2011 Mt Hotham pics...

[El_Freddo]

G'day all.

I'm up here again for another season. Started much earlier this time around, been here for just over two weeks already working at sorting out the apartments we look after for the season before the punters (such as your fine selves that make it up here) arrive.

I've been collecting some pics along the way from various balconies of the apartments I've visited as well as others from around the traps as I've seen fit/haven't been in control of a vehicle...



^ Hotham Central with Mt Feathertop peaking over the top of the Heavenly Valley Ridgeline (should look up that ridge name...)



^ The snow fields looking over to Keogh's and Orchid chair lifts.



My Favourite pic so far - looking Southish from the Corral Carpark, slightly zoomed in - wish I had a better camera for taking images such as this...



Southerly slopes of Mt Hotham. The mobile phone tower, as ugly as it is has become some sort of icon in some of the images, particularly if you can get out early morning after a huge dumping of snow to capture an image of it covered in snow like some sort of artist's sculpture.



Another image from the corral carpark area looking south easterly, you can see a corner of the road up from Harrietville in the right of the pic.



The local watering hole year round, its the only venue open for drinks at the moment. Their license was reduced to 1am from 2am last year so all the riff raff will be headed up to swindlers further up the mt after 1am. I really don't know why the police went so hard on them to reduce their hours when they're the only venue on the mountain that claims to have put on extra security staff etc and they've documented any incidents (down from last year to the year previous most likely due to the extra security staff) - and the cop shop is directly across the road from this venue... Anyway, its going to be an interesting year for this venue! Massive loss of revenue per week from that one hour less per night!

And to finish off for now, another couple of the summit and the mobile phone tower in different lighting and weather conditions:





Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Here's a couple of pics from last night when it started to snow at about 11pm:



And this morning:



I love the way the snow clings to anything, such as the grass below:



And here's another from before lunch:



The front of Ruby Scoo at lunch:



Hotham Central, I enjoy watching the cloud when its "stuck" on one side of the valley while rising vertically as it tumbles on itself at the same time:



The summit:



I took this shot because of the way the sun light hit the lightly dusted slopes:




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[El_Freddo]

The summit about half an hour later:



Down at the Big D near the Higgi Drive apartments:



And more iced grass:



Tonight - Chaddy's liberty after its maiden voyage up the mount:



Ruby Scoo:





And the lovely drawing on someone's snow covered vehicle that my lovely wife thought was a hairy fish at first glance:




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[El_Freddo]

Ruby Scoo and the lib in the street light, snow covered:



Loving this weather - its predicted for snow all week

Cheers

Bennie

[pezimm]

Great photos, Bennie!

I've been to that pub in "summer" and apart from that place, all else was closed... Felt like a ghost town!

Looks like you're in for another fresh morning start tomorrow again, so rug up!!

Cheers,
Pedro.

[El_Freddo]

Late afternoon pics after we had a good dusting Monday night, most of it melted during tuesday when these pics were taken...







I had to change the 27s off Ruby Scoo for the 23s as dad needed his rangie jack back, so after putting the pro in procrastination I got to it at midnight tuesday night in these conditions:



And the conditions when we woke up this morning (wednesday 11MAY11):



These are some pics while I was out and about at work: Looking towards the summit from the corral carpark:



The building where our office is located, again from the corral carpark:



Unfortunately I have to drive this at work (in the fresh snow):




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[El_Freddo]

Snow on Ruby Scoo in odd places:



This is what happens if you don't use alpine mix diesel in your diesel fuelled vehicle, even the expensive ones get caught out:



Al fresco at the General:



Got to eat well when working in the cold... Can't go past the Bikie's burger at the General:



And here's the venue today just after lunch:



The Mt Hotham Police Station across the road from the General, a bit ultra modern for my liking:



Boss left town for the arvo and the next couple of days, late lunch then no work vehicle, so I upgraded:






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[El_Freddo]

A balcony view of the summit as the sun tried to poke through the clouds:



This is how the snow clings to windows, it sort of looks like white lichen:



This roof was bare yesterday. You don't want to be standing or parked under the roof line when gravity decides its going to play with the snow on the roof:



I got the arvo off so I headed off mountain in convoy with chaddy in his lib so he could see how it went in the snow with the confidence of having a mate to help out if things didn't go as planned. All good. I also dropped off my other two rims (the black sunnies) for a new set of snow tyres, fuelled up - what's the go with the price of petrol?! 1.49cpl!!!

Here's some pics of my trip back up the mountain in the snow covered scenery:





The ticket booth. They're using a rego plate recognition system this season that checks to see that you've purchased your pass online:



This is easy driving, even with a little bit of haze. This pic is with the big lights on:



And with them on but no haze (read very light cloud)



I've driven in conditions up here where you can't see the end of the bonnet - its not fun and VERY taxing.


