The Australian Alps
Australia is not a land known for its alpine, much less its skiing. But hidden in the Kosciuszko Range is a world of snow-covered skylines, deep valleys and steep slopes that have attracted generations of ambitious ski mountaineers and progressive visionaries. It’s a small but strong mountain tradition, right out an Australian skier’s backdoor—if you’re willing to find it.
Words: Chris Booth
Australia’s largest mountain range, the Kosciuszko Main Range, lies in the southeastern corner of Australia. Close to the border between New South Wales and Victoria, it’s just a three-hour drive from the Nation’s capital, Canberra, and a solid five hours from better-known Sydney.
The Kosciuszko Main Range rises gently on its eastern flank from the foothills of the sparsely populated south coast surf beaches, up onto the agricultural paddocks of the Monaro Plains—large expanses of grassland that happen to harbor some of the most productive and fertile farmland in Australia. At around 3,280 feet, this lonely and desolate landscape transforms into rolling fields covered in ancient granite boulders that serve as the foothills to our Snowy Mountains…