Edit:- On Sunday 14/07/19 There was a severe weather event in the Vic. Alps. Two buses became stranded on the Harrietville approach to Hotham blocking the road, Vic. Police closed the road until it could be cleared of backlogged traffic in both directions. There was approx. 30 bus loads of students coming on to the Mountain that day, many of them were caught up in this delay. Some for up to eight hours before they could get into their Lodges. The road was reopened at 7am the next day./end Edit Two and a half hours longer than usual. Hotham, (chains off at Dinner Plain) Omeo, (back into 4wd for about ten km. of snow over Mount Wills) Mitta Mitta, Beechworth, and back on track at Tarrawingee. Bit of extra fuel at Glenrowan.
Had to get back to Porepunkah.Big drive via Omeo, Mitta Mitta and Yackandandah.Wish I had time to check out Mt Wills
Loved it (mostly)! always wanted to drive in those conditions. We were apparently one of the last to get out before the road closed - too bad had to leave a mate behind due to a broken chain I had to stop once as I could not see anything, but the traffic management pulled up and asked to keep moving and so I did - did not want to cause troubles for others Here's a pic - this was relatively good visibility
It would not have been worth the stop. We went up for a look but it was still a bit thin. Ice under the top layer. I suspect the rain in the last system got to it badly. I called in the road report to our local Police and then he followed up with a call in the afternoon to say the GAR was closed to Harrietville and Hotham were intending to send people our way. It seems the message got through OK but Vic Roads did not put a warning on the Omeo Hwy. Hope people made it through safe. I tried to get up in 2wd but couldn't make it on the steeper bits. 4wd was no problem. My report was 2wd to fit chains but 4wd (AWD) even with highway tyres would be OK. There aren't any warning signs for people at Glen Wills so they have to rely on best judgement. Bugger for those who had to return chains to Harrietville and dropped them off in Omeo instead. That would be another 120km return to Omeo to get them.
Saw somebody msg on the RMB Facebook page that they drove back to Bright via Omeo and then Melbourne!!!
We drove from Sydney to Hotham for the first time last Sunday (usually go to Falls Creek or Thredbo). When we were in Wodonga we saw the alerts about vehicles stuck on the alpine road between Harrietville and Hotham, but gambled that they would be moved....what a mistake! Got to Harrietville and saw another alert that road would remain closed overnight. Decided to try via Omeo which added another 6(!) hours to the drive - back to Tallangata (as needed gas and Omeo was closing at 8), then to Mitta Mitta and towards Omeo. All was forgotten on Monday with sunshine, blue skies and the number of challenging runs Hotham had to offer.
Had family going from DP to Falls Creek that Sunday afternoon, they hadn’t left DP when the road closure came through. After waiting a bit to see if road would reopen, they went the Omeo Hwy route to Mitta Mitta. By all accounts was a good trip albeit a long one at 6 hours to Falls, fitted chains for the section around Mt Wills. Have done the trip once before, in one of the big 1991 dumps, again from DP to get to Falls to make it to the first Kangaroo Hoppet, one of the most memorable mountain drives have done.
I got stuck at Hotham with my accom in hooterville....had a great night at the golden age hotel in Omeo. I would recommend this place anytime...good food, reasonable prices and very helpful and friendly staff. In regards to the buses, when is Hotham going to learn....the same thing, the same weekend, 3 years running. Maybe they should consider in adverse conditions to stage all the buses at the bottom and run them up in convoy at 5:00PM with no cars.... They should also consider directing that all buses ex MELB must run via Omeo during snow season. Hotham needs to get on board with this as they are loosing guests as a result of this. Yes, its a weather event, but risk management came too late, the buses should not have been allowed up.
The road management at Hotham is a circus. We were caught right in the middle of this coming up Harrietville side that morning. First we were made to put chains on about 5kms too early in the mud on the side of the road. Then got caught in the bus debacle. Lucky we had a late start - If we'd been half an hour earlier we would have made it thru to the village and been stuck going the long way home. Letting buses up when it's blowing 100km/h across the ridge is just straight out idiocy. We got held for a convoy with about 50 cars and 5 or 6 buses, then they let the buses go thru first. Two of them didn't make it...
