Mt Hotham is Primed And Ready For Visitors

To the delight of not only the Mt Hotham community but many lovers of all things winter across the state of Victoria it was announced yesterday that lockdown would be ending. No longer would we have to watch the Mt Hotham snow cam but as of today we could get back up on the mountain to enjoy skiing and snowboarding once again.In the announcement yesterday it was announced by the State Premier and Chief Health Officer that the state-wide lockdown would be lifted at midnight Tuesday 27th of July 2021. With this announcement came it was advised that outdoor group sports would be able to resume from 12:01am Wednesday the 28th of July. This of course means that skiing and snowboarding is back on the agenda and allows Mt Hotham to start turning those lifts again.

Credit: Hotham Alpine Resort As if the 2020 season for Mt Hotham and the community was not hard enough sadly, we all got locked down again during what could be the snowstorm of the season. During the first week of lockdown the powerful cold front backed up on the resort and deposited 77cm (30 inches) of fresh fluffy Hotham powder. Then as luck would have it the Mt Hotham weather patterns lined up again dropping down another 47cm (18 inches) across the ski resort. This came in at a storm total of 125cm (48 inches) and is exactly what the ski resort needed to get into gear, this should now set them up for 100% operations through to the end of the season.

Credit Hotham Alpine Resort As the dawn lifted on Wednesday 28th of July the mountain ops team was full swing getting the mountain resort ready for not only the visitors from country Victoria but also keen snow bunnies from Melbourne, a city of over 5 million people and a key aspect to the tourism operation of the alpine region. Providing any visiting the alpine resorts can present evidence of a negative Covid-19 test result within 72 hours of their departure to the ski resorts it would mean no more digital snow cam Hotham but the real experience of sliding down the mountains. Before closing up shop to accommodate the new restrictions Mt Hotham was running around 50% of the resort with the following lifts turning.Summit platterSummit QuadBig DAudi QuattroRoad RunnerHeavenly Quad With all the extra snow that has come down in the last fortnight this should allow the resort to open many of the remaining lifts once the conditions allow. Many of the runs out in the far reaches of the ski resort require natural snowfall as they do not have snow making facilities, but we have been glued to the Mt Hotham snow cams and we are confident that come the weekend we should see Blue Ribbon, Gotcha, Keoghs and Orchard start turning.