Jindabyne is the main service town for the New South Wales resorts, but most resort centres have on-snow accommodation. Other ski-service towns include
Cooma and
Adaminaby.
Canberra is situated around two hours from the New South Wales ski-fields. Australia's highest town,
Cabramurra,
New South Wales, has private skiing facilities for residents. The mainland's highest peak is
Mount Kosciuszko at 2228m.
New South Wales , NSW, where skiing began in Australia in 1861
New South Wales is home to Australia's highest snow country, oldest skifields and largest resorts. Recreational skiing in Australia began around 1861 at
Kiandra, New South Wales, when
Norwegian gold miners introduced the idea to the frozen hills around the town. The first and longest surviving ski club in the world,
The Kiandra Snow Shoe Club is believed to have been formed at Kiandra in that year.
Kiandra and the northern skifields is the most northerly of Australia's ski resorts. is Australia's highest town and has a private ski club slope for the use of members. Skiing in Australia began in the northern section of the Snowy Mountains during the
Kiandra goldrush. Kiandra is often isolated by deep snow which made it inaccessible during winter. In 1861, Norwegian miners introduced recreational skiing to the mining settlement by converting fence posts into skis. Ski races were held annually on Township Hill at Kiandra, which led to the founding of the
Kiandra Snow Shoe Club—reportedly becoming the "world's longest continuously running ski club" as it evolved into the present-day Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club in
Perisher Valley, NSW. Whether the club is the first of its kind has been subject to debate. An Onion Valley Snow Shoe Club was reported in America in 1861. The "Trysil Skytte- og Skiløberforening" (Shot and Ski Practitioner Association) was also founded in Norway, in 1861. The association held their first competition in January 1862
Alpine skiing, as a sport, commenced over twenty-five years before any ski club can be identified as being formed in Europe. Alpine ski clubs were first founded in Munich, Germany 1891, Switzerland 1893, Arlberg, Austria 1901, followed by France and Italy.
Sir Arnold Lunn founded the
Kandahar Ski Club of Great Britain in 1924. The "Kiandra Snow Shoe Club" held separate ski races for both ladies and children as early as 1885. Barbara Yan was the first identifiable woman documented as to having won a Downhill Skiing Championship. Yan also won the ladies downhill in 1887, the year her siblings won the girls' under-8 section and second in the under-12s. In 1908 the club held the first ever documented International and Intercontinental Downhill Skiing Carnival. Results – America 1st, Australia 2nd, England 3rd. Australia's longest running skiing competition is The
Balmain Cup. By 1933 team racing was open to virtually all competitors from any club or imported talents but Arthur Balmain of
Cooma believed this was unfair to local enthusiasts. He donated a perpetual trophy open only to competitors residing in or about the Southern Districts and only for members who held membership for twelve weeks in the local ski club. Arthur Balmain, whose company transported skiers to all localities, envisaged a competition that would encompass all clubs. He decreed that a team must compete for the Balmain Cup with all members competing in four disciplines: Downhill, Slalom, Jump and Langlauf. In 1946 the competition format for competitors eligibility was changed and the jump section was removed. In the wilderness region south of Kiandra, The Alpine Hut, near
Mount Jagungal, was built in 1939 to cater for skiers. Access was arduous – via packhorse and ski. The Kiandra Goldrush was short-lived, but the township remained a service centre for recreational and survival skiing for over a century. The Kiandra courthouse closed as a police station in 1937, and was for a time used as a private residence, before becoming the Kiandra Chalet (until 1953) and later the Kiandra Chalet Hotel. The Kiandra Chalet closed in 1973 and the building became a Roads Depot building. The township itself became a
ghost town. Australia's first
T-bar lift had been installed on Township Hill in 1957, but in 1978, Kiandra's ski lift operations re-located permanently to nearby Mount Selwyn (
Selwyn Snowfields). The longest run at Selwyn is the 800m "Long Arm Run". Longer slopes and more reliable snows lie further to the south and in the 20th century, the focus of recreational skiing in New South Wales shifted southward, to the
Mount Kosciuszko region. The history of skiing at Kiandra has been the subject of several studies, including 1959's
Historic Kiandra, written by the Kiandra Historical Society and
Kiandra Gold fields to Ski fields (2006) by Norman W. Clarke. The first Kosciuszko Chalet was built at
Charlotte Pass in 1930, giving relatively comfortable access to Australia's highest terrain. In 1964, Australia briefly boasted the "World's Longest
Chairlift", designed to carry skiers from the Thredbo Valley to Charlotte Pass, but technical difficulties soon closed the facility. At 1760m, Charlotte Pass has the highest village base elevation of any Australia ski resort and can only be accessed via over-snow transport in winter. The growing number of ski enthusiasts heading to Charlotte Pass led to the establishment of a cafe at
Smiggin Holes around 1939, where horse-drawn sleighs would deliver skiers to be begin the arduous ski to the Kosciuszko Chalet. The Construction of
Guthega Dam brought skiers to the isolated Guthega district and a rope tow was installed there in 1957. Skifields up by Kosciuszko's side were also established during this period, though their existence is now little realised.
The Australian Alpine Club was founded in 1950 by
Charles Anton with a view to establishing a chain of lodges for ski touring across the Australian Alps. Huts were constructed in the "Back Country" close to Mount Kosciuszko, including
Kunama Hut, which opened for the 1953 season. A rope tow was installed on
Mount Northcote at the site and opened in 1954. The site proved excellent for speed skiing, but the hut was destroyed in an
avalanche, which also killed one person, in 1956. Anton also recognised the potential of the Thredbo Valley for construction of a major resort and village, with good vertical terrain. Construction began in 1957. The last establishment of a major skifield in NSW came with the development of
Mount Blue Cow in the 1980s. In 1987 the Swiss designed
Skitube Alpine Railway opened to deliver skiers from
Bullocks Flat, on the
Alpine Way, to Perisher Valley and to Blue Cow, which also opened in 1987. ==Competitive skiing==