The pass and village are named after Charlotte Adams, who, in 1881, was the first European woman to climb Mount Kosciuszko.

Large scale intertribal gatherings were held in the High Country during summer for collective feasting on the Bogong moth.

[4] The area was first explored by Europeans in 1835, and in 1840, Edmund Strzelecki ascended Mount Kosciuszko and named it after a Polish patriot.

The Chalet at Charlotte Pass was one of several alpine area accommodation facilities built by government in Australia, and offered an opulent life style at the time.

[11] At 1760m, Charlotte Pass has the highest village base elevation of any Australia ski resort and can only be accessed via over-snow transport in winter.

Ski fields beyond Charlotte Pass and up by Kosciuszko's side were also established during this period, though their existence is now little realised.

The site proved excellent for speed skiing, but the hut was destroyed in an avalanche, which also killed one person, in 1956.

[16] In 1964, Australia briefly boasted the "World's Longest Chairlift", designed to carry skiers from the Thredbo Valley to Charlotte Pass, but technical difficulties soon closed the facility.

[24] Annual rain fall averages 2329.6 mm,[25] with about half falling as snow between May and September, although conditions result in the snowpack typically never exceeding 2.5 m to 3 m. Official snow depths are not recorded for Charlotte Pass, but are recorded by the Snowy Hydro Limited at nearby Spencers Creek (elev.

[29][30] While snowfalls at unexpected times can add interest to the area, they are typically associated with very severe weather events, which can also cause havoc with disastrous consequences.

[29][31] The apparent reduction in rainfall owes largely to the lack of a heated rain gauge after 1990, which leads to unregistered precipitation when a great mass of snow accumulates.

[34] Of major faunal significance is the endangered mountain pygmy possum (Burramys parvus),[35] which from 1894[36] until 1966 was only known from the fossil record,[18] and the threatened broad-toothed mouse.

These small marsupials are adapted to mountain life, however most other Australian animals find it hard to survive the cold climate and heavy snow.

Animals that do manage to survive in the area and are occasionally seen include eastern grey kangaroos, wombats, platypus, crows, magpies, crimson rosellas, flame robins, and introduced animals such as rabbits, foxes and red deer.

[42] During the summer, Charlotte Pass is a base for bushwalkers with intent to walk to the top of Mount Kosciuszko and access the Main Range.

[2] In winter, the area is snow-bound and can only be accessed by snowmobile from the Perisher Valley Skitube Alpine Railway terminal, which lies 8 kilometres to the north east, also via Jindabyne.

In the mid 20th century, the Chalet at Charlotte Pass was referred to as a breeding ground for snobocracy by local politician John Wesley Seiffert who by public criticism obtained a reduced bus fare to the area, thus opening the snowfields to a wider range of people.