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Memories of Snowmageddon #3 Hotham

snow action team 02.05.2021

Yep #snowmageddon was pretty fun at Hotham says Sam Leitch, who has been doing seasons there for a long time – interspersed with some great road trips including this awesome one to La Grave. With his mate lensman Dominic Kieler (if you’re getting married check his wedding photo services on the link just saying) he had the lowdown on some epic times.

Others were losing faith at the start of winter, but Sam had the inside word from DJ Eddy ..

“dj eddy reckoned it was going to be huge, based on the fact mice had burrowed their way into the back of his jag.”

Deep powder skiing Mt Hotham during Snowmageddon 2014 season
Blizzard of Aaaahs Dowununder – Sam Leitch in the thick of it © Dominic Kieler

People were concerned that 2014 was shaping up to be a potentially poor ski season with the El Niño influence. Also Australia has had some great seasons since 2010, so maybe we were due for a bad one? Anyway the vibe at opening weekend was not good with no snow on the ground.

Interestingly gurus like The Grasshopper at MountainWatch and The Frog at Snowatch remained optimistic. And DJ Eddy reckoned it was going to be huge, based on the fact that mice had burrowed their way into the back seat of his Jag. Sure enough around the 20th of June we got hit by a storm that just kept intensifying. Within a few days the mountain had a metre of snow on the ground and we were skiing the whole resort. And it just kept coming for a month. Storm after storm. The last one finished with a fiercely strong southerly wind that stripped a lot of pow from the usual east faces and loaded the north aspects. The storm cycles stopped after that.

But we did get one storm right at the beginning of August that dropped 20cm of super dry snow to low levels with crazy low temperatures. Guys were snowboarding in the hills above Lorne down on the coast. After this August basically experienced spring like conditions, with a series of high pressure systems providing sunny days and cold clear nights. The snowmakers kept busy and the resort held onto a solid base. Another small snowfall at the start of September and then spring hit hard. These shots are from the end of #snowmageddon. When the snowgums are buried like that you know it’s been good..

– Sam Leitch

Remember, only one week left to grab your Epic Australia Pass for $949 to get the most out of season 2021 at Hotham – it goes up $100 then

S;lashing past laden snowgums during Snowmageddon season 2014 at Hotham
When the snowgums are this slathered it’s got to be good © Dominic Kieler

More great Snowmageddon memories here: