Hotham 09 – Day 8 – The Long Road Home

We woke on the final day of the Hotham 09 Ski Adventure at 6am, to be ready for a 7am departure from Bright. The morning was full of cold-weather showers as always, but everyone was pretty happy considering the time and the temperature outside; -2C according to the car thermometer. Once the layer of ice had been been removed from the three cars in the convoy, and all of the removed luggage repacked, we hit the road – with 900kms to drive before we were home.

We stopped for breakfast at the usual pit-stop – the McDonald’s at Glenrowan (well, one of the McDonald’s) – and were met with a relatively normal morning crowd. Unfortunately Ed wasn’t feeling well now, although Pip was feeling considerably better, and so he missed out on the most unhealthy breakfast of the week so far. Without too much messing around, the 11 of us were finished our meals and loaded back into the cars to continue the journey.

Luckily, the reverse leg of this journey always seems shorter than the way over – possibly because of a slightly rearranged stop schedule in this direction, and the lack of a few restless break stops. While our next scheduled stop was Lake Boga, we had to stop at Echuca just briefly to change drivers in nearly all vehicles. We continued from this point on to our lunch break – although normally would be the McDonald’s at Shepparton, this year a home-cooked meal at Nick’s Dad’s place was just too appealing.

The party of 11 was treated with a serve of pumpkin soup and toasted rolls – more than enough for any hungry person – but for us, the food didn’t stop there. Once everyone was done with soup (and thought they were done with lunch), Val uncovered a large lasagne and a few salads to complement the now main course. Surely this was enough for us – and very much appreciated compared to a McDonald’s alternative – but the offers continued with chocolate cake up next for those who were keen. John was the only one to jump at the idea of cake, and as a result the cake never did appear. We questioned whether the “cake was a lie”, but laughed that off and laughed that John’s cake remained a mystery.

After lunch was done, we hit the road again heading closer and closer to the South Australian border. Our next stop was Pinnaroo – for both petrol and a toilet break. We didn’t stop here too much longer than required, as at this point home was less than 250km away. Another driver change and we were on the final stretch home. Everyone was particularly tired after a long day driving, and as the sun began to set over the Mt Lofty Ranges Adelaide broke through into view. By the time we had reached the bottom of the freeway it was well and truly dark (at 6pm), and after a quick stop to drop off Nick, we made the final few turns to reach our original starting point – 2000km later.

All in all, the Hotham 09 trip was a successful one with many good days of skiing had on great snow conditions. It was unfortunate about the illnesses that some members developed, but other than these we had no other problems along the way. Unless it snows considerably in the next few days and weeks, it’s possible that we could have had arguably the best week (condition-wise) of the entire season. It wasn’t all sunny days, but it was new snow and new terrain almost every day. With any luck we’ll hit the slopes again at the end of the year, but when, where and who is yet to be confirmed!

Hotham 09 – Day 7 – Out with a bang

Just a note: I’m incredibly tired while writing this, and so can’t guarantee the wording is all correct. Apologies if any sections don’t make sense!

Like the preceding two days, our final day at Hotham started early – 7am was the time for moving cars between the long-term car park, the house, and the short term car park in the heart of the village. Peering out of the bedroom window while getting ready, we saw that the weather was perfect outside – blue skies, no wind, and some fresh snow overnight to top off a perfect week. As this was our last day in the snow, the usual morning routine was interrupted by packing items once used, organising to have boots brought to rental returns at certain times, and even cleaning up after ourselves.

There had been a rumour floating about the internet regarding the opening of Keogh’s/Orchard during the day, and so we were all in a hurry to get out onto the snow in readiness for some new terrain to be opened officially. Breakfast didn’t take anyone too long, and we were soon out enjoying what the mountain had to offer once again, but this time, conditions truly were as good as they come. Astrid attempted to convince Nick that they wouldn’t need lift passes at all today, however Nick soon decided to purchase one in order to be on the safe side of any grumpy lifties.

Nat, Kim and Pip stayed behind to finish cleaning and checking out of the accommodation, but soon ended up a the Chill Bar at Hotham Central. The remaining crew skied a few runs over at Heavenly Valley, before they finally did open Koegh’s/Orchard mid-morning. At this point, Michelle had a ski lesson and so entrusted us with the children – of course, we decided this was a great time to show Emma and Bronte the hardest runs on the mountain (show, not ski). We ended up at the more reasonable terrain of the Orchard, where the pristine powder was a dream to ski.

Both the girls and Tess only survived over in this area for a short while, but the rest of us stayed skiing here until lunch. It was lucky that we stopped when we did, as the queue at the base was seemingly growing ever larger until it reached the point where it took longer waiting for the lift than it did to get up and back down again. John and I decided to take a challenging way back to Heavenly Valley, and skied The Chute. While this was a good run, it ended very poorly and we traversed to finish Mary’s Slide instead. We returned to Hotham Central and the Chill Bar where the others were waiting, and here we ate our first non-home-cooked meal in the week we had been away. Lunch was pleasant, but before we could head back out to the snow we had to check the Pinnacle shop for any last minute purchases. Nobody was too successful in this department, with Max and I both pining for the same black Karbon jacket of which they had none.

After lunch we headed back out for the Orchard area; but this time luckily, there were no crowds anywhere to be seen. We enjoyed a few runs here before Tess decided to pack it in, followed soon by Ed, Max, Mich, Emma and Bronte. John and I remained out here until the last run, skiing out-of-bounds terrain which was undeniably awesome due to the thick, fresh, untouched snow. As 4pm came around, however, everyone made their way back to the parked cars, ready to change from our ski gear into travelling gear for the trip to Bright. Nat, Tess and Astrid collected their things and made their way to the Transfer Lounge, while they waited for their overnight bus to arrive.

