| 2 members have given this review an average rating of 4.5 of 5 |
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| Revision #1 (Last edited: 05/10/2007 @ 07:32:49) |
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| Price Paid |
| 3day lift pass - $250Aus |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Road tripped it and paid on arrival |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
I have a very average opinion of the 2 New South Wales resorts (Thredbo & Perisher). They are fun and give you a fix, but they aren't particularly amazing. I'd heard good things about Hotham and so was relaly looking forward to it. A couple of points to note are that it has the most difficult terrain of the Aus resorts, and it's also the only resort to have the entrire village above the snowline.
Around 9hours of driving from Sydney - and probably around 4 from Melbourne, it's not that close, though there is an airport which runs several flights a week. The drive in is fun, with typical bendy mountain roads before you reach the snow. You'll usually need snowchains to gain access to the national park too.
I actually managed to ride on 4 days - the 4th was a gamble with an invalid lift pass but the fresh powder was too much a lure, and that days riding was limited to around 90mins. The first 2 days were dissapointing in that there had been rain which made for either slushy snow - or bullet proof stuff. Luckily all of day 3, new stuff fell and the conditions were great because of it.
Terrain is quite varied, with a few Euro style cat tracks, many tree runs, and my favourite area around the Heavenly valley - for its natural bowls which allow for plenty of high banked turns. The lift system is great, with only a couple of T-bars up on the summit (beginners area). The rest are all chairs.
There are usually 3 massive booters on the Summit - though they were closed on my viist. There's a small terrain park up next to the village which basically has a quarter pipe, a few kickers and a handful of rails, boxes and a barrel. The resort offers freestyle instruction as well as all the usual beginners classes for skiers and boarders.
There's plenty of choices for accomodation from hostel to 5*, it's all quite costly but if you came all this way already... There are a few good pubs - Jack Frosts and the General Store offer regular live music, and later on a night club style boogie - where I have to admit to having maybe just a bit too much fun. Jaegerbombs are a must.
On slope food is not up to much, over priced and over saturated with grease - avoid the cheesy sausage, don't repeat my mistakes! I'd seriously recommend packing your own lunch. It never gets so cold your sandwiches freeze so go for it :P
On a good snowy day, there's plenty to keep everyone entertained at Hotham - I'd definitely make this your choice of Aus snow resort to visit if you're ever over this way. (By the way, I was gonna give this resort a 3 on a worldwide scale, but it sounded crap, on an Oz only scale, it would be a 5 - so I gave it four to average between these two scores...) |
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| Strengths |
Great variety of terrain,
Scenery beautiful
Village is up in the snow
Good nightlife
Less of your clueless cannon-fodder style tourists which tend to populate many of the beginner slopes at the NSW resorts. |
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| Hot Spots |
The General Store Pub
Heavenly Lift - pick a line off it - lots of fun.
The Orchard - if it's not icy is awesome fun twisting thru the trees |
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| Weaknesses |
short season
Aussie snow record has been black and white the last two years - so keep your fingers crossed! |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Thredbo & Perisher - and to a lesser extent, some of the smaller Tahoe Resorts like Sugarbowl. |
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