Snowy Mountains

The Snowy Mountains sit in the far south of New South Wales, forming part of the Australian Alps and the southern end of the Great Dividing Range. The region wraps around Kosciuszko National Park and stretches from Cooma in the east to Khancoban on the Victorian border.

Jindabyne is roughly 5 hours from Sydney via the Hume and Monaro Highways, and about 2.5 hours south of Canberra. From Melbourne it is around 7 hours via the Hume Highway and the Alpine Way, or longer if you take the scenic route through the Victorian high country.

The main hubs are Jindabyne (the lakeside gateway), Cooma (the historic Monaro town on the highway in), and the resort villages of Thredbo and Perisher Valley. Smaller communities include Adaminaby on Lake Eucumbene, Berridale, Dalgety and Khancoban on the western fall of the range.

The official snow season runs from the King's Birthday long weekend in early June to the NSW Labour Day long weekend in early October, conditions permitting. Reliable cover usually arrives in July and August, with spring skiing into September.

Summer in the Snowies is for mountain biking at Thredbo and around Lake Crackenback, trout fishing in the lakes and rivers, kayaking and paddleboarding on Lake Jindabyne, and bushwalking through alpine herb fields. The lift-served bike park at Thredbo and the Snowies Alpine Walk are two of the headline experiences.

Lake Jindabyne was created in 1967 when the Snowy River was dammed for the Hydro Scheme, and it holds around 688,000 megalitres at full capacity with depths of up to 40 metres. It is regularly stocked with brown, rainbow and brook trout plus Atlantic salmon, and the foreshore beaches are popular for swimming, sailing and stand-up paddleboarding.

The Snowy Scheme is one of the great civil engineering projects of the 20th century, built between 1949 and 1974 to divert alpine water inland for power and irrigation. It comprises 16 major dams, 145 kilometres of tunnels, 80 kilometres of aqueducts and 8 power stations, and was constructed by more than 100,000 workers from over 30 countries.

The Alpine Way is a 108 kilometre scenic road that links Jindabyne to Khancoban through the southern half of Kosciuszko National Park, passing Thredbo, Tom Groggin and the Geehi flats. It is steep, narrow and winding between Khancoban and Thredbo, and parts of the surrounding network close in winter, so check NSW National Parks alerts before you set out.

Wildflowers begin appearing as the snow melts in late spring and peak from December through January, when the herb fields above the treeline turn into sheets of yellow billy buttons, white and pink everlasting daisies and tiny brachyscome. Around 200 plant species grow in the Kosciuszko alpine zone, with 21 found nowhere else on Earth.

Wild horses (brumbies) carry strong cultural meaning in the high country but their hard hooves damage fragile alpine bogs and waterways. Under the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018, the NSW Government is required to reduce the population to 3,000 horses within designated retention areas by 30 June 2027, using a mix of passive trapping, rehoming, and ground and aerial shooting, which remains a heated public debate.

Thredbo and Perisher put you ski-in, ski-out in winter and at the trailheads in summer, but they are pricier and quieter outside the snow season. Jindabyne is the year-round base with the widest choice of lakeside hotels, apartments, cabins and holiday houses, and is roughly a 30 minute drive from either resort.

The Snowy Mountains are the traditional Country of the Ngarigo and Walgalu (also written Wolgalu) peoples, with neighbouring connections to the Bidhawal, Djilamatang and Ngunnawal. For thousands of years, family groups travelled into the high country each summer to gather and feast on the migrating Bogong moth.