You mean the 14th... I also left the mountain that day. Went via Omeo/Bairnsdale. A lot of turds failing to use the slow turn-out lanes around Wattle Ck, stupid landslip one-way temp traffic light causing said turd-line. Dinner was nice at the Grand Terminus in Bairnsdale, did not go the back way to Sale due to risk of fallen branches/twigs and minimal traffic. Was raining (heavily) all the way from Swifts Ck on - was a bit of aquaplaning going down. Drive was otherwise uneventful... It's time the road mgmt/authorities introduced a 'bus arrival window' - if arriving by bus during foul weather on weekends, one must wait for an escort from the old ticket gate. Only operates from 3-4pm. (edit: If you're a bus arriving) Outside that window, turned back. Cars waived through. We are all getting sick of buses hijacking the GAR...
Agreed !!!! Hotham Resort Management Board Please Read This and consult vicroads. For the last few years 100's of people have been "out of pocket" as a result of bus's blocking the road. Unless something is done these guests will start leaving to go to a different resort.
I would be interested to hear from those who travelled the Omeo Hwy on this day if the conditions found would have mandated a different response from what would be expected from Hotham RMB on the GAR than the one I put forward for the Omeo Hwy. Hotham approach is a bit steeper from Harrietville in places but there is no help on the Omeo Hwy and no phone to call help. Is it getting to the point where we should close the Omeo Hwy until cleared? We drive it fine but is that OK for everyone? In other words, would Hotham RMB have closed the road, or mandated chains for every type of vehicle? I felt it was only a 2wd chain day.
I drove it that Sunday night once the Police finally informed us that the Harrietville approach was not going to open. Took 4 1/4 hours from Harrietville to Hotham with a fuel up in Mt Beauty. There was plenty of traffic in both directions, with most vehicles chained up, 4WD's and AWD's included. I chose not to chain up, and had next to no issues in 4WD, apart from some momentary downhill slippage towards bottom of the snow covered section. There may have been 10cm of mostly slushy snow over the top of the Omeo Hwy at around 8pm. I personally didn't think chains on 4WD's AWD's was warranted, but obviously others did.....which is perfectly fine.....and possibly a result of it being drummed into us all whilst driving the GAR over the past 10 years since road management has become hyper vigilant!! What elevation does the Omeo Hwy top out at?
The Omeo Hwy gets to about 1350m and we have driven it many times in the snow. Sometimes with the SUV and others with the real 4wd. I have no problem if 4wd's chain up when there is snow and ice on the road. It may make a difference for the driver who is not confident. My call was that it was not necessary but I think the local Policeman took a drive out there after I spoke with him just to confirm. It is not a good road to drive at night in these conditions but better when there are lots of other vehicles on the road as well. It can get pretty lonely on your own waiting for help to pass if something goes wrong. No phone either.
I agreed with your Call Xplora, but as you say, for those less experienced, it can only help Did I not see an emergency phone somewhere up there that night, or did I dream it....? Or perhaps it was between Omeo and DP?? It was a long day after leaving Albury at 12, and getting to Hotham just after 10....
Yes you did but it has been out of action for a very long time and will not be fixed. Even if it worked then you would not be able to get to it from the north in snow.
Left via Omeo yesterday at 11.30 am due to GAR being closed, bound for Bendigo. Elected to go via Wodonga to avoid Melbourne traffic (same timing according to google). An hr out of Omeo, was turned around by nice Vic Rds bloke saying they’d pulled a bunch of cars out of snow further up the road. 10+hrs trip. Rookie mistake!
Road closed signs still up yesterday but it would have been fine for a 4wd. Not sure about one with street tyres. We drove up to Mt. Wills for a ski and by the time we got back to the car, much had melted. The snow plough went through on Friday but probably after you had been turned around. More snow overnight and they did not want to clear it again because it would cost too much. Bit slack but the GAR had opened so there was still a way north for people.
Sunday morning 9am - Harrietville road has closed again. Danger of falling trees ! Hope it’s not a 2 x Omeo weekend. Next update later this morning
We are hooterville based. After looking at the forecast last Monday for the week, we booked into a lodge for Thursday night, fully expecting the road to reopen for Friday night.....which it did not, so we booked an apartment for Friday night. Road cloased again Sunday for tree removal and reopened at 11:30am
