The dawn of a new era, snowmaking in Heavenly Valley for 2008

The jewel in Hotham's crown, Heavenly Valley will have snowmaking for next season.

Season 2008 will herald the introduction of snowmaking at Heavenly Valley, Hotham’s most popular skiing & boarding destination, with snow guns and tower mounted guns to be installed on signature runs including Imagine, Milky Way and Snake Gully.

The $3m project will see a total of twenty-six hydrant points installed throughout Heavenly Valley during summer 2007/2008, which will increase the terrain under snowmaking from 17 to 25 hectares.

“The decision to invest significant funds in snowmaking infrastructure by the MFS Living and Leisure Group demonstrates the long term commitment to the development of the skifields at both Hotham and Falls Creek, and will complement the exciting Village development plans for Hotham” said Marshall Vann, CEO, MFS Living and Leisure Group.

“The advent of snowmaking in Heavenly Valley is an incredibly exciting ski field development for our guests as these trails are a resort favorite amongst skiers and boarders,” said John Schryver, CEO of Australian Alpine Enterprises.

The latest project comes on the back of more than $9m having been invested by Hotham Alpine Resort in the last three years on water recycling and snowmaking improvements. Almost 500,000 cubic metres of snow has been made at Hotham in the last two years alone.

This amount of snow would cover the MCG playing surface to a depth of around 24.5 metres, and for our northern visitors, it would cover the playing surface of the SCG with almost 27 metres of snow, and a typical rugby league ground with a massive 63 metres of snow.

“As has been illustrated by the volume of snow produced via our existing snowmaking infrastructure, snowmaking within the Heavenly Valley precinct allows Hotham to provide more consistent conditions and to open key terrain earlier in the season”, Mr Schryver added.

The significant development will compliment existing infrastructure, including this season’s installation of tower guns on Sundowner, a high traffic route to Heavenly Valley.

Servicing a variety of runs in an extremely scenic position, Heavenly is considered to be the pinnacle of skiing at Hotham, if not Australia. The quality and diversity of challenging terrain around the Heavenly Chairlift attracts snow enthusiasts from around the country and is envied by Hotham’s competitors.

The Heavenly Valley snowmaking project is slated to begin in October 2007 and due for completion in May 2008.