The lifts have stopped turning and the snow is melting as we stop to look back on the highs and lows of season 2011.
We started the season with a bang. Hotham Alpine Resort was the first Australian ski resort to introduce a ticketless resort entry system, Alpine Easy Access, where resort entry can now be purchased conveniently online or over the phone before leaving home.  Guests enjoyed the reduced travel times on the road (over 20,000 transactions were made!) and the handy SMS reminders when their permit was about to expire. A special thank you for your patience and support in the launch of this new system which will reopen for prepurchased resort entry from May 2012.
Snowmaking commenced on June 5 and with an average natural snowdepth of 27cm and 30cm in snowmaking areas we had 3 lifts turning on Opening Weekend in June. Snow fell steadily throughout June and July but August and September were warmer and drier than we would have hoped! We received 265cm of snow during the season with the highest snowfall of 29cm falling on August 11. Our natural snowdepth also peaked on this day at 109cm.
The coldest temperature of the season was -7.9 degrees on 12 September, and we reached the high just a week later with 12.2 degrees on 19 September.
Snowmaking ran for a total of 59 days throughout the season with the snowguns producing enough snow to cover the MCG with 11.4m of snow or fill 92.9 Olympic swimming pools!
We had all lifts operating by 9 July, a feat not achieved until 21 August in 2010!
Thanks all for a challenging, interesting, at times frustrating (thanks Mother Nature) and at times wonderful season. It is what it is!
Ciao to 2011 and see you on June 9, 2012 when we can do it all again. In the meantime, don't forget to buy your Hero Pass which helps you to ski and ride all season long for the price of less than 7 days. Bargain!Â
Pic:Â We celebrated 150 years of skiing in Australia this year...
Here's our FINAL SNOW REPORT FOR 2011 - http://youtu.be/MmMZvIVLLVg
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25 September 2011
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