The Official 2012 Snow Calendar

Visitor reviews for Mount Hotham Ski Resort

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Ski Resort Rating: Rate Mount Hotham

• September 19, 2010
  Karl from Switzerland
  

  If you love freeriding, Mount Hotham is one of the best ski resorts in the world. I should know as I have skied every major Australian and NZ ski resort, many resorts in western Canada, western USA, Italy, France, Austria and Switzerland. I normally visit around 25 different international ski resorts per year.

  If you are prepared you may encounter rain, slush, elephant snot, Australian Powder, Canadian corduroy and champagne powder. You will enjoy the good, the bad and the ugly at Mount Hotham. Like all Australian ski resorts conditions and weather are variable, but Mount Hotham has many secrets. Secrets so good, that when the conditions are perfect, there is not a better place to ski.

  Try the following during the worst possible snow storms only with a local or a Mount Hotham ski ambassador.
  Inbounds
  1. Blue Ribbon as you can hide from the wild weather,
  2. Notice Board, The wall of death and the pipeline off the Village loop,
  3. The Canyon and Brockhoff off the HV chair.

  Prepared for backcountry and very wild weather. Take a friend, when the Gotcha chair is closed and walk up Green Line and ski the following only if you know the terrain and can ski any run in any condition:
  1. Gotcha, The ridge, and Mary's Slide. As soon as you drop off the ridge you are in a paradise full of untouched powder!
  2. Coles Bowl and the remaining runs skier's left are great if the bottom funnel of Mary's has been skied out.
  3. If the Orchard is closed, don't fear, ski all the way down Keogh's down to Orchard load cross the Swindler's platform and follow the creek back to Swindler's trail. It eventually joins the official Valley trail from Mary's Slide.

  Where to go when the storm clears? HV
  1. HV as it typically opens on certain in-peak season at 7:30am. Check with Guest Services. It is good everywhere.
  2. Wendix is untracked, because most people turn right at the top of HV.
  3. Try skier's left of Imagine, over the ridge is untracked, then continue to top of Brockoff and feed right back onto Patroller's drop.

  Unfortunately, HV is usually skied out in one or two hours, so, Extreme and Orchard are next on the radar. As soon as Gotcha opens, well, take the lift...
  1. Ski the Extreme zone.
  2. Ski into Orchard and enjoy intermediate cruising,
  3. After Orchard is done ski Boarder's Valley, skier's right of Spargo's trail. Snowboarder's take this option, because they run out of momentum as Spargo's trail enters the flat, wooded section of the run.
  4. One tree hill is quite nice. If this is what you like then, ask Guest Services or a local to show you the Golden Point area. Do not enter this area without local knowledge. There are no reference points through the woods and you could easily lose your bearing. The area is skied out very quickly, so, be sure you can ski any run in any condition.

  What's next?
  If you don't mind a walk then try...
  1. Australia drift and Avalanche Gully.
  2. If you like this alot, Dargo west face and try Parachute Drop (Instructor's Gully) way beyond the Drift T-bar.
  3. Done it all...ski HG AKA Harris Gully, but, you should have backcountry experience before skiing down the other side ridge beyond the Drift T-bar.
  4. There are more bowls including Dargo bowl, and Diamantina or South West face to Baldy Hollow beyond the Telecom tower on the summit.

  Further afield...
  1. P Gully - the north facing bowl skier's left of the summit,
  2. Eagle's ridge - the southern rim of P Gully, and
  3. Women's Downhill off the south face of Mt. Higginbotham.

  As you can see, there is plenty to offer the freerider!

• August 24, 2010
  Andrew from Australia
  

  Geez people talk garbage. As far as patchy snow goes, if Hotham (Mount Hotham) is patchy it's a fair bet all resorts in Oz are patchy. As far as lift tickets and value for money goes, name me one Oz resort thats prices aren't comparable with Hotham. The lifts are not old. Hotham has 7 modern quads whose speed is normal for fixed grip in the areas they serve (ie, Big D is slow as it services the beginners & kids area). As far as terrain goes, the Heavenly Valley area throws up around 300m mixed skiable vertical. Buller, Falls are similiar and Perisher is not much more. Thredbo is the only Oz resort with decent vertical but it's base is far to close to the snow line. I'm sure most of those comparing us to Europe have never been there. The mountians there are three times higher, ten times as vast and further north than we are south and their lift prices are cheap because of the length of their season and size of their market. You people need to stop these contests and join reality.

• June 08, 2010
  Leigh Flower from United States
  

  Mount Hotham is a great resort for views. It sits right on top of a ridge so you get an amazing view over the eucalyptus forests. I went up there on a weekend trip with Mountainhound (mountainhound.com.au) who take you up there and organise everything so I didn't have to wait for lift tickets, hire gear etc. It was great!

