Hey all. Heading down to Hotham for the first time in a while on Friday. Will be staying at Bright. Looks like a lot of snow forecast whilst i'm down there. What are the chances of the road from Harrietville to Hotham being closed this weekend ? Also if it is. I have read you can drive to Hotham via Omeo as an alternative. What route would I take to do that trip from Bright and how long would it take ? Any other advice appreciated
from Bright it is a very long way. about 5 hours via mudgegonga, mitta mitta and omeo - and that's if you can get over Mt Wills on the Omeo Hwy TBH if the harrietville approach is closed you would be better off going to Falls (more like 1.5 hrs). Or change your plans and stay in Omeo instead of Bright
Thanks for the reply Currawong. Wow 5 hours !!! Yeah no chance of doing that. So I take it the access road to Falls has a lot less chance of being closed due to snow ? I'm there for 3 days skiing. So yeah. Might do Saturday at Falls. Then Sun/Mon at Hotham when things clear a tad.
falls creek rd is much less exposed. fallen trees or land slips are a more common problem than blizzards. typically the road to falls gets closed once every few years. typically the harrietville approach to hotham gets closed a few times a year, or if not closed imposes convoys that mean big delays. so no guarantee that falls rd won't be closed but much less chance than hotham rd. and likely to be open much quicker. if you stay in Bright you make your choice on a day by day basis, or go winery hopping if all else fails
A guess, but vaguely educated, I would say thursday night / friday morning would be the highest risk time for the GAR to close (see picture). Often it's not just the quantity of snow, but also constant winds. They can plow some of those alpine lee corners and 5 mins later there's a wind-made 2 foot speed hump covering half the road. Once the road is closed, it often takes a while to open. The wind looks to be dropping friday night, but then there'll be lots who insist on driving slow up slippery hills and fast down them which is a recipe for a driver induced blocked road. Chances are, too, you'll be putting chains on quite early (maybe halfway up, olive branch or thereabouts) given its quite a cold storm.
Thanks guys. As a worst case scenario I'm even looking at Mt Buller. Apparently around a 2 hr 50 min drive ? I've never been there. But here it's great when the snow is on. What's the road to Buller like ?
Buller back to home (Melbourne) yesterday took 5 hours from door to door, dry clear road. Allow one hour for fart-arsing around between ticket box and chalets (either direction) and three hours from Mansfield in a congo-line of muppets.
If you’re staying in Bright driving to Buller makes little sense - 3+ hours drive. With a fresh snowfall you’d want to ski Falls or Hotham. Even if the Hotham road is closed the Falls road is likely to be open. The ski lift pass (but not resort entry) for for Hotham is valid at Falls & vice-versa, so you can hedge your options to a degree.
Agree Chaeron. But it's just a backup in case both Falls and Hotham roads are closed. Highly unlikely and I don't want to do it. But better than sitting the day out. Sounds like it's more likely the roads will be at their worst on Friday. Our first day is Saturday. Thanks for the info regarding the lift passes. I didn't know that
Unfortunately I think you're better off driving to falls. I'm almost 100% certain the roads going to be closed a good deal of time Friday Saturday and delayed opening Sunday.
Falls road will be open. Buller road will be chaos busy. Hotham road will be a nightmare harrietville approach. Staying in Bright = Falls assuming Hotham road closed/long delays.
What are the chances of the Harrietville road closing Friday arvo round 3-4pm, I'll need to get off the hill (going to Falls), and want to get a powder day in at Hotham!
High enough to have an alternative plan... Still, can think of worse things than being 'stuck' at Hotham Fri - Sun **See Plowking and Endless Winter's posts above. Hint - they know what they are talking about
Agree. A couple of years ago every front seemed to arrive friday arvo. 20 cents of snow means drifts up top around 60 cents or more.....add a bunch of after-workers and busses into the mix, one slipped set of chains and its over. And now vicroads / RMB / drivers themselves seem more conservative with less actual skill or recovery capacity. At least with the proper staffed gate there was stuff that could be done, messages sent etc
https://traffic.vicroads.vic.gov.au/ Harrietville to Hot Ham route is now closed. 0957 hours Aug. 9th 2019.
