As this silent clip from 1929 shows, access to the snow fields was clearly something of an ordeal before the construction of the Alpine Way.

The clip also features ex-amateur skiing champion Helmut Kofler from Austria. Kofler migrated with his first wife in 1927. He excelled in a number of sports and had originally come to Australia to teach swimming and diving. The couple spent their first winter managing the Hotham Heights Chalet before relocating to the Mt Buller Chalet.

The Koflers helped bring European alpine customs to the Australian Alps. Hofler's life was tragically cut short at the age of 37 when he was killed in a sawmill accident along with his second wife, who was pregnant at the time.

His contribution to Australian ski culture is remembered in the naming of Koflers Hutte Restaurant at Mt Buller.