This Cosy Cabin is the Perfect Year-Round Snowy Mountains Recharge

In my early 20s, trips to the Snowy Mountains had a simple format: clock off work as early as possible, force too many mates into the car around your gear, run late, eat drive-thru, go full-bore on the mountain for two days on wheels, skis, or trail runners, then fold back into the car at sunset for the six-hour trip back to Sydney.

This, as you can imagine, leaves you feeling like a used handkerchief on Monday morning as you desperately try to coast through your workday. (Un)fortunately, things are different these days. Our jobs have a bit more responsibility, our bones creak, our muscles ache. Driving through the night suddenly seems risky.

Was getting up early always this difficult?

So when we decided to tackle the famously difficult off-track Opera House Hut hike in Kosciuszko National Park, I decided to call in an offer from Sarah Brown, the owner of Common Kosci.

‘How about a few recovery days in Jindabyne?’ said Sarah, ‘There’s an infrared sauna, massages, and a great Japanese restaurant in town’.

A few of us were able to work remotely, while the others had leave up their sleeves, and like that it was settled. Self care was on the menu.

Read more: I Hiked to the Same Kosciuszko Hut as Hadi Nazari – Here Are 6 Things We Can Learn From His Mistakes

Our New Home Among The Gum Trees – Common Kosci

Wearily winding up the dirt road to our new abode I was first struck by how quickly we’d arrived. Common Kosci is surrounded by eucalypts and bushland, yet within five minutes we were approaching its boxy, Euro-inspired form.

Sunset was a true burner and the building was bathed in warm light as we approached, tyres crunching on the gravel. A kangaroo hopped past as we came to a stop, one of many native locals we’d see over the coming days.

Common Kosci was architect-designed in partnership with local owners, and it showed from the moment we traipsed in. The ‘mud-room’, complete with washer, dryer and drying racks, absorbed our feral hiking gear and shoes with a dedicated door from the outside.

Freshly changed, we moved through to the lounge room, where a large picture window over the couch caught the last rays of sunset. A small hallway connected us to the second part of the cabin, where a master bedroom, bunk room, and small bathroom sat in relative privacy. An outdoor shower outside the master bedroom also caught my eye.

And that was the theme of our stay. Outside. Having just spent some rather harrowing days in the bush, pushing through thick understorey and clambering up slippery waterfalls, I was struck by the way the building softly, yet continually, pushed us toward the surrounding environment.

Whether it was soaking underneath a sun light, reading while sitting in the custom net that slung off the balcony, or simply gazing out one of the large windows, I was constantly aware of the surrounding landscape.

With a northerly aspect, double-glazing, and a delightful gas fireplace, Common Kosci is more than set up for dustings of snow in the winter months, and it’s damn popular in snow season too. Yet the design is resilient and coped well with the warm February days and frosty nights that accompanied our visit. 

We made good use of the spacious hot tub, and cooked sirloin steaks on the recently-installed fire pit like proper cave men, before retreating inside to the communal kitchen island, and our potato gems.

It was beginning to feel like the perfect time to visit.

Shoulder Season is Underrated

As in winter, the Snowy Mountains swell over the summer holidays, yet heading into February, we noticed the slower pace as the locals returned to normality. Prices do too, and you won’t have to fight for a booking for your post-adventure feed like you might in high season. Even the national park is significantly cheaper than in winter, yet the mountains are just as spectacular. 

Time it right in spring and you’ll be hiking with dirt under your feet, and snow on the peaks around you.

Read more: 10 Tips For Your First Off-Track Hike

Conditions on the Main Range were as close to perfect as you can imagine

But we’d done our hike, including one climb that was almost a vertical kilometre, and we were sore. So sore in fact that Evan and Andrew decided to book massages. Jane from The Massage Joint sorted the guys out with hour-long drool-inducing kneading, and the experience working with Explorers who sleep on two inches of foam was abundantly clear.

They even tried cupping for the first time, which left them with the big tension-relieving welts that I’ve only seen on pro footy players. It looked good on them.

Alas, Aidan and I had signed on to work the Monday and Tuesday, using the Starlink internet at Common Kosci. Self care was the reason for our stay however, so we snuck in a Monday morning infrared sauna down at Centred Health Studio.

Get this, the sauna and adjoining pilates studio (we were not brave enough to try post-hike pilates) were a 10-minute bushwalk from the cabin. We popped out right next to the studio and spent a toasty 45 minutes sweating out dehydrated meals, beef jerky, and sunscreen from our pores. 

If you haven’t tried an infrared sauna, know that it’s not a gimmick. They simply use infrared lamps for the heating, which penetrate deeper into your muscles at a lower temperature. Less headaches and more recovery, it’s good stuff.

Suitably limber, there was only one thing left to complete our post-hike rebirth. Food, specifically, sushi. We had it on good authority from Sarah that Takayama Restaurant & Bar was the place to go. The restaurant focuses on izakaya-style food and drinks, which is the equivalent of a pub or tapas bar. Great, the perfect vibe for us hiking dirtbags.

As it turns out, the owner, Stefan, is a hiking and skiing dirtbag too. We had a wide-ranging chat as we discussed our hike, his eyes lighting up as we named ridgelines and gullies that he’d been skiing for years.

The restaurant was his brainchild – after enjoying similar places after days on the slopes in Japan, he thought it’d be perfectly at home in Jindabyne. He was right. Try the chicken katsu and melt-in-your-mouth tataki beef, oh and the squid ink gin cocktail. Thank me later.

Back to Reality

I woke up on our final day with a sense of equilibrium. We’d spent two and a half days hiking our guts out on unforgiving terrain, and another two and a half resting, recovering, and sitting quietly – absorbing the space we were in. Both approaches took place in, and connected with, nature, and if anything, it taught me that both have their merits.

Read more: 15 of the Cosiest Winter Cabins Across NSW

I’ve been to Jindabyne and the Snowy Mountains a dozen times, yet I’d never hiked and camped in the high places in summer. It’d always been skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and trail running that drew me in. It’s safe to say I’ll be back to walk more of the trails, especially with the 56km Snowies Alpine Walk now open. I might even need a few recovery days when I’m done.We ducked in for a quick coffee and a lethal Reuben sandwich from Rockstock Deli within The Market Jindabyne. It turned out to be a wholesome collection of local produce and ethical goods, with couches for the community to hang out and connect. That stuck with me as we hit the road toward Cooma. From the cabin to the coffee shop, Jindabyne is a place that understands connection. I won’t be breezing through it on my next trip to the mountains.

Feature photo by @eandrewsphoto