29 August Calorie Burning in the Rain!!!

Guess who had the most fun at Hotham this morning? We did!

Yes though the weather gods definitely were not smiling this morning, three very keen and lovely ladies and good friends, Ruth, Leanne and Fiona, joined Sean and I on a calorie-burning snowshoe sojourn to Dinner Plain. This fearless group refused to be daunted by wind, rain, thunder and lightning and we boarded our trusty troopy intent to get amongst the snowgums for several kms of fitness snowshoeing.

Down Dinner Plain way it was much more sheltered that up at windy Hotham. And really not that bad, though we had to pull our hoods up over our heads occasionally and sought shelter in a cattlemen's hut for a few minutes, it's surprising how little we noticed the weather once we got going, started gasbagging and hit our stride. We did stop a few times, listening to thunder and commenting on some lightning we had sworn we saw; we did speculate as to whether Hotham would close its lifts due to lightning; but apart from that, undaunted we trudged onward and before you could say quantum physics (well that was Sean), we had covered a lazy 6km.

When we returned to Hotham Central, guests were definitely not happy Jan, several having been left below in the valley when the lifts were put on wind and lightning hold and we did think we heard some grumbling about refunds. Which just goes to show: when the weather turns sour and you want to put a smile on your dial, come snowshoeing!!!

Unfortunately we all left our cameras in our packs today so the only pic I have to share is one I snapped on my return. This shows just what the weather was like at Hotham this morning.

Thank you Ruth, Fiona, Leanne and Sean for being such good sports and having such a good spirit this morning!

27 August Half Day Tour

Well it was just Ruth and I and the wind today! Ruth and I headed out for starters from Diamantina along the Razorback and down the upper half of Bon Accord Spur, from where we could see Harrietville and the Ovens River valley 10 kms below. The wind was howling but the snow was delightfiul and soft, after 27cm of fresh in the last 36 hours.

Dropping off the southern side of the upper ridge of Bon Accord spur provided us with a lovely spot for morning tea!

The snowgums looked extra special today sporting a new mantle of snow. At times all you could see was the tops of them poking through the deep snowpack.

Can you spot our tracks leading down off the ridgeline? A pretty amazing place for our morning tea. Afterwards we headed south through Hotham towards Dinner Plain. There wasn't enough snow cover to head across the snow plains, so we enjoyed a warm-down cruising along the firm packed trails, chatting to a few a skiers along the way. By the end of the tour we both thought we'd had a pretty good workout and earned wine and desert this evening. I decided I'd leave skiing till tomorrow.

22nd August Half Day Tour

Today Rob and Ann joined us on a half day tour. Rob had booked his tour months ago and timed it perfectly, lucking into perfect touring conditions in the morning out along the Razorback and Bon Accord Spur.

If he had booked for yesterday, the tour would have been cancelled, as conditions were atrocious!

We headed out from Diamantina and ambled down the spectacular snowy ridgeline of upper Bon Accord spur.

We had a lovely stop for morning tea
and cookies amongst the snowgums, sheltering from the wind.


Australian snowgums (euacalyptus pauciflora)


Rob and Ann from Melbourne

With the temperature well below zero and the clouds and wind increasing, we headed top JB Plain. We had alovely snowgum ramble, stopping for views of Mt Tabletop.

We also stopped for a chat with David Chitty from Adventure Guides Australia who was out scouting the snow conditons for a school group he is teaching next week.

Rob has expressed an interest in our Sno Treks next year - 5 day snowshoe treks in the backcountry, including snow camping and peak bagging!

Tuesday 18th August Hotham Backcountry

Lovely morning for a half day snowshoe tour in the Hotham Backcountry


Here's Tracey and Frances enjoying the snow out near Derrick's.


This is the lovely creek you cross on the way to Derrick's: today we had to cross a little snow bridge to get across.

Spring has come to the backcountry .
And here's the very welcome Derrick's Hut, looking cared for after a rennovation last season by its proud custodians the Wangaratta Ski Club (thanks guys!)

Derrick's makes a great stop-over in summer or winter when you're walking from Hotham to Falls Creek. For more of these walks, contact Andy at Soulfree: e. andy@soulfree.com.au or
m. 04 8847 7271

Razorback Sat August 8

Ahhh sunshine returns to Mount Hotham for the best and biggest snow weekend of the season!

A perfect morning to check out the Hotham backcountry. Here's the group starting out on the Razorback from Diamantina, Saturday morning

Kez and Robyn descending the Big Dipper!

14yo girl tele skier ripping it up!

Robyn, Kez, Dajarra and James out on the Razorback enjoying awesome conditions

Now for the silly pic! Thanks guys for a great morning

Hope you enjoyed seeing the Hotham backcountry at its best

Oh ... and the champagne sunset tour was awesome!!!

JB Plain

Well the weather Gods have been depriving us of sunshine here at Hotham lately. Never fear, even when Hotham itself is windy and blown out, we can still find sheltered snowshoeing on the snow covered snow plains to the south.

Here's Judy at JB Plain on 31 July

We've been hosting the media at Hotham lately, here we are at JB Plain enjoying the sheltered snow plain snowshoeing

Marketing and media have some fun!