[2][3] Born Beechworth, Victoria, and raised on the family tobacco farm in Myrtleford, Milne competed in his first Olympics in 1968 at Grenoble, France.

It also made Milne the first non-European to win a men's World Cup downhill, a feat that is often attributed by Canadians to Ken Read, who won his first on the same course six years later in December 1975.

Milne trained with the French ski team in Europe,[5] and won a United States title race at Bear Valley, California.

Australian manager John Wagner called Ross a competent ski racer and blamed overcrowding on the slope.

Malcolm said that attempts by the IOC to blame Ross motivated him to excel in his sport: Points were only awarded for top ten finishes (see scoring system).