Last updated 5Jul19
Slalom Hut site
Slalom Hut site is located 270m down an old ski run from Mt Franklin in the Namadgi National Park.
Location: GR 55H FA 61146-71415 (MGA94), Tidbinbilla 8627-2S 1:25000
Visit: 6 Nov 07
Documentation:
• KHA web site: Slalom Hut is quite hard to find, but is at Grid Reference 611713 on the Tidbinbilla 1:25,000 map. To find the hut, walk to the summit of the hill near this grid reference, 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. The hut is here, facing east. Slalom Hut was built by the Canberra Alpine Club (about 1955?) to provide shelter for skiers on this run. It is also maintained by them, irregularly. Until recently it received very little maintenance, but has become more popular as a very quiet getaway spot. 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. The hut is corrugated iron over a sawn timber frame, and has an almost flat roof. The floor is sawn timber. [burned down 2003]
• KHA Namadgi database (private source). Site 283. Built by the Canberra Alpine Club skiers in 1958 as a lunch shelter for skiers on the Slalom run. Walls are lined internally with masonite, with crumpled newspaper insulation behind. Originally the hut was connected by telephone to the Mt Franklin Chale ….
• Signage at site: The Slalom Hut was built in 1958, adjacent to the Slalom Run. The small corrugated iron hut provided a day shelter for skiers. In keeping with the Canberra Alpine Club’s resourceful character, five-gallon paint tins were filled with cement in Canberra and transported to the site for foundations. THe walls were lined with hardboard and the space between this and the iron filled with newspapers for insulation. A stove and a rescue sled/stretcher were included. A cable was run along the ground to provide a telephone link to the Chalet. This was viewed as a great information break-through for those days – skiers at the Slalom Run could report snow conditions to members at the Chalet.
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