Selwyn Snow Resort, formerly known as Selwyn Snowfields, is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

located in the most northern part of the Snowy Mountains of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, in the

Snowy Monaro Regional Council The Snowy Monaro Regional Council is a local government area located in the Snowy Mountains and Monaro regions of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 through a merger of the Bombala, Cooma-Monaro and Snowy River s ...

and

Kosciuszko National Park The Kosciuszko National Park () is a national park and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, for which it is named, and Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Its borders contain a mix of rugged mountains and wildern ...

. Selwyn Snow Resort is located near the town of

Adaminaby Adaminaby is a small town near the Snowy Mountains north-west of Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council. The historic town, of 301 people at the , is a trout fishing centre and winter sports destination situate ...

and is close to

Cabramurra Cabramurra was the third-highest permanently inhabited town on the Australian continent, situated at in the western Snowy Mountains (or South West Slopes) of the Great Dividing Range, in the state of New South Wales. It is lower than Dinner ...

, which is the highest town in Australia. Selwyn is owned by Blyton Group who also own Charlotte Pass Snow Resort. It is opening again June 10th and has just announced its new General manager Lucy Blyton.

History

Selwyn Snow Resort traces its origins to the skifields at nearby

Kiandra Kiandra is an abandoned gold mining town and the birthplace of Australian skiing. The town is situated in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council inside the Kosciuszko National Park. Its name ...

, where skiing began in Australia around 1861. The more reliable snowcover at Selwyn saw the establishment of a portable rope tow on what is now the Township Run in 1966. The remaining ski facilities at Kiandra were finally transferred to Selwyn in 1978 (including Australia's first T-Bar, which had been installed at Kiandra in 1957). In 2009 a triple chairlift finally replaced the T-Bars on the Township Run at Selwyn Snow Resort. During the 2019-2020 bushfire season the Snowfields building and equipment was heavily impacted and damaged.

Resort Statistics

Selwyn Snow Resort is the most northerly of Australia's ski resorts with a base

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of and a top elevation of AHD. The longest run at Selwyn Snow Resort is the ''Long Arm Run''. For the winter of 2009, Selwyn Snow Resort comprised , with 11 lifts including chair lifts, pomas, t-bars, a platter and a rope tow (as well as one snow tube lift). The resort also advertises of marked cross country trails. Selwyn is well suited to families and first timers, with 88% of terrain catering to beginners and intermediates, however the steeper gradient of the ''Racecourse Run'' provides some more challenging terrain for advanced skiers and boarders. In 2007 some terrain park features were added to the blue run known as ''Township''. A relatively low altitude means that the resort can have trouble maintaining a good natural

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

cover during the very early and the latest stages of the ski season (June and September). The resort has developed extensive

snowmaking Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun", also known as a "snow cannon". Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliabilit ...

facilities to combat this problem, and a state of the art Lenko System, with a virtually inexhaustible supply of water from nearby Three Mile Dam now services the resort. are today covered by snow-making and Selwyn Snow Resort is often the first New South Wales ski resort to advertise "100% access" to the mountain. Gentle, grassy terrain makes it easier for Selwyn Snow Resort to open its runs on a thinner snow cover than is the case at the higher, rockier resorts further south.

Nearest accommodation

There is no public accommodation available at Selwyn Snow Resort. Winter access to the skifields is via the

Snowy Mountains Highway Snowy Mountains Highway is a state highway located in New South Wales, Australia. Its two sections connect the New South Wales South Coast to the Monaro region, and the Monaro to the South West Slopes via the Snowy Mountains. The higher alti ...

, from

Talbingo Talbingo is a small town in New South Wales, Australia at the edge of the Snowy Mountains on the Snowy Mountains Highway. The town is 410 metres above sea level. It is on the Tumut River, which has been inundated by Jounama Pondage. Talbingo re ...

in the west or Adaminaby in the east. Limited guest accommodation is provided at nearby Cabramurra. The closest major tourist accommodation is at the holiday village of Providence Portal on the upper reaches of

Lake Eucumbene Eucumbene Dam is a major gated earthfill embankment dam with an overflow ski-jump and bucket spillway with two vertical lift gates across the Eucumbene River in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The dam's main purpose is for t ...

between Adaminaby and Kiandra. Wolgal Hut at Kiandra was re-opened in 2012 for public accommodation as part of the rejuvenation of Kiandra by

NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is a directorate of the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment responsible for managing most of the protected areas in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Despite its name the ...

. The ski and fishing hut was built in the 1960s and is located close to the foot of the original Kiandra ski slopes. It is one of the four remaining historic buildings of the abandoned gold rush town which have been the subject of restoration work.

2020 Bushfires

In January 2020 bushfires in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

burnt through the resort, with pictures provided by the

showing widespread destruction. All of the resort's buildings were reportedly destroyed or severely damaged. However, as the resort had been previously evacuated no loss of life was reported.

References

External links