The denial comes after a 13-year-old Wanaka boy was found in an alcohol-induced coma and hospitalised at the end of a four-day camp for junior snowsports athletes.
Alcohol was no more a problem for snowsports athletes than it was for any other athletes in different sporting codes, Mr Palmer said.
The boy, a snowboarder in the junior winter high performance programme targeting the 2014 Winter Olympics, drank a bottle of 35% proof Jagermeister in about 30 minutes, according to police and eyewitness accounts from several children at the camp.
Police said the excessive drinking was a result of peer pressure, apparently from an older snowboarding athlete who had allegedly stolen the bottle of spirits from a bar at the backpackers hostel where the group of 33 junior winter athletes was staying.
Alcohol was always a concern when dealing with minors, Mr Palmer said.
"But, to my knowledge, it is no more a problem for young snowsports athletes, than with any other kids the same age."
Two of New Zealand snowsports' top athletes - snowboarder Mitchell Brown and big mountain freeskier Sam Smoothy, both of Wanaka - have had run-ins with the law after incidents involving alcohol.
Brown (23) crashed a miniature motorcycle into a power pole and broke several bones on the way home from drinking at a party in November 2007.
Smoothy (22) got into a fight and broke a man's nose during a late-night altercation at a Wanaka bar, last October.
Both men appeared before the courts, but were discharged without conviction because of the disproportionate impact a conviction would have on their sporting careers.
