ABOUT US
A TRULY SKI IN, SKI OUT WINTER EXPERIENCE IN THE VICTORIAN ALPS.
Hotel Pension Grimus is an award winning, family owned and managed ski hotel located directly beside the slopes of Mt Buller, only a short 3 hour drive from Melbourne. The hotel is located in the heart of the ski village, only a short 50 metre ski to the Mercedes 6-seat chairlift and 100 meters to the ski school.
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The hotel offers a complete and luxurious experience with comprehensive guest facilities. Reception staff are available from 7.30am to 10.00pm daily to assist with inquiries from accommodation, dinner and taxi reservations, to advise on lift and lesson packages, transfers to Mt Buller and other general mountain information.
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Other hotel facilities include a licensed restaurant, intimate cocktail bar, the grimus grind coffee window, guest lounge, free internet access, sauna, spa, plunge pool, masseur, ski locker room, drying room, guest laundry, accessory boutique, ski hire and service centre.
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The Day Spa right next door offers a wide range of soothing massages and pampering beauty treatment and exploring the village is made easy with a free shuttle stop located at the front of the hotel.
FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED WITH A RICH AUSTRIAN HISTORY
Arriving on Mt Buller in the early 1960s after coming to Australia, the late Hans Grimus is a former director of the ‘Orange’ ski lift company. Mr Grimus spent his summers building the first lift infrastructure on the mountain through record snow seasons and without the modern conveniences afforded to those constructing lifts nowadays. A carpenter in his homeland, Mr Grimus began building Hotel Pension Grimus in the early 1970s in the authentic Tyrolean style true to his heritage.
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Today, Hotel Pension Grimus is ran by his wife Lotte Grimus and two sons. It is widely regarded as one of Australia’s best alpine hotels, and has been the recipient of a number of awards including 7 World Ski Awards as Australia's Best Ski Hotel. The warm, traditional hospitality and personal attention that Hans was so well know for continues to be offered by Lotte and her sons at Hotel Pension Grimus, one of Mt Buller’s most-loved properties.
HISTORY
"HANS GRIMUS - PIONEER, HOTELIER & RACONTEUR"
Like many young European men, he made his way to New South Wales to work on the Snowy Mountains scheme. After the Snowies, he got work at Mt Buller as a ski lift operator. He found his feet as a skier and by force of personality became the general manager of Orange Lifts, one of the early lift companies on the mountain.
The 1960s and 70s were boom years for snowsports and their resorts, and Grimus pushed ahead an ambitious program of ski lift construction for his employers. In the late 1960s he saw an opportunity to expand his own presence at Buller. He secured one of the best sites on the mountain and started work on the Tyrolean-style lodge that would become Pension Grimus.
He knew how to court publicity and used his dog Kaptan to help him along the way – photos of Hans skiing and riding chairlifts with Kaptan made their way around the world. Even though he wasn’t from the mountains by birth, he had the Austrian flair for hospitality. He made it his business to know the business of his regulars and generations of them became his guests.
Grimus captured the spirit of the Australian mountain resorts in their earlier decades — the simple fun there was to be had above the snowline — and he ensured it lived on in his ski lodge. He played the accordion for dinner guests and insisted they try some snuff and share some schnapps from his country of birth.
Pension Grimus has become one of the leading hotels among Australian mountain resorts, a consistent winner of the “Best Ski Hotel” title in the World Ski Awards. One of Hans’ children, Anton, has twice represented Australia in ski cross at the Winter Olympics – Sochi in 2014 and PyeongChang in 2018.
Hans Grimus, a legend of the Australian mountains, passed away aged 78 in 2018.
With a few pounds in his pocket, he came to Australia as an 18-year-old in 1959, leaving behind the gloom of post-war Europe. The young Austrian was a talented athlete, but ironically wasn’t a skier: he came from what he called the “flat” part of Austria.
Article by Jim Darby is the author of the resort history Mt Buller, the story of a mountain.
HOME OF OLYMPIAN ANTON GRIMUS
BIOGRAPHY
The Grimus Ski Centre and Hotel Pension Grimus is the home of 2014 & 2018 Winter Olympian –Anton Grimus. Anton grew up at Mt Buller and has spent much of his life surrounded by snow.Like many Ski Cross racers his background is in Alpine racing. He and his older brother Hannes pushed each other, and as members of the Mt Buller Race Club competed at many international competitions including Junior World Championships.
In 2002, he and his brother moved to the city to attend Melbourne Grammar School. Anton took up a totally different sport and was a good rower before needing to decide between the two very different sports. Skiing won out partly because Ski Cross was emerging as an exciting alternative to traditional racing.
But while being born into a family synonymous with a snow resort meant that skiing was an almost certain outcome, achieving the distinction of national selection had to be earned. Anton was a member of the Australian National Alpine Ski Team, but made the switch to Ski Cross in 2010 with immediate success, qualifying second for the final in his first World Cup start.
While juggling university studies and World Cup racing, Anton has continued to improve each season, with the highlight of his career coming in December 2012, where he made the first World Cup podium of his career, a bronze medal performance in Nakiska, Canada. The 2012/13 season was an outstanding breakthrough for him. He finished the season ranked 12th due to bronze at the Nakiska World Cup in December 2012, a seventh at the 2013 World Championships and eighth at the Sochi Test Event/World Cup.
Heading into the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, Anton is full of confidence to deliver a leading performance in his Olympic debut.
PERSONAL BEST ACHIEVEMENTS
World Cup - 3rd, Nakiska, CAN, 2012
World Championships - 7th, Voss, NOR, 2013
Sochi Winter Olympic Games 2014
Pyeong Chang Winter Olympic Games 2018
EDUACTION
Merrijig Primary School (Merrijig, VIC)
Melbourne Grammar School (South Yarra, VIC)
University of Melbourne - Bachelor of Commerc
Master of Engineering (Structural)
