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Dinner Plain

Traverse Hotham cross country and snow shoe tours

Traverse Hotham is offering cross country (XC) and snow shoe tours at Mt Hotham. The aim is to make both these activities accessible to a new generation of people by offering tours of the trail network, scenic snowshoe walks and introductory lessons in XC skiing.

Hotham has a great network of XC trails but many visitors to the mountain are unaware of them. These are largely centred on the Wire Plain area including the unique Brabralung Trail right through to Dinner Plain and can be accessed via XC trail from Davenport Village or via the village bus network.

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Dinner Plain ‘village green’ update

At a recent meeting the Alpine Shire has confirmed that the ‘Village Green’ planned for Dinner Plain near Mt Hotham will not proceed in its current form. However it will continue to look into options for a ‘lower impact’ public space in the village.

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Cycle guide to north east Victoria

This is another great guide to north east Victoria. Like the Walk and Trails guide, the Bright and Surrounds cycle guide provides a fantastic introduction to all types of riding in the area from Myrtleford to Mt Beauty and Falls Creek to Dinner Plain.

It includes easy, family friendly riding, road riding options and the many shared trails (including the popular Rail Trails) plus details on Mountain bike riding. It is produced by the Alpine Shire. You can get free copies in local tourist information centres or download it as a pdf here.

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Walks & trails guide to north east VIC

The Alpine Shire has produced a great walking guide for the areas between Myrtleford and Mt Beauty to Dinner Plain and back to Harrietville. Operating through the ‘Bright & Surrounds‘ tourist info program, the guide offers descriptions for walks in and around key towns plus wilder destinations like the Alpine National Park, Mt Bogong and the Buffalo Plateau.

Paper copies are available from tourist information centres in north eastern towns or online here.

This excellent resource aims to get more visitors to the region out on walking tracks, and makes it easy for first timers by providing full details on the distance and difficulty and notes for more than 65 walks.

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Alpine Council suspends further work on Dinner Plain ‘village green’ for time being

At the Council meeting on December 18, Alpine Shire Council voted to suspend further development of the current feasibility work for the ‘village green’. Council will leave open the option of a village oval for future development once they have done the required vegetation offsets for Lot 3 (see below). Lot 3 is the land to the south of the village which is currently undeveloped.

Separate to this project, a planning permit has recently been granted for the construction of 7.1 km of new mountain bike trails in Dinner Plain, and the estimated cost of delivering this project is $400,000. Trail construction work is planned to commence in early 2018.

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Bright Mountain Film Tour. December 28 – Jan 6.

The Bright Mountain Film Tour (BMFT) is a celebration of mountain culture and those who embrace it. Over five nights, the best adventure films from around the world are showcased amongst the alpine communities of North East Victoria.

This​ ​year​ ​BMFT2​ ​will​ ​‘feature​ ​some​ ​epic,​ ​home-grown,​ ​Aussie​ ​adventures​ ​and​ ​some​ ​awesome female​ ​adventures,​ ​recognising​ ​the​ ​diversity​ ​in​ ​adventure​ ​sports’.

There are five shows over the Christmas/ New Year period.

Continue reading “Bright Mountain Film Tour. December 28 – Jan 6.” →

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Dinner Plain polo field to be ditched?

The proposal for a ‘village green’ in the alpine village of Dinner Plain would have seen almost 2 hectares of snow gum woodland cleared and significant visual impacts on the village. After a long consultation and planning process, the Alpine Council needs to take a final decision on whether to proceed with the development.

In a welcome move, Council Officers who have been assessing the concept report that there is ‘not majority community support for this project’ and recommend that it should not proceed. Council will take a final decision at a meeting on Monday December 18.

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7 peaks ride

Its October, so its ‘officially’ road riding season. While there are endless riding opportunities across the entire Australian Alps, the ‘iconic’ series of rides in Victoria is called the 7 Peaks Ride.  It’s designed as an ‘at-your-own pace’ cycling challenge which runs from October to April.

The rides take you to the top of the seven Victorian Alpine Resorts, each one ranging from 6 to 40 kilometres in length.

The idea is that you register online and track each ride using the 7 Rides app. You can find out more and register here. Of course you can get out there and do the rides. Either way its epic, with a total distance of just over 450 kilometres.

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Has Alpine Shire underestimated the economic and environmental costs of the Dinner Plain ‘Green’?

As reported several times by Mountain Journal, the Alpine Shire in north east Victoria is currently investigating whether to develop a ‘Village Green’ (oval/ polo field/ elite athlete training ground) in the Dinner Plain village. The estimated cost of the project is $1.5 million and substantial investigations have been carried out to assess the likely environmental, social and economic implications of the proposal. Council is now deciding whether to proceed with developing the Green, which will require the destruction of almost 2 hectares of snow gum woodland (an assessment of the environmental impacts of this project is available here).

The information provided to the public by Council about the environmental impacts of the proposal and costs of managing the Green over time have been assessed by an independent ecological consultant. This was done in a voluntary capacity and provided to Council to aid in their decision making. An edited version is provided below.

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Significant forest destruction proposed for Dinner Plain

Mountain Journal has previously reported on a plan to clear 1.8 hectares of Sub-alpine Woodland just adjacent to the Dinner Plain village to create an ‘Elite Training Facility’ (now called the ‘Village Green’).

The current proposal is to create a ‘large flat open grassed area approximately 90 m wide and 150 m long’. An access road and car parking along two sides of the grassed area are proposed, as well as public toilet facilities. A report prepared for Council describes it ‘as a community space (which) is large enough to facilitate sporting events such as polo, horse riding, and high altitude elite athlete training.’

Alpine Shire Council has committed to the delivery of $1,500,000 worth of capital works projects within Dinner Plain by 2027; and says that this will be funded by the Dinner Plain reserve (currently approximately $1,000,000) and additional funds as allocated by Council.

It now needs to decide whether to proceed with the proposal.

Continue reading “Significant forest destruction proposed for Dinner Plain” →

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Hotham to Dinner Plain ski race

This year will mark 25 years for this race from The General at Mt Hotham to the Dinner Plain Hotel. Saturday August 6, starting at 11am.

It is billed as “an event for skiers of all ages and abilities, and you’re likely to see first year skiers lining up with Australian champions. While we encourage everyone to get involved, the event does require you to be able to ski the 12 kilometres without assistance within 2 hours or thereabouts and be able to cope with the wild conditions this mountain can often produce. Entry fees remain at $20 for adults and $5 for juniors, and as always if we get a good rollup then the excess funds can go into more bottles of wine as spot prizes!”

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Village green or environmental destruction?

Plans are slowly moving forward to clear about half a hectare of snowgum woodland at Dinner Plain for a ‘Village Green’.

The Alpine Shire budget for 2016/17 includes funding for the planning and design of a multipurpose ‘Village Green’ to the north west of the current village.

The Dinner Plain Master Plan, finalised in 2015, included a proposal for a cleared area which would aim to provide space for a number of uses. The current proposal is slightly smaller, but would still involve substantial destruction of snow gum woodland. Plans include a space for high altitude training for athletes, football, polo, and potentially a refuge spot in the case of bushfire (although it can be argued that there is already a large cleared area, being the ski run, which could serve for this purpose).

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