting there and back can pose a challenge for non-confident skiers and snowboarders on a low visibility day.
Strong intermediates have plenty to choose from (see advanced terrain below).
Advanced Skiing Hotham
Heavenly Valley is heavenly for advanced riders and a definite strength of Mt Hotham. It consists of a series of runs on ridges or gullies, many of which are groomed. The pitch of some of the runs is appropriately steep for black diamond runs, and they are fun for speedy turns. And the early bird gets the worm from Wednesday to Sunday when the lift opens at 7:30am.
Heavenly Valley also offers good off-piste lines that include some trees and rock features. The only downside of Heavenly Valley is that too many runs terminate in Slalom Gully (aka Sloppy Gully) where you have to contend with snow ploughers and unpredictable greenhorn snowboarders.
When it’s open, the Blue Ribbon area can provide enjoyable soft bumps, and Spargo’s and One Tree Hill are also very good advanced areas. The latter zone provides some good tree skiing on a powder day. Just remember that tree skiing around snow gums is a little challenging and unpredictable because they grow at crazy angles.
Hotham Skiing & Snowboarding - Experts
Another strength of Hotham Resort is the “Extreme Zone”. Whilst potentially exaggerating the extremeness of the area, most of it consists of easy double black diamond treeless terrain at the top which fans down to tight gullies, small cliffs, gnarly rocky lines, plenty of trees (in Lindsay’s) and creeks (don’t be a Mary and slide into the creek), so it’s aptly rated as expert terrain.
All the runs in the Extreme Zone provide something a little different. It’s all fab but the lines are just not long enough and doing loops of this area can take a while because it requires two lifts to get there, a traverse along a gnarly narrow trail (which loses a few snowboarders!) and then a skate (or shuffle) along a trail. Some runs to the skiers’ left can also require creek jumping if it’s not covered in.
Sidecountry
With just a short hike, Golden Point offers some nice treed slackcountry terrain that terminates at the Blue Ribbon lift.
Backcountry
The Mt Hotham area offers the best easy-to-access backcountry of the Australian ski resorts. Bootpacking or skinning is required to get to the goods, although there are also various lines near the winding Great Alpine Road where up-hilling can be supplemented by a mate with a car.
The backcountry terrain varies from mellow bowls to nasty cliff lines below the Drift lift. Popular areas include Eagle Ridge, over the back of Mt Loch (near the Orchard), and Women’s Downhill, whilst further afield is the Razorback and Mount Blowhard.
And here’s the lecture part. Just because Australia has relatively low snowfalls, don’t assume that usual backcountry precautions don’t apply. Avalanches can and do happen.
Terrain Parks
Pending adequate snow, the main terrain park is located on the Summit and features plenty of jumps. This is awesome on a fine day, but not so good when it’s blowing a bastard.
A short rail and box park is set up at the Basin below Hotham Hotel. This makes for great spectatorship for those on the deck, but if you don’t like hiking up to do another line, it’s rubbish because it’s a long way to ride down to catch a chair lift back up.
Often a banked slalom and skier/boarder cross course is set up on the Summit/Roadrunner area.