OnSno.com

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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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: