Hotham in 08 - lovely as ever.

Best season in years!

With consistent snowfalls from July through to early September, 2008 quickly became a season to remember. We received snow so soft and dry it was compared to the quality of powder usually only found overseas. The weather gods made up for their slow start by dumping a total of 3.28 metres of snow over the season, the highest average natural snowdepth reached was 163cm in August. We were fortunate enough to receive many large falls over the season often measuring 20cms or more. Hotham experienced 56 nights where the temperature did not exceed 0 degrees, which created ideal conditions for our snowmakers to make even more of the white stuff.

Given the fantastic conditions, visitors flocked to the mountain and by the end of the season approx 130,000 visitors came through the gates at Hotham staying over 300,000 visitor days. Mt Hotham received excellent coverage throughout national, state and local media including a Hotham dedicated episode on Channel 9’s Snow Show, a Postcards special feature and a segment on Getaway. The official website www.mthotham.com.au received 1.5 million visits over the snow season.

September has seen some of the best spring skiing on offer in years with fantastic snow and bluebird skies. The final days of the season did not stop our guests…both seasoned and first-time Hotham holidaymakers hit the slopes to make final turns and enjoy the last days of skiing and riding until we open again on Saturday 6 June, 2009.

From opening weekend onwards, Hotham hosted an array of successful events this season including: the Mountain Fresh Festival, Pub to Pub Cross Country Race, Advance Sled Dog Challenge, FIS Easy Mac SBX Championships, OME Rail Jam and the FIS Australia New Zealand Cup. Not only drawing in sizable crowds to the resort, these events attracted pro-athletes from Australia and around the world whilst also adding to the lively atmosphere on the mountain.

Mt Hotham Resort Management Board’s professional and friendly staff put in another huge effort this season to ensure that visitors had an enjoyable, safe and memorable time on the mountain. From our village bus drivers, ski patrol, waste management team, transit, gate entry and head office staff - every department put in 110% to ensure that we delivered the highest quality Hotham experience to all guests.

The Mt Hotham RMB would like to extend a big thank you to all the operators and retailers for an enjoyable season. The Ski Company did a fantastic job on the slopes once again and the increased snowmaking in Heavenly Valley is a brilliant addition to our resort. Thanks also to all our guests for another year.

That's it for winter '08 - see you all in 2009!