Winter ’12 with the Chill Hill Crew
Thought I’d get a little teaser in.
It is quite possible that it will be much better than the actual report, so don’t get too excited. You will be just let down 
Be sure to keep checking back for the full report 
**** Listen to the music from the clip below while reading this trip report*****
Make sure you pause it when you watch my vids
Firstly, let me take the time to explain…......... as weird as it is, (well maybe not to you guys) our family life revolves around each winter. Summer is that annoying hot spell with little or no snow within driving distance for us.
Even now as I type, next years passes are locked in, the magical payment that gets the Rok in and out of Hotham has been paid for, dates for booking next seasons accommodation are being discussed.
Anyone who ventures to Chill Hill can testify that the place is littered with snowboards, skis, boots, old bindings, signs and memorabilia (crap) from the snow.
Look in the history of any member of the families computers, you’ll find snow sites, no matter what month it is. The only thing that is missing from Chill Hill is the snow and a chair lift, I’m working on a chair…........
Going snowboarding (and skiing) is what we do
This report is not from just one trip, its a grab from lots of days and nights at Mount Hotham and four days at Perisher….... The Shred, a gathering that is becoming iconic after only its second year. An overview of our winter, hope you enjoy
First thing was to set the agenda for the upcoming season
Winter had a cracking start in 2012, early snowfalls and cold temperatures early, saw the excitement levels high.
May gave us some cold nights and by the end of the month we had snow on he ground.
Alpacas of Chill Hill feeling a little frosty
Before the season gets into gear we head up the mountain and make sure the lodge is ready to deal with whats about to happen, bucket loads of people staying, eating, sliding, drinking, coming, going & having heaps fun!!!
The lodge had major renovations over the summer and was looking a treat.
The Ski Club of East Gippsland, our home on Mount Hotham
Its awesome to be able to pull off the Great Alpine Road and drive up one of the runs when there is some snow on it
During the week before opening this year, East Gippsland was hit by a huge storm and ensuring floods afterwards. This washed away a few bits of the Great Alpine road between Chill Hill and Mount Hotham…............ this lead to something worse than DEATH ITSELF !!!!! TRAFFIC BLOODY LIGHTS 
Not one, but four sets of the time wasters of society!!!!!!
The trip from home to Hotham takes two hours if the snow is not low and is a drive I love to do.
We were on the hill every weekend from opening until the first weekend of August. Plenty of fresh snow and great riding to be had.
Standout day being the Saturday 23rd June. K2, Wildman and I scored some amazing freshies. As the Orchard area was yet to open, a little local knowledge combined with a short hike, we found plenty pow pow turns and face shots (the ones we love) 
8:15am We are just about to drop in for the ride of our lives
As we were nearing the school holidays, things were looking amazing, snow was falling regularly, the week we had booked in was shaping up to be epic
As most of you know, the Chill Hill Crew consists of six people and way too many animals, although I have a few doubts if some of the people would pass a “are you human” test.
Getting six people to the snow in a five seater car proved to be an obstacle, yet after a little thought and trial and error, we found a solution to the problem.
A usual weekend consists of,
Friday ~ Kids at school, parents work backsides off trying to complete whatever meaningless task someone is paying us to do (which funds the fun and feeds us)
Kids start getting in from school around 4:00pm, this in turn is when Tambo and my tempers start to get heated, with statements like the following flowing freely…... “what do you mean, you have not waxed your board” “Why haven’t you dried / washed your clothes from last week” “no you can’t bring a friend” “YES, we are staying at the same place we always stay” “it will take the same amount of time to get there are the other 1000 times we have driven up there” and so on and so on
Final check list, dogs are with a responsible adult? Gates all closed and locked so no Alpacas spend the next few days chilling in the neighbors flower garden? Did we fill the Rok up at the place that has winter diesel mix? Have the chooks got enough water?
Has someone gagged Mizu the Duck? She makes to much noise and pisses the neighbors off !!!!!
Finally we get rolling, then we start off with the, can we listen to…............
Mini Shred ~ Bon Jovi, Bad Medicine
Wildman ~ Deadmaus 5, Ghosts N Stuff
Raindrop ~ Taylor Swift (Azz’s gags)
Munga ~ Some Dubstep
Tambo ~ Skinny Love, Bon Iver
Azz ~ Graceland, Paul Simon
School Holidays
Ventured up for the first weekend of the Holidays. Had the pleasure of meeting Muddy and Mini Mud. I think they both thought I was some rev head hoon. We caught up at the Genny in the arvo just as the V8 Supercars were set to race, after I had claimed one of the TV’s for my viewing pleasure, it was race time. Poor Mud had trouble understanding me I’m sure 
I must of set half a good impression, cause we went riding the next day and had a blast in the sun
We were heading up for the second week, Billy was coming as well for a few days. Mud Honey was up there for both weeks and had been posting pics and vids on Boardworld, building our excitement to almost fever pitch.
