MHSC Snowmaking Master Plan soon to be completedThe Mount Hotham Skiing Company (MHSC) are working hard at the top of The Summit for their final stage of the snowmaking master plan, which is due for completion before the commencement of the 2017 winter season. The lack of natural snow in the 1996-97 winter season was a driving force behind the commencement of a master plan in 1998, with a system put in place at Big D and Swindlers Trail, and increased snowmaking in Slalom Gully, Sundowner, Gully Catwalk, Playground Trail, Basins, Sun Run and Summit Trainer. Buildout of that snowmaking master plan also included areas of Heavenly Valley and The Summit. Since then, the master plan has been completed in stages over the years during low snow seasons (green season), as funding was made available for the project. General Manager Operations for Mount Hotham Skiing Company Len Dobell said that there were several reasons why the master plan implementation in work stages had been spread out over a number of years. “We have effectively done it in stages, mainly because there is a massive amount of money needed to implement it and there would have been too much work to try and do it in one summer anyway,” Mr Dobell said. “Along the way, we had good winters, so we didn’t put any snowmaking in because we invested in different things – might have been grooming machinery or other beneficial equipment needed at the time for the Resort to continue improving. “Quite often we don’t have approvals in time and we are starting after Christmas, which makes us run closer to the winter, so therefore we are working in worse weather which always slows it down,"he said. In 2007, MHSC in partnership with Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board (MHARMB) and the Government, built the snowmaking dam (Loch Dam) at the top of Loch Car Park. This allowed expansion into Heavenly Valley and put snow making onto Milky Way, Upper Imagine and Blue Snake. This project also provided for the upgrade of the waste water treatment plant, which included providing Class A treated water for snowmaking use. During the 2016 summer, snow guns were established up Lower Imagine and in the Canyon. Mr Dobell said that he was satisfied with the current snowmaking works progress at The Summit and the completion of the 1998 snowmaking master plan. “I’m comfortable with where we are, a good two thirds of the process where we are trenching and also pipe and cable laying, so I’m really happy with that. “We haven’t started standing any of the guys yet, the electricians have only just started fitting off on what we call the ‘pits in the ground’ — every pit has a switchboard in it,” Mr Dobell said. Approximately 135 snow gun outlets will be established across the Resort and roughly 110 snow guns in the MHSC fleet. Each snowmaking point will have high-pressure water and the guns will need 415 volts of electricity. Within the fleet, there will be tower guns where the gun is in a fixed position up in a tower, and mobile guns, which can be moved to the various outlets depending on where the snow will be made. Mr Dobell said that the mobile guns were great because it allowed prioritising of snowmaking in various areas around the Resort but said it was the fixed tower guns that were most advantageous. “The tower guns are more effective as it is five metres off the ground, which means a 30 - 35 per cent increase in your product. “What’s happening is the crystal, because it hangs in the air longer, it gets bigger, so the pile on the ground will be around 35 per cent bigger than a mobile gun that’s sitting at ground level. “Man-made snow, because of that layering, is resilient to skier traffic and rain events as rain wont penetrate it, it is more likely run off. So, that’s handy for us as well, especially in this country where occasionally we do have rain events. “We have also carefully selected the zones to put the tower guns in to make it safer, which is an added advantage. “When they are on the ski runs, all we have to do is put a pad around the bottom of the gun tower, whereas the mobile guns we will have to fence off and put barriers around it, he said. Hurry, register now for the Alpine History Conference at Mount Hotham in April The date for the Australian Alpine Snowsports & History Association is fast approaching with registrations required by the end of this month. The Association is made up of individuals and representatives from historical societies and groups with an interest in alpine snowsports and alpine history in general. Membership base extends from across Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and South Australia. Saturday’s program is a line-up of guest speakers, poster presentations, workshops and opportunities for new groups to share their knowledge and experiences. On the Sunday, a field trip takes in historical highlights from Dinner Plain and Mount Hotham. For more details contact info@mthotham.com.au. Developing tadpoles have, once again, been discovered in the Loch Dam A large number of developing tadpoles were discovered this month in Mount Hotham’s Loch Dam. The tadpoles were seen along the water edge in the shallow water, with a few tadpoles also seen swimming into deeper parts of the dam. This species is likely to be the native Alpine Tree Frog (Litoria verreauxii alpina), which is listed as Threatened in Victoria. This frog is a subspecies of the more widely distributed Litoria verreauxii. The tadpoles were identified to be in a later stage of development and are likely to have completed their metamorphosis by the end of the month. The Loch Dam holds Mount Hotham’s Class A recycled water, which is used for snowmaking during the winter season. The water provides a deep constant source of water for the frogs to breed, with their eggs usually hatching within days of being laid. They have been known to propagate in the Loch dam in warmer months in previous years. The rocky terrain near the dam provides a suitable habitat for the species, which prefers to breed in deep waterbodies. One of the biggest conservation issues affecting the Alpine Tree Frog, and other frogs, is the spread if Chytridiomycosis. Stakeholder BriefingThe annual Stakeholder Briefing will be held at the MCG on Tuesday 21 March 2017. The briefing is an opportunity for stakeholders to be up-to-date with the operations and management of the resort. Those who wish to attend the event, please RSVP by 7 March 2017. The key agenda for the Stakeholder Briefing include: · Update from Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board on financial results, infrastructure, growth and marketing; · An overview from Mount Hotham Skiing Company; and · Alpine Governance Reform Project. The Green Army Helps Protect Hotham Mount Hotham welcomed the Green Army this year who took the task to weed St John’s Wort and Oxe-eye daisy, and lay seeds near the Swindlers Valley, as part of their Australia-wide program in early February. The group of nine participants worked their way through the valley, with a final count of 16 bags of weed having been removed from the soil. Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board’s Environmental Officer Bev Lawrence said that the group was the most professional group she had experienced working with through these types of programs. “They are fantastic, and are doing a really great job and the most professional team of young people I have worked with,” Mrs Lawrence said. The Green Army have certain project deliverables they need to satisfy, which is based on the funding they receive to do certain tasks over multiple projects. Bright’s Green Army Supervisor Paul Mock said that the team of participants enjoyed their experience up at Mount Hotham. “The team is receiving the program quite well, they all have a real direction with where they are going, having previously studied this kind of thing with environmental work, or it’s something that they want to get into,” Mr Mock said. “Having that direction behind them makes them much more attentive and productive and they have a bit of vested interest, as they know this can impact their futures. “The variation and different people we meet and making professional contacts in the field is also very valuable and that’s the main thing I enjoy about this program, is being able to offer these sorts of experiences and situations to people who otherwise wouldn’t get the experience. “The Hotham Resort Management are the project partners we have been working with up at Hotham and they have been absolutely brilliant in the fact that they are very welcoming with everything, no matter what we have achieved at each point they have been very encouraging,” he said. The Green Army travelled to Mount Hotham in January, prior to work, to survey the site and make sure the risk was minimised when they carried out the project. Green Army participant Duncan Jaroslow said that he enjoyed his experience up in Mount Hotham as a part of the Green Army team. “It’s awesome being here, I love specifically Hotham – I love it up here. Its fresh and you can feel the difference in elevation,” Mr Jaroslow said. “The goal here is to target plant species that we are trying to remove, basically they are invasive species that cause a lot of problems by competing and eliminating native species or causing bad soil erosion and reducing the general soil quality. “Hotham is distinct from other alpine systems because it’s quite isolated in a way compared to Falls Creek and Bogong, where they are connected by that high plain and so share much of the same organisms, whereas here they are very distinct and so you are going to get a very different variety. “I think it’s a fantastic area and people shouldn’t underestimate the value of it, especially in the summer,” he said. Conservation Volunteers Australia is the service provider which represents the Green Army team up at Mount Hotham. Green Army projects include restoring native vegetation, heritage restoration, protecting animal habitats and regenerating wetlands in urban, rural and remote areas. Mount Hotham backs a ride for a good cause Mount Hotham will host the commencement of the 2017 Tour de Cure ride which will take place at Hotham Heights on Friday, 24 March 2017. Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board (MHARMB) and Mount Hotham Skiing Company (MHSC), on behalf of the Hotham Community, have kindly donated to the fundraiser and have further donated some of their services to assist the event cyclists before commencement of the tour. The community has also taken part in donating and utilising their services to support the 2017 Tour de Cure - Hotham to Hobart. The General will host the Welcome Dinner on Thursday 23 March, Hotham Holidays property owners have donated their properties to house the riders and support crew. A spokesperson for the CEO from MHARMB said that the Board was happy to assist with the event in any way they could. “It’s a really great cause, and the MHARMB are standing right behind it, it’s a big deal,” they said. “MHARMB is running a bus down to the airport to pick them up and bring them up here when they are flying in. “We are also running the transit van on the Thursday night for their dinner to transport them to and from the lodges. “The Ski Company have organised through Hotham Holidays and have asked their property owners to donate their properties for the few nights. “They also organised discounted linen and free consumables for the rooms. Known as the largest fundraising cycling event in Australia, Tour de Cure’s Signature Tour 2017 will cover 1,270kms over nine days through regional communities across Victoria and Tasmania with the goal to raise upwards of $2.4 million for cancer research, support and prevention. Throughout the tour, the cyclists will stop at local primary schools across the states, including Harrietville Primary School, and will educate over 5,000 children in making healthy lifestyle choices to reduce their cancer risk through the Tour de Cure’s Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy program. The ride will start at Mount Hotham as the cyclists make their way along the Great Alpine Road with their first stop to be at Lakes Entrance. They will then travel along the coast before heading to Tasmania to finish off their ride in Hobart. Mount Hotham is excited to host the Tour de Cure fundraiser and hopes that others will recognise and see the mountain as part of the alpine regions capital for bike riders, with tourism experts seeing a growth in cycle tourism in the alpine region and no sign of slowing down, in light of February’s Herald Sun Tour and participant three-time Tour De France headline act Chris Froome. Tour de Cure will donate $10,000 to local cancer projects in regional Australia along the way for each overnight stop. There are over 150 participants registered for the cycling challenge. Channel 7, Mark Beretta and the Sunrise Team will be crossing live from the start of the race on Friday 24 March 2017. For anyone wishing to attend the Welcome Dinner on Thursday 23 March. |