By CHRIS EPSKAMP
AS the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm, and this winter, the early birds (myself included) caught the powder before the lifts starting spinning for the season.
After a long break due to the COVID impacted ‘annus horribilis’ that was 2020, the smiles on the faces of everyone skinning out of Heavenly Valley at Mt Hotham on June 10 was heartening to behold.
After the promising start to the Mt Hotham winter season, the few weeks following the Queen's Birthday long weekend proved a mixed bag of weather conditions.
Despite some ‘liquid sunshine’ dampening the spirits of an otherwise enthusiastic throng of visitors, sterling efforts from the snowmakers and grooming team saw the upper lifts at Hotham open and operating into the first week of the Victorian school holidays.
The season truly got going with a cold blast in early July.
With the school holidays in full swing, the mountain transformed into a winter wonderland.
The second week of the holidays saw blue skies, cold temperatures and more lifts and terrain open in the resort.
Through the ongoing magic of the grooming and snowmaking teams and much to delight of guests, Heavenly Valley (HV) opened on July 6.
Nothing gets skiers and boarders more pumped than their first run of the season down Imagine.
Even before the HV chairlift started turning, the mass of skiers and snowboarders traversing across from the summit and tracking Heavenly was certainly a sight to behold.
A vast amount of pent up energy was being expended.
Hotham’s superb backcountry turned it on too.
Snow drifting into all the ‘right spots’ providing fabulous powder turns in the alpine zone through early July as temperatures remained cold.
Backcountry split–boarder Brett Godden from Melbourne said of the conditions on July 6, "Skiing the groomers and inbounds off–piste early was awesome".
"With the sun out and all the school holiday crowd on the slopes, we thought it a prime time to chase some of the fresh powder on the other side of the rope," he said.
"The cold temps meant the snow we rode was arguably as good as it gets at Hotham."
The snap COVID lockdown starting on July 16 also heralded the biggest storm of the season, dumping loads of snow on the resort and setting it up perfectly for when everyone could safely return to Hotham.
Even though the lifts stopped turning for the period of the lockdown, those lucky enough to be on the mountain had the joyous option of skiing powder for exercise within their 5km radius.
Looking forward to the rest of 2021 being ‘annus mirabilis', a wonderful year.
Deep snow on the ground is a good start.
