Slalom Hut
Known as Slalom Hut or Ski Hut
Location
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.
GPS:
Brief History
Slalom Hut was destroyed in the 2003 bushfires, and only iron remains.
It was built by the Canberra Alpine Club (about 1954) to provide shelter for skiers on this run. It was also maintained by them, irregularly.
Until recently it received very little maintenance, but had become more popular as a very quiet and sheltered getaway spot.
The ski run was serviced by a rope tow, driven by reduced wheels, directly from the rear wheel of the car parked and 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.
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