As the time to leave got closer, the weather forecast turned sour, that four letter swear word, R@#N was being tossed around, this time they meant it 
To put it simply, we lucked out with the weather and got some really shitty days. We did get out each day, but a few were very short.
Of course, if the weather says NO the bar says YES
Being in the fine company of Billy the drinking superstar we had a great time 
The worst weather day was on the Wednesday, lucky for us Tricki Ricki plays there in the afternoon, so we made sure we were there early for good seats and happy hours
Earlier in the day, we had bumped into Ricki while buying Mini Shred some stocks. Rick calls Mini Shred Snotty, cause her pants are snot green. During the show he sang her a little song, much to her delight
Good Times
The afternoon / evening got a little sketchy from there on in. We met up with Bish (BW Member) and his girl. Arrived home for dinner an hour or so late, entertained everyone at the lodge. I am proud to say I was used as an example for children to learn from.
“See this man, HE is NOT a responsible adult!!!!!” 
That lady was a genius !!!!!!
So we headed out night riding, were Billy, Mini Shred and I found ourselves in the Hundred Acre Wood.
After a few laps of the Big D, we invited our new friends back for a drink
On one of the rainy days we discovered a little gem of an app called Ski Tracks, it does all sorts of cool stuff, but most importantly it records your maximum speed. Of course, the challenge is not to go the fastest, its to see who can get the coolest number….... DUDE !!!
Heading out into the dampish weather
August we gave a miss, went up for the first weekend as it was Raindrop’s 18th, drank a bit too much, again, went snowboarding.
September kicks off with Fathers day and there is no place better for this Father to spend Fathers Day than Mount Hotham.
Saturday Wildman and I blasted around the resort doing our thing for the morning, then rode with Tambo and Mini Shred in the arvo before heading to Ricki’s show.
Some random we hung out with he was heaps of fun, did a few Village loops with him the next day
We bailed from Rick’s show early as there was a fundraiser for breast cancer with fireworks and a flare (glow sticks really) run down the Summit.
It was heaps of fun winding our way down the Summit in a big line then watching the fireworks.
Sunday Morning, Father’s Day we opened the curtains to a bluebird day
After the kids spoiled me rotten and we had a good feed of bacon for breakfast, we headed out to ride.
Mini Shred is ripping on her skis now, so we started ticking off all the runs on the trail map.
After we had smashed through a heap, we headed over to a special place for us, Silver Brumby Hut at Blue Ribbon.
This is where Tambo & I were married 
We hung out for a while, built a snowman and chilled out in the glorious sun.
We headed back in for some Harry the Snowdragon Cup cakes and a coffee, then Mini Shred and I headed out to tackle some Gnarly stuff and cross a few more runs off her list.
We headed straight out to Spargo’s one of the steepest groomed runs you will come across, it even has warning signs 
We then hit, Brockoff (mogul run from hell), The Cornice, Initiation & Gunbarrel a few times.
One stoked Mini Shred, one stoked Dad, could not have planned a better Father’s day if I tried
Some interesting stuff about Hotham.
Mount Hotham is 1861 meters at its summit, it has 13 lifts, but you can can cross one off the list straight away, as its at Dinner Plain, 15 minutes down the road and you will get board (bored) approximately 20 minutes after you get there. The summit trainer is also included in that list so strike it out too.
Unlike other Aussie resorts at Hotham you drop in at the village and ride down (except for beginner runs) then get lifted back up to the village.
It has 395 mtr of vertical, 20% for Noobs, 40% for crew starting to really shred and 100% is for everyone else that loves riding whatever comes at you
The lifts you will be riding are
Summit Quad ~ Straight up the Summit, Summit park on your left (when they get it built) it generally has a three jump line up, about the 20 - 30 foot range (dispute me if you wish, I don’t give a rats) then some rail features.. A smaller set of jumps for beginners is thrown in too.
Road Runner ~ The unload is halfway up the summit, there is a bridge across the Great alpine road to get you down the other side of the mountain, to the ‘fun’ stuff.
The Boarder X course is built along the eastern side of the summit, running over the bridge and then onto the Sun run. Always a fun course, worth spending an hour or two racing your mates. If you choose not to run the course, riders left after you come over the bridge is the snow groomers workshop with the helipad on top. There is a good drop off to launch off, beware beginners heading off on there first intermediate run, they are always right where you want to land !!!!!!! Sometimes the groomers park in the way, so its an excellent opportunity to do a blade tap on the pointy end of a Piston Bully.
Village Quad ~ Home of the infamous Village loop. The loop which takes you on a journey on the middle section of the resort. So you drop in beside the quad, the options, the options. On your right is the Basin terrain park if thats your thing, CLICK HEREto see what there atm. I prefer to head over to the right beside the house and pop off the trail that heads to Blue Ribbon (get to that later) Then point it at the entry to the cat track on the far left of the run.
The cat track is a wonderful invention, I believe invented by the friendly crew who run Mount Hotham, to cut what could be an awesome, long uninterrupted run, down the fall line into skier and boarder traffic chaos. Don’t get me wrong, they have a purpose and provide many a fun hit to pop off, but mix yourself with going hell fast to maximise pop with a plethora of idiots, mostly out of control and it starts to rain on your parade a little.
