Selwyn Snow Resort to reopen for first season since Black Summer bushfires

The Kosciuszko resort is set to reopen on June 10 for the first time since it was decimated in the Black Summer bushfires.

A toboggan park, restored chairlifts for the ski runs, plus a new cafe and ski-hire centre await guests when the resort opens this season.

New snow machines are in and capable of covering the ground as soon as the temperature drops to one degree, thanks to eight kilometres of cables laid underground in the last three years.

The only thing Blyton Group has left to wish for - as do all Australian ski resort operators - is a bumper season to match the record snow falls experienced last winter.

Lucy Blyton-Gray, general manager, said fingers were crossed for a year like the one just gone.

"The question I get every day is 'are you going to open this year?'," Ms Blyton-Gray said.

"And yes - we are going to open - there is no other option."

Selwyn Snow Resort had been scheduled to open in 2022, however, the heaviest dump of snow on record forced construction to grind to a halt in early June.

Ms Blyton-Gray said they've now had workers living on the mountain for three years to pull together what exists at Selwyn today.

"This is very different to what was here," she said.

"It's very new. It's very flashy. But we're very proud of it."

When fire swept through Selwyn in the first week of January 2020 it took the resort manager's house, the ski centre and almost all other infrastructure with it.

"Everything was lost, except the barbecue hut and the lift towers," Ms Blyton-Gray said.

"Everyone was focusing on the other side of the park, like Thredbo and Charlotte Pass, so there were no firies over here.

"It ran through here in about seven minutes."

The 2020 fires devastated about one-third of Kosciuszko National Park, destroying 11 historic huts, acres of bushland and thousands of native species that inhabit it.

The Dunns Road fire also ripped through Batlow and destroyed homes, killing Goulburn man David Harrison.

Ms Blyton-Gray said returning to the resort after the fire was a strange experience, with dead animals littering the blackened environment.

"It was just a really eerie, daunting feeling," she said.

"It was apocalyptic up here."

Rebuilding a ski resort is likely to be complicated in normal circumstances. Throw in COVID-19 and a hefty insurance claim and bringing Selwyn back has been nothing short of an ordeal.

Ms Blyton-Gray said their claim was the biggest of any insurer from the Black Summer bushfires.

She said the insurance process dragged on for about 18 months, which delayed the building process for about two years.

"It just covered what was here. This is a lot nicer than what was here.

"So we've put in a lot of personal money," Ms Blyton-Gray said.

"Then we had to shut the site down because of COVID because all our builders came from Canberra."

While staff shortages plagued most hospitality and tourism operators in 2022, the backpackers are back and Selwyn has around 100 people eagerly awaiting the winter.

Around 30 will live at the resort for the season while the rest - travelling from as far as South America and Europe - will move about an hour down the road to Adaminiby.

School groups from as far as Western Australia have already booked their snow experience at Selwyn this winter.

Ms Blyton-Gray said Selwyn attracts a lot of families and often people just wanting to experience snow for the first time.

"They just want to come and see it and touch it, maybe hop on a toboggan - we are that family fun offering," she said.

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Ms Blyton-Gray said the 16 new snow guns spread around the resort provide insurance against warmer temperatures shortening the season at Kosciuszko.

She said climate change, bushfires or the pandemic could have ever had the family questioning the decision to rebuild.

"We got the best season of all time last year," Ms Blyton-Gray said.

"We'll get a bad season here and there but until there is absolutely no snow in the country we'll keep going."

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