HOTHAM 2010 - Live From the Mountain

WEDNESDAY 14TH JULY:

It has been snowing all day and since mid afternoon the flakes have become bigger and steadier. It really does not look like easing up anytime soon, which will be just great. About 10cms on my balcony so far and still falling….
It is about time we had a day like this to hopefully kick the season into gear and open up a little more terrain.
I cannot wait until tomorrow morning to see what the net gain has been from this - don’t forget we had A LOT of rain before this snow kicked in early this morning

The snowplow tractor has been working overtime - as soon as he clears the road fills again - MAGIC!

I went for a walk around Dinner Plain at lunch time and here are a few snaps from around the Village.
Please note that there was absolutely NO SNOW here last night and now look:

I cannot get out to the slopes tomorrow as I have to work all day, so I’ll be out Friday morning and take some snaps of how the cover looks at Hotham compared to what I showed you on Monday…..

Thanks for the report BD4, I’m thinking a sicky is in order for tomorrow…................

Awesome! I hope you’re waking up early Barb. Let us know how the freshies are in the morning.

No freshies for me today as I am working all day.

Hopefully there is still some goodness tomorrow morning - I’ll be up there early before all those Uni Students wake up from their hang overs! HA HA! I have set up my helmet cam, so hopefully I’ll be able to get a decent video to share if my head doesn’t wobble too much.

Been snowling lightly on and off at Dinner Plain today. My ruler on the balcony says 15cms has landed there.

At lunch time went out the back of the house where there is some vacant land on a slight slope and decided to attempt to carve out a toboggan slope of sorts.
Here is the effort:

Some snaps from this morning:

My office:

FRIDAY 16TH JULY:

Struggled out of bed early and reached the Top Day Car Park just after 8am - lucky cos we managed to get one of the last spots.
It was a glorious morning with the sun shinning and the teps probably hovering around -2 or so.
There was no wind and the Village looked beautiful.

Lifts were turning and I was itching to have a run down some finely groomed runs.
Summit, Mother Johnsons, Snake Gully and Milky Way were just magic at this time of the morning.
Sun Run was for once not as good as usual for some reason - maybe Race Squad.

One look up at Summit and I knew that had to be my first run - only if for the view.

Summit:

Drift:

Heavenly Valley from Summit:

Guns going on Imagine:

Cover Under Heavenly Chair:

Race Gully (I Think) creek still showing:

Heavenly from Road Runner Chair:

Snake Gully:

Slalom Gully:

Orchard:

Drunk Snowman:

Hopefully the cold nights and coolish days keep up with some more snowfalls over the next couple of weeks.
Quite a bit more cover needed to open the rest of Heavenly and certainly alll of Orchard area.

I’ll be out again for most of the day tomorrow, hopefully the slopes are not too crowded.

Thanks for the pics!

Really want to go for a slide but I think I’ll wait a little longer.

Had friends up for the weekend so I went out all day Saturday, which was a glorious sunny day on the hill (again).
Started off once again with a couple of fresh turns down Summit where there was nobody at 8:15am except for a few instructors, Race Squad and early risers like us.
A few larger patches had appeared on Summit since yesterday morning and these were clearly marked by Ski Patrol.
Sun Run was better groomed this morning and the trail into Slalom and even Slalom itself were supurb until about 11am when the moguls started to appear and the crowds were at their peak. Still the cueues for Heavenly were not as bad as I thought they were going to be for a Saturday.
Heading up Heavenly Chair and down Milky Way to Snake Gully. The cover was quite good and Snake Gully was groomed and was quite fast with little or no people first up. Second run and I thought I’d tackle The Cornice which they had open for the first time this season I think. That too was nicely groomed and proved excellent boarding in the morning.
Imagine was also open but the cover is still quite thin and it was tough going on the icy sections.

It was a great day but with really not much on offer other than Slalom, Snake, Cornice and Imagine it got a little crowded and choppy.

Great report BD4, keep up the amazing work. 