Although Mich and David’s car left considerably earlier than ours did, we all made good time down the mountain and back to our accommodation at Bright – but not before we’d both returned the snow chains and scoured every clothing store in Bright for the certain Karbon jackets we’d seen in the wrong colours at the top of the hill. Without success, we returned to the accommodation to freshen up and get changed for dinner.

Dinner was at the local pizza cafe – Chiaro’s Cafe – which is quaint but always very nice (and particularly cheaper than would be anticipated), and was enjoyed by all. Emma and Bronte crashed fast, and the rest of us got very tired not long after. Everyone decided to get an early night’s sleep due to the excellent day, and week, that had just finished, and the thought of the long drive back home tomorrow was enough to put anyone to sleep standing up.

Tomorrow will be a long day for everybody, although it should be more enjoyable than the way over due to the addition of another car to the convoy. With any luck, we should be able to get away from here on time in the morning so that we aren’t too late getting back tomorrow night.

Everyone has had an amazing week, although many have been somewhat sick for part or all of it, and are sad that it’s all come to an end so fast. Make sure you look at the photos from today because there are heaps!

Here’s today’s 30 second wrap:

Hotham 09 – Day 6 – Tough Conditions

Day 6 started at a similar time to Day 5 – early. Unfortunately, the weather was not good at all compared to the day before, and it wasn’t long before I had peered through the window and made the decision to go back to sleep rather than suiting up to go out in the cold. This early alarm woke Kim, Max and Pip up, but most were able to get back to sleep. There were some keen skiers, however, even if I wasn’t as die hard as I had been the day before, and Ed, John, Michelle and David went out into the thick fog soon after 7:30am.

For those of us who didn’t make the early boat, by the time we were up eating breakfast the “first tracks party“ had already returned. The weather didn’t look particularly inviting – fog, wind, and a bit of snow falling – and so it took us a bit of time to actually get motivated and hit the slopes. Unfortunately, the cool weather overnight had completely frozen the fresh powder from Wednesday, and rather than pushing through it without resistance, we simply bounced over the top of it – making it very hard to turn or stop anywhere but on the groomed runs.

In the valleys the weather was fine – apart from the fog – as the wind seemed to be strongest only at the top of ridges and while on the lifts. Max, Ed, Nick and I hit the Playground first up, and then headed for Heavenly Valley, although Nick was struggling to breathe due to asthma issues as on previous days. As a result, Ed and Nick soon returned to the Village for a breather while Max and I continued around the Heavenly Valley area. The top ridge of Heavenly Valley was ridiculously windy – so strong that it was hard to move forward at all, let alone at enough speed to reach some of the runs. Luckily the weather was really only bad at the very top of each run, and literally metres after the start the wind disappeared. We continued to ski these runs until it felt considerably late enough for us to return to the house for lunch.

Every one of the 14 person party was at the house for lunch, and we ate while watching the ongoing (but minimal) snowfalls outside the windows. Today’s forecast was only for isolated snowshowers, but there had been more snow than this in the first few hours of the day. We only hoped that it continued through the day, then stopped for a perfect sunny day tomorrow. Unfortunately we had still been hoping that Keogh’s/Orchard would open before the end of the week, but so far only the Gotcha lift had done so. Luckily today nobody had made the walk to the Hotham Medical Centre, and generally most were feeling just a little bit better. Astrid spent a fair amount of time in bed, however, complaining about various smells, but she picked up later in the afternoon.

After lunch we returned to the snow and skied a few runs on the Road Runner, where the now iced ”powder“ had started to soften up again. We didn’t last too long here and soon were skiing Heavenly Valley again. There was a considerable crowd at the bottom of this lift, and so getting back up took a number of minutes even to get onto the chair. By the time we had skied a few runs here, it was 4:00pm. Max had returned to the village for a coffee with Kim, but John and I were still out seeking the last tracks we could find. We managed to get another run up the Road Runner, and then back to the very base of the mountain which was a good run to end the day.

We returned to the house and met up with all of the other parties who had been skiing or relaxing in different locations. Dinner was home cooked again, and we spent time reliving humorous stories from earlier in the day. Of particular note, Michelle told a story about skiing Gun Barrel with Emma and Bronte. At one point, where Emma had raced off down the hill, Bronte took a turn slightly too high and managed to lose a ski. Not only did the ski disappear down the hill, but so did Bronte’s boot – leaving her sitting in the snow with only a sock. Although I won’t go into detail here, the story ends with a woman helping to carry Bronte down the hill, a man stopping Bronte’s ski at the bottom of the slope, and the ski patrol stopping past to check that everything was OK.

After dinner, Nick attempted yet again to light the fire in the living room – but had little success due to the lack of kindling available to assist with the process. I soon took over and spent the next hour burning newspaper, used cardboard boxes and anything else flammable in an attempt to get the fire lit. By the time I was finished, most had gone to bed, and there were more windows open than closed due to the excessive amount of smoke filling the kitchen and living area. I’m also sad to report that after all this effort, the fire didn’t actually start either.

Soon after than, everyone except John and I hit the sack in the hope of getting some good sleep before tomorrow’s early start to load and move cars from the long-term carpark. Unfortunately, tomorrow is our last day here on the slopes and the time has come to an end far too quickly as always. We are hoping for some nice weather to see the week out, and there is word that Keogh’s/Orchard will be opening tomorrow also. Provided all falls into place, and the rather solid snow softens up, tomorrow could be the perfect final day of skiing for us during the Australian 2009 season.

While today certainly wasn’t great photo weather, there are some (OK… very few) photos up in the gallery. Check out yesterday’s if you missed them, as there are some great shots!

Here’s today’s (slightly less than) 30 second wrap (visit OnSno.com if you cannot see it):