Sloping off to Mt Hotham

COLIN MOORE finds snow aplenty amid the gums at Mt Hotham in the Victorian high country, where a new airport makes access from Melbourne a piece of cake.

Those damned Aussies must be working a con.

The 25,000 of them who clutter up our ski slopes each season are surely just a diversionary tactic, a smokescreen to keep us away from these Snowy Mountains.

For years we have been told that snow in Australia is as scarce as Aussie humility and the slopes are about as steep as an outback desert.

Oh yeah? So what's all this stuff that's threatening to close the road to Mt Hotham in the Victorian high country?

Okay, so my visit coincided with the massive dump that tragically buried a group of backcountry touring snowboarders.

But it's hard to stop grinning and wondering why it has taken so long to ski among the snow gums in Man from Snowy River country - the place with craggy battlements on high.

I have long wondered whether a show-and-shopping trip to Melbourne or Sydney combined with a few days skiing among the gum trees, would make an excellent winter break.

A succession of fairly indifferent New Zealand ski seasons is enough to convince Auckland travel company Ski Travel Specialists and Tourism Victoria that a few New Zealand skiers might prefer skiing among gum trees to dodging rocks.

And there is another reason for putting together some attractive "ski Victoria" packages at the Mt Buller, Mt Hotham and Falls Creek resorts - a spanking new airport just 20km from the lift lines.

Our advance party got to the copious snow of Mt Hotham the long way: a red-eye flight to Melbourne, another to the provincial city of Albury, and then by road into the Victorian Alps and the Alpine National Park.

Mt Hotham and its satellite resort of Dinner Plain, sit astride the Great Alpine Rd, a classic Victorian touring route, on the spine of the national park.

But our journey home was a tad easier. We waited on the newly laid tarmac of Hotham Airport for a charter aircraft to fly us to Melbourne in less than 40 minutes.

The $A17 million ($20 million) airport opens this weekend, ready for the Dash 8 aircraft of Qantas subsidiaries Eastern Australia and Southern Australia Airlines to bring in skiers from Sydney, Melbourne - and New Zealand. Regular flights start from the end of this month.

That means you can catch the same red-eye flight I did and, because of the time difference between New Zealand and Australia and the convenience in Melbourne of connecting between international and domestic flights, be skiing on the Hotham slopes by 10 am.

Only Queenstown offers a similar fly-in convenience - unless you can afford to go to Aspen.

Airfares from Melbourne are starting at $A198 return and from Sydney at $A299. A coach transfer to the skifield will cost another $A30 return. Ski package deals will likely see the fare price discounted.

Mt Hotham is offering five-night packages, ex-Melbourne, including on-field accommodation, return air fares and lift passes, from $A609.

Ski-Travel Specialists has five and seven night packages that include air fares from New Zealand. The cost depends on accommodation chosen but start from around $NZ1200.

So what's it like when you get there?

The first thing you have to appreciate is that the Snowy Mountains are the second-oldest mountain range in the world. So while our mountains are still being pushed into the air, Australia's have been eroding for millions of years. That's why they are rounded, why trees grow near the tops, why roads climb over the summits and why you can stick luxury ski lodges on top of the ski hill. (Protection from a huge hunk of interior land rather than exposure to Southern Ocean weather helps too.)

I have heard Aussies and those fortunate enough to ski in Europe or North America, rave about on-snow accommodation and I have to confess they are right to do so. Door-to-door skiing is perfect.

The lodges at Mt Hotham are as luxurious and modern as you will find in Colorado or Canada.

I stayed at White Crystal in a condo with an upstairs bedroom, two bathrooms, full kitchen and dining room/lounge. When I fell asleep in the upstairs bedroom after a hard day on the Hotham slopes, the rest of the crew couldn't wake me from my slumbers.

If there is a downside, it is that places like Hotham are strictly ski resorts, so it tends to be a case of skiing - or watching others ski. However, there is a range of nightlife at the main lodges.

But the skiing was just superb. I was once at Thredbo during the summer and the ski slopes were grassed and smooth. It is typical of the Australian fields and means that it doesn't take much snow to get skiing.

It seems too, that Australia peppers its fields with lifts, so while the runs may not be the longest around, there is certainly no wait in getting to the top again. Mt Hotham has 13 chairlifts, Falls Creek 18 lifts and Mt Buller 25.

The Hotham slopes were surprisingly varied, with more than enough blue and black runs. I skied with Craig Corbett, a top ski instructor and Rotorua travel agent. It was the first time he has skied Australia and he was impressed.

Another bonus for Mt Hotham is the helicopter shuttle to the neighbouring Falls Creek field where the lift tickets are interchangeable. The helicopter link costs $A59 return so that any Hotham package can include a day at Falls Creek for the cost of the shuttle. The views of Victoria's high peaks, such as Mt Bogong, Mt Feathertop and Mt Fainter, are alone worth the trip.

You can also check out the snow gums and bowls in the backcountry by going Kat Skiing - a free shuttle towed behind a snowgroomer to areas beyond the liftlines. Both Hotham and Falls Creek also have extensive crosscountry ski trails.

Postscript: I do have one confession to make. Two weeks after revelling in the Mt Hotham snow I was at Whakapapa, proudly sporting my Mt Hotham jerkin on a less than pleasant Mt Ruapehu day.

"You're a long way from Hotham," said a voice behind me in the lunch queue.

"Wish I was there now," I responded.

"No you wouldn't, there's no snow, he said.

"Rubbish, there's heaps."

"No there isn't," he insisted."

"Look, mate, I was there two weeks ago and it was as good skiing as I have ever had."

"Mate, I was there three days ago, and it's bare, the snow has all rained off and they've closed most of the field."

Oh well, I'm told Aussie skiing can be like that. Another dump and it would be as good as new again.vp+9

* Colin Moore skiied among the snow gums courtesy of Qantas, Ski Alive International, Tourism Victoria and the Mt Hotham Ski Area.

CASENOTES

MT HOTHAM: Four-and-a-half hours by car from Melbourne, it has 245ha of skiable area; 36 per cent intermediate and 37 per cent advanced. The summit is at 1861m and the longest run 2.5km. There are 4700 beds on the mountain, with another 200 at the satellite village of Dinner Plain.

FALLS CREEK: Skiable terrain is 450ha, with 60 per cent intermediate and 23 per cent advanced. The summit is at 1500m and the longest run 3km. The field has 4000 beds on the mountain and 20 restaurants.

MORE INFO: Ski Travel Specialists, ph (09) 307 1350;

Links

Mt Hotham

Falls Creek


Both Web siteshave snowcams.