Slalom Hut

Slalom Hut is quite hard to find. Walk to the summit of the hill, and look for a cleared, but now somewhat overgrown, ski run heading straight down hill. You can confirm this by locating a 1920's Ford car at the top of the run (used to drive a rope ski tow). Walk about 300m down the run to its finish and turn hard right, about 80m into the trees.

Brief History

Slalom Hut was built by the Canberra Alpine Club to provide shelter for skiers on this run. It was nominally maintained by them, but not frequently enough leading to the current ruined state.

The ski run was serviced by a rope tow, driven by reduced wheels, directly from the rear wheel of the car parked/blocked at the top of the ski run. Skiers wore a leather belt with a "nutcracker" clamping device to clip to the rope, and were thus pulled to the top of the hill. The speed of the tow could be determined by the gear that the car was put into - "overdrive" gave a very fast and dangerous trip to the hill top.

Construction

The hut was corrugated iron over a sawn timber frame, and has an almost flat roof. The floor is sawn timber.

Photo: John Evans

Last updated 16 December 2020