Selwyn snowfields
Encyclopedia
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
in the northern part of the Snowy Mountains
Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD, approximately 7310 feet....
of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in the Snowy River Shire and Kosciuszko National Park
Kosciuszko National Park
Kosciuszko National Park covers 690,000 hectares and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko for which it is named, and Cabramurra the highest town in Australia...
. Selwyn is located near the town of Adaminaby
Adaminaby, New South Wales
Adaminaby is a small town near the Snowy Mountains located north-west of Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy River Shire.The historic town, of about 234 people, is a trout fishing centre and winter sports destination situated at above sea level. It is one of the highest towns in...
and is close to Cabramurra
Cabramurra, New South Wales
Cabramurra is the highest permanently inhabited town on the Australian continent, situated at 1,488m AHD in the western Snowy Mountains of the Great Dividing Range, in the state of New South Wales...
, which is the highest town in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
History
Selwyn traces its origins to the skifields at nearby Kiandra, 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 theTownship 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.Resort Statistics
Selwyn is the most Northerly of Australia's ski resorts with a base elevationElevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
of 1492 m and a top elevation of 1614 m AHD
Australian Height Datum
The Australian Height Datum is a geodetic datum for altitude measurement in Australia. According to Geoscience Australia, "In 1971 the mean sea level for 1966-1968 was assigned the value of zero on the Australian Height Datum at thirty tide gauges around the coast of the Australian continent...
. The longest run at Selwyn is the 800m "Long Arm Run".
For the winter of 2009, Selwyn Snowfields comprised 45 hectares, 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 45 km 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
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
cover during the very early and the latest stages of the ski season (June and September). The resort has developed extensive snowmaking
Snowmaking
Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun" or "snow cannon", on ski slopes. Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliability of their snow cover and to extend their ski...
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. 35 hectares are today covered by snow-making and Selwyn is often the first New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
ski resort to advertise "100% access" to the mountain. Gentle, grassy terrain makes it easier for Selwyn to open its runs on a thinner snow cover than is the case at the higher, rockier resorts further south.
Winter access to Selwyn is via the scenic Snowy Mountains Highway
Snowy Mountains Highway
The Snowy Mountains Highway is a state highway in New South Wales, Australia which traverses the Snowy Mountains.The highway runs across the highland region in the southern part of the State. It starts at its junction with the Hume Highway near Gundagai...
, from Talbingo in the West or Adaminaby in the East. The closest tourist accommodation is at the holiday village of Providence Portal on the upper reaches of Lake Eucumbene
Lake Eucumbene
Lake Eucumbene is a man-made lake on the Eucumbene River in the Snowy Mountains of Southern New South Wales in Australia. The lake was created by the damming of the river as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The dam was built between 1956 and 1958....
.