• May 29, 2010
  Tim Pritchard from Australia
  

  Do not go to Mount Hotham if you are looking for steep terrain (those who say it's the steepest they've seen, obviously haven't seen much!!) While Mary's slide isn't bad there are not many other steep runs and as for vertical decent, it really struggles.
  I am Victorian, have been going to Hotham for some 10 years now and love the place, but it's not because of the snow or pistes. It's a great fun-in-the-sun ski resort with good food and decent parties. If you're extremely lucky you'll get 10cm of fresh in a short trip but more often than not you'll be skiing man-made snow.
  I guarantee that if you go with the right group of friends you'll have a lot of fun, just don't expect short lift lines and powder... nor expect to leave Mount Hotham with much money in your wallet...

• May 11, 2009
  Andy from Australia
  

  Is skiing at Mount Hotham value for money? No is the simple answer; an Adult 6day (peak) lift pass is $512AUD (288EUR), ridiculous price for what is on offer. The biggest and best ski resorts in Europe only charge around 200EUR for a 6day pass.

• August 14, 2008
  Craig woods from Australia
  

  I find it hard to understand the comments made by Jenny, I am Victorian and a ski instructor working at Mt Hotham. This season has seen wonderful snow and although we had a late start to the season this can happen anywhere in the world! Just look at what happened in North America last year and in Europe the season before. The cover at the moment is at about 1.5 metres and growing. Maybe if Jenny came to Mt Hotham she would be surprised to find Australia's powder capital in great condition and perhaps even try her luck on some of the steepest terrain that I have seen anywhere. Craig

• August 14, 2008
  james penny from Australia
  

  It is frustratingly hard to find accurate and objective information on ski resorts especially in Australia. Ozzies seem to get really defensive about their resorts and try to big them up, making out they are fantastic when they're clearly not. I was over in NZ recently and there are so many Victorians there who simply refuse to ski in Victoria because it's so bad. You look at the piste maps, the length of the runs and the lack of modern lifts and you quickly figure out that (despite the glowing reviews) Victorian ski resorts are not up to much.

• July 22, 2008
  Tony Harrington from Australia
  

  Mt Hotham is certainly one of the best ski resorts in Australia - particularly if you are a good skier and don't mind some adverse weather (which brings the best snow). The challenging terrain, plenty of tree skiing and atmosphere of the place makes it a seriously fun mountain. Ski in, ski out, great dining and bars make for a traditional Aussie alpine experience. If you are after epic conditions day in, day out, go ski Colorado - but if you are after a true blue Aussie spirited snow holiday, this is certainly the place to find it. Check out www wheresharro dot com for what it is really like.

• June 28, 2008
  Ian from Australia
  

  Hotham is actually fairly ordinary. Built on top of a ridge line so suffers when the wind is up. I've had days where you just didn't go outside because of the wind. Lifts are slow and old. Everyone ends up funneled down on to one run (Slalom Gully. If you're going to ski in Australia go to Thredbo.

  Falls Creek can be accessed by car during winter.

• June 08, 2006
  Peter Georgiou from Australia
  

  I snowboarded Mt Hotham a number of years ago and although the scenery was stunning, I was left a bit disappointed... But then again it was a 'bad season' right across the Snowy Mountains.

• January 12, 2006
  Chris from Australia
  

  James from Australia writes absolute rubbish. Hotham is the best place to ski in Australia by a country mile and on its day is as good as anywhere in the world minus a decent vertical. I agree with James on one thing though, when skiing in Australia try Perisher or Thredbo and leave Hotham to skiers and boarders that know and appreciate it.

• July 12, 2005
  Trev from Australia
  

  Mt Hotham has some great tree runs, however, like anywhere in Australia the snow can vary from day to day and week to week. Some of the steeper tree runs are as good as anything in Canada or Europe (but a lot shorter!). Snow gums don't make tree wells.

• June 11, 2005
  Matt from Australia
  

  Patchy snow? How can you submit such garbage? And how can you submit a review on the 2nd of August when you went there "in the middle of August"? To set the record straight, we had 46cm of fresh snow from 1-2nd Aug 2004. Better stick to the Mt. Buller, or better off, stay with the Sydney punters in NSW!

• August 02, 2004
  James from Australia
  

  Hotham is not all it's cracked up to be. It is supposed to have excellent black runs and lots of powder, but all I found was slushy, patchy snow (down the black runs too) and this was the middle of August when the season should be at its peak. Try Thredbo or Perisher if skiing Australia