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[El_Freddo]

The tunnel on entry to Hotham Village:



Ruby Scoo in the less than day old snow:



And put to bed for the night:



This is what was happening outside when I got home at about 8:00pm



Its currently -5.0 degrees C with prediction of it being overcast tomorrow.

Loving this snow!!!

Cheers

Bennie

[Dann]

poor ruby scoo all cold outside lol,
looks like fun whats with the little antenna thing that look like a spoon 2 pics up from the dick pic haha.

[El_Freddo]

poor ruby scoo all cold outside lol,

She loves it. Starts first time. No frozen radiator like last year

looks like fun whats with the little antenna thing that look like a spoon 2 pics up from the dick pic haha.

Its my weather station that tells the console inside what's happening outside. I'm going to put it on top of a light post but for now it lives on the back of the jerry can holder

Cheers

Bennie

[Dann]

oh ok cool quiet a handy thing to have in that weather

[Wagonman]

You got some awesome pics there mate. I think I been living under a rock (Or just in WA too long) because I didnt know Australia experienced weather like that!! What's it like there in the summer months? Im planning to be around that area next January and would like to know what to expect..

[El_Freddo]

oh ok cool quiet a handy thing to have in that weather

yeah it's certainly handy to have. Ebay special

You got some awesome pics there mate. I think I been living under a rock (Or just in WA too long) because I didnt know Australia experienced weather like that!! What's it like there in the summer months? Im planning to be around that area next January and would like to know what to expect..

Summer months it can still snow, just that it typically doesn't stay and if it does not for very long. Pack you're jackets etc just incase the weather turns, it can be very unpredictable up here at any time of year!

Generally though you could expect at most mid 20's I think, unless we get some of that heat wave weather then it may go higher... Its very nice up here during summer usually.

Cheers

Bennie

[AndrewT]

Love the photos, especially the ones with L series porn in them Great stuff!

[steptoe]

Yep, top effort Mr Bennie, thanks - had my winter holiday for the year .The camera that you used does not come with a sim card does it ? 90% humidity at those temps how do you stay or even get warm?

[El_Freddo]

Yep, top effort Mr Bennie, thanks - had my winter holiday for the year .The camera that you used does not come with a sim card does it ? 90% humidity at those temps how do you stay or even get warm?

No sim card - Olympus stylus tough 8000 12 mega pixel. Goes alright. It's the same camera that I use for all of my videos too. Only downers are that the sound is only through one speaker and the video zoom is only a digital zoom - looks crap when you play it back on the computer!

The humidity you reference Jonno is outside, inside it can be 40% and sometimes 50% if we've all just got back from skiing...

The weather station is now inside as we're about to go an hoist it up a pole...

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

G'day again,

These should have been posted about two weeks ago - but I'd clapped out the internet with the Robe Sand 4wd video upload, it kept failing...

Anyway, since those last pictures of so much snow we didn't have any rather had some really good weather - shorts and Tshirt weather. We even had arvo drinks on top of the substation one day until the afternoon clouds moved in (3.30 on the dot).

So here are some pics:

Visiting Melbourne on the 28th of May on our epic trip from Hotham to Melbs to home then back to Hotham, 23 hours in total from leaving to arriving - at Flinders Street station:



Back at Hotham the next monday - I went for a walk around the place venturing up to the summit of Mt Hotham for the first time.

The summer chair lift sorted for last summer:



Mt Feathertop under the Road Runner chair lift - the chairs have been going back on the cables of the lifts for at least a week if not longer before these pics were taken:



The top of the summit chair lift. I didn't know they took the "idler" wheel off for the winter - after talking to a local it turns out there was a mishap with something while pulling the chairs off last year, no other details but they usually don't remove this wheel:



Mt Feathertop and the Razorback ridgeline - yes I'm a little obsessed with this mountain, it stares at me all season:



You can't get away from anything these days, in what is one of the remotest parts of victoria you can still find these:



Love this pic - take note of the speed signs




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[El_Freddo]

Mt Feathertop and the summit marker at the top of Mt Hotham - about three hundred metres from where I thought it was...



The original marker I think - build into a large horizontal stone cross:



A closer look of the mobile phone tower near the summit:



One of the signs on the edge of the patrolled ski area - pretty self explanatory!



Hotham Central, the top end of Hotham Village from the slopes between the Summit and the Australian Drift looking east:



A memorial to an early pioneer of the area, Lindsay Salmon on Mt Higginbotham:



From the memorial on Mt Higginbotham looking over a cloud capped Mt Feathertop:



Looking south from Mt Higginbotham near the memorial. I liked the way the light struck the slopes of the mountain ranges giving a good texture I reckon:




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[El_Freddo]

The afternoon sun on the ranges with low cloud that was touching the top of the Summit:



Now to get some snow pics, we've had some good falls. I enjoyed sliding Ruby Scoo around today - just wish that I could do it more without retribution...

Cheers

Bennie