Hotham 10 – Day 7 – Sunshine City

Today was our last day in the snow country, and as a result, unfortunately, it began early – 7am Ed and Dave hit the road to pick up the cars from the long-term car park – while the rest of us bumbled along collecting gear and readying ourselves for one final day on the slopes. Pip and Sally were the first to actually hit the slopes, as Sally, Mike and Jayne were hitting the road for home much earlier than the rest of us – 10am to be precise. The house was packed, cleared and checked by 10am – quite an effort considering the amount of stuff we had with us – and most of us hit the slopes while Nat and Tess took up... [Read More]

Hotham 10 – Day 6 – Snow galore

Today we woke to find (as reported) 24cm of new snow on the ground, meaning everything had a nice white covering that had been sorely missed over the last few days. Again, the keenest of skiers were out as soon as the lifts opened (8:30am because of the lack of snow), while the remaining members of the household (including myself) took a little longer to get moving. It was still snowing lightly periodically, and was set to continue for most of the morning. According to the reports, however, the new snow hadn’t lead to any new runs or lifts being opened, it really just made skiing on those already open a whole deal better. Luckily today the wind was at an absolute minimum, so the... [Read More]

Hotham 10 – Day 5 – The day it snowed

The rain from yesterday finally stopped at 1:30am (according to the weather station – nobody was awake to witness this first hand, of course) and we woke to a nice new covering of snow; albeit only 5cm (or so). The blizzard which was predicted had come, but was set to continue all day and well in to Thursday (so it hadn’t all come at once). Regardless, this was enough of a motive for some keen skiers to hit the slopes at the break of dawn (or near-enough too) and see what damage the 40mm of rain had done to the snow cover. Pip decided this morning was the day for pancakes, so those a little slower off the mark were treated to a more exciting... [Read More]

Hotham 10 – Day 4 – Rain, rain… rain.

Today was a slack day for most – the snow conditions certainly hadn’t improved since yesterday, and the (lack of) visibility and strong winds were making things relatively uncomfortable outside. Regardless, some did choose to brave the conditions and hit the slopes as early as they could, but the remaining few of us spent the day inside – observing the poor weather from the comfort of the living room. Those who did go skiing did so up until lunch (although both Michelle and David stayed out on the slopes during the quiet lunch period), and after lunch, even fewer returned. Although I didn’t make it out there myself, I’m told the conditions were actually better than yesterday due to the fact that all of the... [Read More]