About Aardvark Aardvark Alpine Club aims to provide the best club-style accommodation in the middle to lower price range in the Mt Hotham Resort.  Aardvark Alpine Club is dedicated to building long-term relationships with its guests through comfortable, safe, affordable but no-frills accommodation in a friendly environment.  Aardvark’s goal is to maximise its occupancy throughout the year with a spirit of egalitarianism. Club History and Structure In 1980, 45 like-minded people founded Aardvark Alpine Club, to take up the opportunity and challenge of building a lodge in the Mt Hotham Resort area. The Lodge was erected in the 1980-1981 off-season with all the unskilled labour and a significant proportion of the skilled labour provided by the members. Each member contributed at least 120 hours on-site.  The certificate of occupancy was achieved on July 7th, 1981 with a covering of three metres of snow. The Aardvark Ski Club began as an unincorporated body and a non-profit building cooperative.  Aardvark Alpine Club is now incorporated as a non-profit body under the Victorian Associations Incorporation Act with a set membership of forty-five.  The Club operates under a formal set of Rules and Regulations, a copy of which is filed with the Resort Management Board.  To amend its Rules and Regulations, the Club must have agreement of 75% of the financial membership and the approval of the Resort Management Board. Memberships are of one class only and are held by individuals. Members may, and some do, hold more than one membership; a system of leasing under the Rules enables the member to pass on the entitlements of the membership while retaining formal ownership.  The Club holds an Annual General Meeting, which elects the management team (Committee) for the following 12 months. Over a third of the memberships have changed hands in the past twenty-one years; two of the memberships are now with second-generation members. The membership of the club remains as diverse as it began.  The age of members ranges from early twenties to an octogenarian.  One third of the members are women; thirteen members live in rural or regional Victoria and six live interstate.  The spread of members’ alpine interests encompasses downhill skiing and snowboarding, cross country skiing, ski touring, bushwalking and mountain bike riding.  Members’ occupations include students, plumbers, doctors, retiree, electrician, farmers, systems engineer, foreign aid worker, primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, ranger, nurse, barrister, architect, engineer, carpenter, botanist, programmer, builder, systems analyst, zoologist.  Our Current Position Aardvark Alpine Club, Inc. provides accommodation services for its members and guests to the Mt Hotham Resort Area.  The business, a club Lodge, is on the eastern slopes of Mt Higginbotham in Hotham Heights, Victoria. Aardvark Ski Lodge is the raison d'etre for Aardvark Alpine Club Inc.  The Lodge is open for public accommodation, and offers these goodies to guests: The highest lodge at Hotham (in Australia for that matter) Adjacent to the Big D ski run - permitting ski-in ski-out access Ideally located for children and beginners 7 bedrooms - sleeping 2-6 (some double beds) Well equipped kitchens for self catering; keeps the costs down Shedding and Drying facilities which work under extreme conditions Amongst the best rates on the mountain Live in managers (winter); this year Alan and Sue are your hosts Summer accommodation also available Our members include keen downhill and cross-country skiers, bushwalkers and naturalists and share a deep interest in the environment of the Victorian Alps Our emphasis is on continued, incremental improvement of the service provided by the Club, thus avoiding the necessity of charging higher booking fees to cover large-scale development costs.  In this way, we plan to remain affordable to the less-well-off end of the skiing public. Our Record Our openness to all comers in all seasons is plain to see from the following examples: Accommodation to membership of other clubs engaged in building programs on their own lodges A regular booking by scientists each November working on Burramys parvus (Mountain pygmy possum) research A regular Easter booking by a family group of up to 24 people Catering for the Federation Track Walkers each January Taking commercial bookings for New Years Eve and Christmas periods Providing access to the Clifton Hill Scouts Opening our doors to Orbost Secondary College for outdoor education camps Operating as a youth hostel all year round between 1982 and 1990 The Lodge offers half-price accommodation to children during one week of each school holidays During the ski-season, the only preference given to members is a members-only booking period in March but thereafter it is first-in first-served