Mount hotham has announced Sunday 6th September as the official end of the season with an email to all staff advising them of the shutdown.

Hey everyone,

I’m a university student and bought the Epic Australia Pass earlier this year for around $1,200, thinking I’d finally spend a decent amount of time at the snow this season and learn snowboarding which I had been planning for a long time

Unfortunately, a family member passed away shortly after I bought the pass. I live in Australia while my family is overseas, so I wasn’t able to be with them during that time. It affected me quite badly, and I ended up missing a lot of my university work/grades as well. Because of everything going on, I never really got around to using my pass or even properly looking into the refund policy.

By the time I was in a better position to deal with things, I realised I was already outside the 30-day refund window, so I don't think I'm eligible for a normal refund. I've contacted/plan to contact Epic to see if they can make an exception, but I'm not counting on it.

Now that I'm feeling a bit better, I really don't want to let the pass go completely to waste. Even though it's getting towards the end of the season, I'm thinking of going to Mount Hotham alone for 3–4 days and finally learning snowboarding.

I've never snowboarded before, and I don't have a car, so I'm trying to figure out the cheapest and easiest way to do this.

My rough plan is:

• Travel from Melbourne to Hotham or Mel to bright and bright to hotham by shuttle/bus
• Day 1: Afternoon beginner snowboard lesson
• Day 2: Another lesson/beginner progression lesson
• Day 3: Practice on my own or take another lesson
• Day 4: Either another day of riding and return that evening, or head back depending on transport

I'm also looking at staying somewhere relatively cheap rather than spending a fortune on accommodation.

So I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who's done Hotham as a beginner or done a solo snow trip:

1. Accommodation: Where is the cheapest/reasonable place to stay at Hotham for 3–4 nights? Is it better to stay on-mountain, in Dinner Plain, or somewhere else?
2. Transport: Is the shuttle from Melbourne to Hotham worth it if you don't have a car? Are there any cheaper alternatives?
3. Snowboard lessons: Does my plan make sense? Would you recommend lessons on the first two days and then practising alone, or would it be better to take lessons on more days?
4. Rentals: Any recommendations for cheaper snowboard rental options? I have the Epic Pass discount available for rentals/classes.
5. Solo trip: Anything I should know about going to Hotham alone for the first time?
6. Saving money: Any tips for keeping the total cost down — accommodation, food, transport, rentals, lessons, etc.?

I'm basically trying to make the most of the pass I already paid a lot of money for rather than letting the season finish without using it.

As a uni student, $1,200 is a lot of money for me, so even getting 3–4 good days on the mountain would make me feel like I got something out of it.

I'd really appreciate any advice, especially from people who have done Hotham as a beginner or without a car.

Thanks!

Hi keen beans,

It’s a bit dire out on the mountain right now (trust me to pick this week to go down), but maybe something to distract you for a few minutes from that fresh gouge in your base.

It’s a bit of an update to a post I did the other week which had some useful feedback, but I’ve done a lot of tinkering and upgrading of www.skirunratings.com in the last 2 weeks I wanted to share.

For those unfamiliar (which I assume is basically everyone), the concept of this is to be a FREE and community built website that makes information and other (real peoples) experiences with individual ski runs at every resort available and usable. This can then be compiled up to a shortlist of runs you may be interested in (manual for now but it’s on the feature list).

Along with other people’s experiences, you can view it on a map, see the gradient profile, key stats, and how it compares across resorts or countries (for now limited by gradient calcs but as we can compile more data this can get better). There is even an optional login option that can track all of your reviews over time and across resorts.

Right now, we need reviews though. So if you want to give it a peek and maybe drop some reviews that would be amazing.

TLDR: www.skirunratings.com

We’re looking for 2 certified ski instructors to join our small retreat team in Myoko this winter! Strong/expert skiers welcome too!

📍 Myoko, Niigata, Japan
📅 January – February 2027
accommodation available
Season pass provided
Daily breakfast included
Some dinners included
¥3000 per hour

We run small ski & snowboard retreats in Myoko with groups of max 8-10 guests, and we’re looking for two people who are great on the mountain but also happy to be part of the overall experience.

The role is a mix of skiing with our guests on mountain days and helping with some of the day-to-day retreat operation — morning breakfast setup/cleanup, getting gear ready, rotating help with dinners, and our weekly house changeover.

You’ll have Sundays completely off, plus rotating additional time off during the week to get out and ride for yourself.

We’d love to find two friends or a couple who want to spend the winter together, but individual applicants are absolutely welcome too.

Ideally you’d be a certified ski instructor, confident on all off-piste terrain, comfortable working with guests, speak conversational English, and the ability to have legal authorization to work in Japan for the season ie-working holiday visa.

Would be a plus if you know the Myoko area and if you like to cook or have some experience.

If this sounds like your kind of winter, send me a DM with a little about yourself, your ski certification/experience, and your Japan visa/work status! ❄️

Wonderful weather for skiing today (albeit very warm).

Guthega is now closed but staff have done a fantastic job keeping some of the lifts open in the other resort areas despite very adverse snow conditions.

The snow today was mushy from the start, but if the predicted rain eventuates next week, maybe this was the last decent weekend this season.

Here are few impressions from Perisher today.

My friend and I are doing a 3 day Epic beginner bundle ski package for Hotham this week. After seeing the snow cams and photos on the sub. Is it worth it to try and actually go ahead with it? We are completely new to this and have never been skiing. Since the travel and stay are all non refundable, we'll definitely go but is it possible to get it credited for potentially next year (lessons might not be as I believe it's strictly for '26 season).

What else is there to do around Hotham for the 3 days if we manage to get it credited. Hoping you experienced folk can help us out.

Anyone else frustrated with the terrible snow season in Australia right now?

Looking for overseas ski/snowboard trip ideas.

Japan? NZ? Canada? Europe? USA? Greatly appreciated!

Word on the hill is the resort shuts Wednesday 2nd Sept

I have some snow credit that expires this year and conditions are not looking good next week. This means I might need to put the credit towards an epic or epic 4 day pass for 2027 resort closes.

We’ve always stayed at Falls Creek on mountain and love it but never been to Hotham. Is it worth staying on mountain at Hotham or is Dinner Plain ok? Is the shuttle or drive up to Hotham from Dinner Plan easy? We’d be looking at doing a mid week stay to save some $. We are 2 adult and 2 kids (6/7 years).

Have a trip booked next weekend. Unfortunately non refundable but hoping there will be skiable snow. Have seen the lift ticket prices have dropped compared to a couple days ago. Is this common? Does this mean the resort is planning close soon or conditions are just shit?

Is there anywhere that will still have skiiable snow going into next week? We’re staying at Lake Crackenback from next Wednesday and hoping to get a couple of days in somewhere.

Hoping to get some last few runs in, before the rain tomorrow surely washes it all away.

Does anyone have photos of what Mt Buller looks like today or the past days?

I'm contemplating going one last time this week to make the most out of my season pass but am wondering if I should cut my losses and save myself the drive.

Probably fair to say Selwyn drew the shortest straw of all, but which mountain do people think got the "luckiest" with snow conditions this year?

Did any resort even manage to get all lifts spinning at any point this year?

We have a trip planned for next weekend. Sadly, due to life things we’re going late this year, but I think we’ve missed it.

Is it worth getting lessons and booking gear? We have 4 days of prepaid passes, so that money is long gone. We do ‘t want to just pour money in if there is basically no snow.

Are we sure this will go ahead?

Does anyone know what run they’ll host the giant slalom races on, particularly Div 4 (Year 5 & 6)?

Hey everyone,
A little while ago I posted about SPIRTIX, a small project I’m building to help people find others nearby to ski or do sport with.
I’m a ski instructor currently working in Thredbo, and I’ve been testing it here during the Australian season.
The idea is very simple: you post when, where and what kind of skiing you want to do, and other people around can join you. No paid sessions, no lessons — just finding someone at a similar level/vibe to ski with.
It’s still very early and the biggest challenge is obviously getting enough people in the same place at the same time, so I’m keeping the Thredbo test going and would love to get a few real people using it.
It’s completely free: spirtix.app
If you’re around Thredbo and give it a try, even brutally honest feedback is useful. And if you actually manage to meet someone through it, even better — that’s really what I want to test.
Cheers! 🎿

Hey all, we were planning to visit perisher for tabogganing on Sat 5 September. Looking at the traffic cams, the free play area is unfortunately all grass.

Is there anywhere in NSW where we can get some Tabogganing/ free play or best to cancel the plans.