• Big D ski area to become a dedicated progression-focused freestyle and terrain park zone that will also be home to night terrain park sessions and events
• Big D buildings to be repurposed with the view to expand indoor facilities and services to benefit both guests and staff 
• Kids Snowsports School to move from the Big D to Hotham Central, and surface lifts to be relocated to support the learning experience for both Kids and Adults, bringing snowsports together at Hotham

Hotham is excited to share plans for the 2025 snow season, which will see the Big D terrain evolve into a dedicated progression focused freestyle and terrain park to include a huge variety of jump and rail lines, a permanent mogul course and a mini boarder x course. It will also become home to night freestyle events, with night skiing and boarding also remaining at the Big D, offering both terrain park features as well as a regular ski run option.

“We are so excited to bring this new offering to life at Hotham. We’re creating something unique to Australia that will really appeal to Hotham guests and families, who we know are progression focused and always up for adventure,” says Tina Burford, Hotham’s Vice President and General Manager. “We thank our staff and stakeholders for coming on this journey with us and helping us to provide leadership and innovation in the Australian snow industry.”

These changes will allow for exciting new opportunities for the Big D building, which will be developed over the next few years, for both staff and guest use, as well as space for development programs and camps. It will be an exciting multiyear journey to fully develop and recognise the potential for this space.

“Terrain parks are ever popular with skiers and snowboarders,” says Briony Johnson, Hotham’s Terrain Park Supervisor. “Not only are they a great place to learn skills in a controlled environment but they also create a social hub for riders. We are looking forward to putting our creativity to the test and creating fun and exciting lines for skiers and riders of all abilities. Watch this space as we bring this new part of Hotham to life!”

This progression focused park will also provide the perfect development opportunities for Hotham’s more challenging terrain and the bigger features of the Summit Terrain Park.

Currently located at Big D, the Kids Snowsports School will be relocating to Hotham Central with Mighty Mites (3–6-year-olds) meeting indoors downstairs at Hotham Central and Kids Club (7-14-year-olds) meeting on snow at the back of Hotham Central. 

“Based on both guest and staff feedback around the challenges of Big D being separate to the rest of the resort, we are bringing both adult and children’s snowsports together at Hotham Central to create a seamless experience for guests,” said Chris Lewczynski, Hotham Snowsports School Senior Manager.

Centralising the snowsports offering will improve the guest experience by reducing the amount of bus trips required, increasing the time on snow for both children in lessons and parents heading out on the slopes, while increasing safety by removing the need for kids in lessons to frequently travel on a bus with their instructors or reach the carpets mid-mountain on the Big D.

To support this change, a number of surface lifts will be relocated over the next two years and a new indoor space will be created in Hotham Central for Hotham’s youngest learners. For the 2025 season, the Bunderool carpet will be used exclusively for kids lessons and the Pup’s Playground carpet lift will be moved as an additional lift for the Kids Snowsports School. The Summit Trainer Poma will be removed and replaced with Harry’s, the longer Big D carpet, to better support Hotham’s adult learners. This will significantly improve their learning experience, particularly for snowboarders. Future plans include the potential to relocate the current Summit Trainer lift to the skiers right of the Sun Run, to provide a good intermediate run option when upper lifts are wind affected.

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The future of Mt Buller’s critical Water Storage Project has been secured with the Andrew’s Labor Government yesterday announcing a $7.5 million grant through the Regional Tourism Infrastructure Fund.

Mr Anthony Carbines, MP took the opportunity whilst at Mt Buller to celebrate the opening of the 2018 snow season, to publicly announce the funding.

The Mt Buller Water Storage Project will deliver a 100 megalitre water storage facility within the ski area to provide water for drinking, snow making and firefighting. Identified as a critical component for the long-term security, sustainability and growth of the resort in summer and winter, the Mt Buller Water Storage Project has been eight years in the making.

Mark Bennetts, CEO, Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management stated, “An adequate supply of water is critical for Buller to grow during summer and will double the amount of storage for snowmaking during winter. The project will provide jobs during construction and help secure regional jobs during summer and winter in the years to come.”

The project will increase snowmaking capacity in the 51 hectares of ski area with existing snowmaking, and enable an additional 15 hectares of ski area to receive new snowmaking facilities.

Laurie Blampied, General Manager, Buller Ski Lifts said, “This announcement is welcome news for Mt Buller and is a positive step to a more certain future for our skiers and snowboarders.  For Buller Ski Lifts we can now confidently plan to make more snow across more areas in the resort.

We’ve wanted to grow our snowmaking areas so skiers and boarders can enjoy a more reliable cover on more ski runs, this now gives us the ability to promise more snow on more runs each winter.”

Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management and Buller Ski Lifts have a joint venture partnership in making snow at Mt Buller. Buller Ski Lifts has committed to spend over $8m in additional snowmaking and associated infrastructure.

“The project includes a range of environmental initiatives including an innovative watering feature to ensure the preservation of important alpine bogs and associated flora and fauna, as well as vegetation offsets on Mt Stirling,” said Mr Bennetts.

“Twelve months of environmental monitoring is already underway to establish a baseline before starting any construction and will continue there after. The water storage facility will also include walking trails and viewing areas.”

Planning approval for the project was received from the Victorian government in January 2018 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity approval is expected from the Federal government shortly.

A contract to complete detailed design and construction will be tendered later this year. The water storage facility is expected to be constructed during the 2019 – 2020 summer, with fill commencing during winter 2020, and be providing water for Mt Buller from the 2020 – 2021 summer.

Mt Buller and Mt Stirling see over 40% of winter visitation to Victoria’s alpine areas each year, host approximately 500,000 visitor days each year, help generate and maintain 2,600 on mountain jobs and many more in the surrounding regions, generate gross expenditure of approximately $600m p.a., and contribute $260m p.a. to Victoria’s state revenue.

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