Hope you don’t mind if I put up some photo’s from the comp Saturday !!!

17th July saw Hotham hold the first of its A La Carte in the Park series,
Cheese and Crackered Rail Jam

A good field of riders competed in;

Grommets ~ Board & Ski
Womens ~ Board
Junior Mens ~ Board
Mens ~ Board & Ski

Best Over all ~ Board, Men & Womens & Skier

The sun was shining on Saturday, practice started at 3:00 just as the sun was dipping low in the sky. The park, out the front of Swindlers was in the shade and very firm. As the afternoon fell into darkness the lights came on to flood light the action.

Over results,
Womens ~ Hannah Studd
Mens ~ Allie Coates
Skier ~ Louis Muhlen

Kudos to Aido for being a rad MC for the night.

This weekend the Australian Junior Series is on at Hotham, Boardercross, Big Air & Rail Style. If you want to see some amazing riding, head to Hotham.

Hannah Studd

Wilding Richardson

Louis Muhlen

Nick Gray

Allie Coates

Riley Teague

Stan Williams

Callum Teague

Fischer Richardson

This little guy is about 7 years old, he is amazing and will be one to watch in years to come. I have seen him out on a snowboard this year and he has no fear.

Rainer

The Park crew have done an amazing job with very little snow and plenty of rain to wash away their hard work.
There is snow getting pushed around on the Summit, hopefully the start of the Slopestyle park!!!!!!

Park crew hard at work during the comp.

View to the East as the sun sets.

After presentations and a great pizza from Swindlers, we headed home, stopping to grab a pic of the Big D night riding with the snowmakers doing their wonderful thing.

How’s Hotham shaping up this week?
I’m heading up with a group of mates next week, hoping that the Orchard area will be open..
Any ideas on the likeliness of that?

Yeah Wilding and Fischer! Great work boys! 

Hello T-Spec

The chances of The Orchard area being open next week are very very slim - in fact I think that it will not be open.

What they are managing to keep open now is great, but limiting. This week and next week are supposed to be two of the more quieter weeks up here, so at least the runs aren’t as crowded.

Rode yesterday morning which, one the cloud lifted, was a glorious sunny day with not too many people about.
Summit is looking more an d more patchy every day - with no snow making up there the groomers are doing well to hold it together.
Sun Run, Slalom Gully, Snake Gully, Sundowner, Cornice, Mother Johnsons all performed well with the snowmaking still happening into the mid morning.

Imagine still looks too patchy for me.

Hit the Dinner Plain Pub last night for a few wines and a round of darts

Oh…... our Snowhead was on the Adeliade Chanel 10 news on Tuesday night if anyone was watching

Rained all day yesterday at Dinner Plain…......took about half the snow with it.
Dusting at Hotham

This last week and a half has seen no snowfalls and warmer temperatures here at Hotham.

The 25cms we had on the 14th have now all but melted away here at Dinner Plain.
There was some significant rain in the middle of last week that also did some damage.
And with the higher temps the snowmaking has been reduced or on hold. Has really just started ti kick back in to gear a little over the laste few nights.

If you like Spring like conditions then you’ll be more than happy here at the moment.
They have managed to keep open runs such as Summit, Sundowner, Imagine, Cornice and Snake Gully which I think is a huge credit to the Groomers and snowmaking teams.

A lot of Apres events with the Mountain Fresh Festival on throughout the week at most venues around Hotham and Dinner Plain.

Hopefully the rain does not evetuate later this week cos that is the last thing the mountain needs right now.

hey everyone
my buddy had his board stolen on sunday at hotham from outside swindlers.
Please read this thread https://www.boardworld.com.au/forums/viewthread/978/
and if you could keep an eye out that would be great
cheers

It’s been raining for the last two days up here
Very wet and slushy.

I have not had a chance to get up to Hotham since last week because I have had to work all week.

I will be up there tomorrow and hopefully the conditions are not too bad - I will let you all know.

Hookers and Deviates Ball is on at the Dinner Plain Hotel Saturday night