The facilities and services are somewhat spread out at Mt Hotham, as is the village generally, although many of the amenities are housed at Hotham Central such as lift ticket sales, guest services, adult ski school, eateries, lockers, resort-owned ski and snowboard rentals, and a brown baggers area.

Mt Hotham Ski Hire and Snowboard Rental

There are lots of options for Mount Hotham ski hire, both on-mountain and in the towns on the approach to Hotham.

OFF MOUNTAIN

Towns servicing Mt Hotham include Omeo, Ovens, Bright and Harrietville, and there are also a couple of Dinner Plain ski hire shops. If you’ve got to rent tyre chains anyhow, getting your gear off-mountain may make sense, particularly because a couple of the shops offer discounts on ski and snowboard hire when you also rent chains from them.

ON MOUNTAIN

Others prefer the convenience of renting at Mt Hotham so they can change gear over if necessary, although a couple of ski hire companies have shops on and off-mountain so you can change-over anyhow.

Rates are very similar across most of the Hotham ski shops, so for many, the biggest factor in choosing a Hotham ski hire operator may be related to its proximity to your accommodation, although Snow Monkey provide a “home” delivery service which makes it really convenient. If the price-point is the biggest factor in choosing which Hotham ski hire company to go with, the Snow Monkey ski shop (located in the Jack Frost building in the Davenport Village) stands out as being less expensive than the others for your rental equipment and clothing.

Lots of people choose to rent their gear through Hotham Sports, the official Hotham resort-owned ski hire and snowboard rental outlets. They have locations at Hotham Central (ie the hub of the Mt Hotham village), Big D for kids up to age 14, and Dinner Plain on the roundabout. They offer different options for lift ticket, lesson and rental packages which appear to save money, but they charge a little more for the equipment rentals so you probably don’t save anything.

If you want premium skis or snowboard hire or are looking to buy, One Tree Sports Demo in Hotham Central has a good range of demo equipment rentals as well as backcountry equipment rentals. If you fall in love with the skis or snowboard and end up making a purchase, the first day of hire is deducted from the purchase price. Hoys is also a major player in the Mt Hotham ski hire game with shops at Hotham Village Centre (near the bus depot), Jack Frost (Davenport Village), Dinner Plain, Omeo and Harrietville. Hoys is the best place to go if you’re looking for cross country or snowshoe ski hire.

There are also another couple of hire shops at large accommodation providers such as the Arlberg.

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Equipment Tuning and Repairs

All of the Hotham ski and snowboard rental shops also provide the full gamut of equipment waxing and tuning. And if you got a bit excited charging down Purgatory Spur and scraped over a rock, they can Petex your bases or provide other repairs.

The specialists in Hotham ski tuning and repairs is Base N Edge, located in Hotham Central (next to the ski/snowboard hire). Ski and snowboard tuning, base and edge repairs, waxing, binding mounts and repairs – it’s all they do day-in day-out during winter, so they’ve had a LOT of practice at it. Geoff has been there since 1998, so he’s had a mighty lot of practice!

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Mt Hotham Ski School and Snowboard School

Kids ski school (for all children under 14) is based at the Big D, which is a bit of a pain in the butt because it’s not connected with the rest of the ski area, so parents have to use the bus service to get to or from the Big D. Children under 3 can have private ski lessons. Kids 3-5 have group ski lessons with Milo Mighty Mites for morning or full day lessons. Standard kids ski school is for 6-14 year olds, also with the option of morning or full day lessons. For the latter, supervised lunch is included so you don’t need to pick up the kids at lunchtime.

Adult ski school is based up at Hotham Central and beginner lessons are conducted on the Summit (except in foul weather). Two-hour group lessons are conducted in the morning and afternoon, or private lessons are another option.

Mt Hotham also has various specialist clinics and programs run throughout the season.

Eating On Mountain

There are minimal options for eating “out and about” at Hotham, with most skiers and snowboarders returning up to Hotham Central for lunch or a coffee. And unlike many ski resorts, there’s no big day lodge with a cafeteria. This has its pros and cons. Mt Hotham isn’t great at catering for the lunch time hordes and it’s often hard to find a table on weekends, but the upside is that the smaller establishments have much more ambience than the soulless cafeterias that can be found at some ski resorts.

Snake Gully Hut is a common meeting spot at the base of Heavenly Valley for a slow coffee or quick bite to eat. If you love deep fried junk food and paying “snow dollars”, then this is the place for you. There’s a little bit of outdoor seating, which provides an awesome vantage point to watch the carnage on sloppy gully!

The Hoff Hut at Hotham is a great pick for quality coffee, soup, quiches, and adult beverages. Located in the historic Joyce Brockhoff Hut, it enjoys ski-in ski-out convenience off the Snake Gully run (intermediates and above only). The interior has been lovingly refurbished to enhance the vintage chic appeal of the hut, whilst the large deck is superb for fine days to enjoy the views.

At Hotham Central there’s Hotham Hotel (formerly Swindler’s) that serves some bain-marie food as well as cooked to order pizza, parmas and burgers. During the day it’s very kid friendly, but the place lacks charm and they seem to forget to turn the heating on. The Chill Bar has better character and serves up simple café fare, but it’s rottenly overpriced. Or there’s Hot Doggies or the supermarket for a cheap take-away feed. Or for table service dining, head down to Miss Mary’s for lunch for some lovely Asian inspired cuisine.

The Zirky’s building next door has a little café as well as an upscale pub that has great meals and is frequented by well dressed skiers. Across the road is the yuppie free Bird (the Snowbird) that has a great deck for fine days and serves a range of fare at very reasonable prices (and they have good heating and a fireplace).

At Big D, head to Frankie where you can get a doughnut or burger and watch the bored parents hanging around waiting for kids to finish their lessons.

 

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Facilities for Children

NB The childcare has not been operating since Covid. Try the Hotham Community Facebook group to source babysitting options.

Hotham Daycare is located on the second level of the Kids Snowzone building at the Big D, providing child care for up to 30 children between the ages of 3 months and 5 years. Child care can be provided for the full day (8am to 5pm) or half day, and it’s also possible to add on programs that incorporate some ski tuition and snow familiarisation. The full day programs include lunch, so unlike some overseas ski resorts, you don’t need to pick up your child for lunch. Like all other elements of skiing in Australia, the rates for the childcare are rather expensive compared to what you’d find in North America or Japan.

The other option is Alpine Babysitting who provides child care at your accommodation.

Banking Facilities

All the shops and restaurants have credit card and EFTPOS facilities, so you won’t need too much cash. Hotham Central has an ATM – supposedly the highest ATM in Australia?!