Info

• Date: 10th - 18th August 2024

• Location: Mt. Hotham, Victoria, Australia

• Who: Places capped at 12pax

• What: Skiing, drinking, and all the usual on-mountain activities

• Cost: c.AUD$1,100 per person

• Included: Accommodation, on- and off-mountain guides (we’ve been before)

The Detail

Our first formal home (Australian) event, The Oft Pissed Club is proud to present the Mount Hotham 2024 trip! We have a large apartment for a week that’s as close as possible to the slopes without being ski-in/ski-out, checking-in on the 10th and checking-out on the 18th. If there is enough interest, we have the potential to swap this place (that sleeps 8) for a place that instead sleeps 12 across the same dates

Transport:

If you’re not driving, there are two main ways to get to the mountain from Melbourne. For public transport (cheaper but longer), the best way is to take a train to Wangaratta and then the local bus from there up to the mountain. For a bit more money (and to save a few hours), early morning and overnight private buses operate from Southern Cross Station in Melbourne directly to the resort.

If you are driving, we highly recommend that you carpool with other people coming on the trip. With that out of the way, your best bet is to leave your car off-mountain at a ‘park and ride’ service. These typically cost <$100 for the week and offer the convenience of shuttling you up the mountain and through the snow, which is especially handy if you’ve never driven with chains on before. If you’re comfortable driving in snow and just want to take yourself all the way up, you can park in the overnight parking on the mountain but you will need to pay a resort entry charge per vehicle.

The Resort:

Despite having skied much of our lives at Mt. Buller (one of Victoria’s other popular mountains), we would argue that Hotham absolutely smacks the competition when it comes to variety of runs, après activities, and most importantly the quality and quantity of snow. The resort is typically open from early-June to early-October with mid-August being the best time to visit, averaging about 60cm of snow each week. Hotham is also arguably Australia’s best resort for intermediate and advanced runs but there are still plenty of beginner runs available (plus, even if you’re new we reckon you’ll be smashing intermediates on your second day!).

However, it is worth remembering that this is Australian skiing so don’t expect the world’s best snow. Snow conditions can be highly variable week-to-week, there is often a lot of artificial snow to try and keep the runs covered, and you must watch out for ice on any and every run. The upshot is that Hotham tends to get a lot of bluebird days so we’ve got that going for us!