Now you have slid the first CT, utilising the good hip hit on the left wall near the end, you will come around the corner past the mid station for the Playground double chair and be looking across to the Road Runner load, I am not sure which will hit you first , the wind trying to bring to a screaming halt or the terror of people going every which way, stopping randomly and then gathering for a pow wow in the middle of the track!!!!!!!
Once you have survived that carry on, you head down your next cat track, a few little hits along the left wall for good measure and you find find your self looking down Slalom Gully.
For those of you who know Perisher’s Front valley, well you are half way there. Same population, but lets make it a blue run, about 50 mtrs wide with blue and black runs funneling in along the length of it…........ it can be a truly scary place to be, if you do a season at Hotham and don’t get taken out in Slalom, then you deserve a medal !!!!!
Right, you made it to the bottom of Slalom, and are fast approaching the Heavenly Quad load (more on this later) If you decide the left side is your best option, you can fight the mass of retards that think stopping in the middle of the run to Village load is a choice idea, upside of this you get a reasonable run into the lip that those who choose the right hand option are presently launching off. Either option has its benefits, I like to mix it up, depending on where Ski patrol are standing, remembering that Slalom Gully is after all “Family Fun Slow Zone” and not really a demilitarized zone.
The final cruise to Village load is possibly the flattest run in Australia. Load the chair and ride it back up, congratulations, you have just completed a Village Loop. Now go do it again, and again, and again etcetera.
Remember, when riding at Hotham, riding chair 69 (dude) is lucky
Extra lucky if you get chair 69 (dude) on the Playground double 
Cont…...
So if you think back to dropping in at Village, I spoke of a trail to Blue Ribbon? Well its just another cat track, which ends up at Blue Ribbon Triple chair. Possibly some of the best tree riding to be had. Thats enough talk of Blue Rib, you can figure it out yourselves if you’re at Hotham when its on 
Ok, lets talk about Heavenly Valley. Opening at 7:30am Wed to Sun for all the early risers, it really is a Valley of heaven, gully shaped like pipes, steeps, open bowls, its got it all.
It also has HELL in the shape of you end up in Slalom Gully again, you gotta take the good with the bad
When you disembark from the top of Heavenly, you can then shoot across towards the Orchard area, you’ll ride the Gotcha chair to get out there, cast an eye to your right as you head up. What you are looking at and most probably soiling the front of your undies because of what you can see is the “extreme” area.
Word of warning, if its a powder day, and you ain’t local, stay away (unless a local invites you out) we have killed better people for less 
The Orchard area serviced by Keoghs and Orchard Quad is reasonable fun, worth a look around, always a hit or two for hurtling off. The chairs “lifts” are just one chair, you load at a mid station in the bottom of the valley, Orchard heading out, Keoghs to head back in.
To get back to the village, I highly recommend heading back via One Tree Hill, no idea why its called that, there is a shit load of trees on it or Spargos, which I would guess at being the steepest groomed, inbounds run in Oz. Beware if its icy, if you fall its going to hurt lots
Thats a basic run down of what you’ll encounter at Hotham. I am glossing over the best of it, I ain’t giving away all of Hothams goodness to you all.
The Shred
What can one say?????
HOLY SHIT, what an event. Second year in and better than the first!!!!!
I throughly enjoyed myself, hanging for next years. If you didn’t make, don’t miss the next one
A little clip of some stuff that happened there
Oh, hey Mika!!!!!
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Nothing!!!
So thats nearly it for another winter
I have to go wax our boards now, there is snow falling up there and tomorrow is the last day Hotham spins those chairs for 2012.
Have a good summer everyone, thanks for watching / reading / getting to the end of this long winded trip report
See ya at the Shred in 2013
NEWS FLASH ~ Headed up for the last day of 2012 and rode last lifts
Last night I waxed my board,
Still lots of snow up there, 5 - 10 cm fresh
They joined all the boxes together, I am told it was 55 mtrs long, they were pulling it down when I got up there.
The Hotham and Dinner Plain 69 thing…...
We rode Blue Ribbon area, its closed and we had to hike a little, but good turns were to be had
Last ride on Heavenly Valley for 2012…....
Oh, Hey Jez…......
NOTHING
Shut up and take my money!!
Oh Em Ge!
This HAS to be the event of the season! CAN NOT WAIT!
This is gonna be bigger than Ben Hur!!!!!
And how’d ya get Sandra Bullock to make a cameo?????
WICKED!!! :D
This is gonna be bigger than Ben Hur!!!!!
And how’d ya get Sandra Bullock to make a cameo?????
Offered FREE beer and she was a shoe in.
or is that a shoey in
Haahahah I’m excited and scared at the same time!!!!
Woohooo!
haha looks epic, azz. Looking forward to it. I love teasers!
Awesome teaser, can’t wait to see the full thing!!!