Snowy Mountains

Coordinates: 36°30′S 148°20′E / 36.500°S 148.333°E / -36.500; 148.333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the mountain range in Australia. For the hydroelectric and irrigation scheme, see Snowy Mountains Scheme. For other uses, see Snowy Mountain.

Snowy Mountains
The Snowies
Mountain ranges surrounding Mount Kosciuszko.
Highest point
PeakMount Kosciuszko
Elevation2,228 m (7,310 ft)
Coordinates36°27′S 148°16′E / 36.450°S 148.267°E / -36.450; 148.267
Geography
Worldwind image of Snowy Mountains
CountryAustralia
StateNSW
Range coordinates36°30′S 148°20′E / 36.500°S 148.333°E / -36.500; 148.333
Parent rangeAustralian Alps

The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an

above sea level. The offshore Tasmanian highlands
makes up the only other major alpine region present in the whole of Australia.

The Snowy Mountains experience large natural

mountain plum-pine, a low-lying type of conifer
.

The Alpine Way and Snowy Mountains Highway are the major roads through the Snowy Mountains region.

History

The mountain range is thought to have had Aboriginal occupation for 20,000 years. Large gatherings were held in the High Country during summer for collective feasting on the Bogong moth.

The area was first explored by Europeans in 1835, and in 1840,

Edmund Strzelecki ascended Mount Kosciuszko and named it after the Polish patriot. High country stockmen followed who used the Snowy Mountains for grazing during the summer months. Banjo Paterson's famous poem The Man From Snowy River recalls this era. The cattle graziers have left a legacy of mountain huts scattered across the area. Today these huts are maintained by the National Parks and Wildlife Service or volunteer organisations like the Kosciuszko Huts Association
.

In the 19th century gold was mined on the high plains near Kiandra. At its height this community had a population of about 4,000 people, and ran 14 hotels. Since the last resident left in 1974, Kiandra has become a ghost town of ruins and abandoned diggings.[2]

The Kosciuszko National Park came into existence as the National Chase Snowy Mountains on 5 December 1906. In 1944 this became the Kosciuszko State Park and the Kosciuszko National Park in 1967.[3]

Recreational skiing began at Kiandra in the 1860s and experienced a boom in the 20th century following the commencement of the construction of the

Kiandra
around 1861.

Skiing

Main article: Skiing in New South Wales

The discovery of gold at

Selwyn Snowfields in 1978.[5] Steeper slopes and more reliable snows lie further to the south and in the 20th century, the focus of recreational skiing in New South Wales shifted southward, to the Mount Kosciuszko region.[6]

Sunrise over Mount Jagungal

The Kosciuszko Chalet was built at

Guthega Dam brought skiers to the isolated Guthega district and a rope tow was installed there in 1957.[13]

Charlotte Pass is a popular ski area in the upper Snowy Mountains

Skifields up by Kosciuszko's side were also established during this period, though their existence is now little realised. The Australian Alpine Club was founded in 1950 by Charles Anton. Huts were constructed in the "Backcountry" close to Mount Kosciuszko, including Kunama Hut, which opened for the 1953 season. A rope tow was installed on Mount Northcote at the site and opened in 1954. The site proved excellent for speed skiing, but the hut was destroyed in an avalanche, which also killed one person, in 1956.[14]

Anton also recognised the potential of the Thredbo Valley for construction of a major resort and village, with good vertical terrain. Construction began in 1957.[12] Today, Thredbo has 14 ski-lifts and possesses Australia's longest ski resort run, the 5.9 km from Karel's T-Bar to Friday Flat; Australia's greatest vertical drop of 672 m; and the highest lifted point in Australia at 2037 m.[15][16]

The last establishment of a major skifield in NSW came with the development of

Mount Blue Cow in the 1980s. In 1987 the Swiss designed Skitube Alpine Railway opened to deliver skiers from Bullocks Flat, on the Alpine Way, to Perisher Valley and to Blue Cow, which also opened in 1987.[11] The operators of Blue Cow purchased Guthega in 1991, and the new combined resort later merged with Perisher-Smiggins to become the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere.[17] In 2022, Perisher had 48 lifts covering 1,245 hectares and four village base areas: Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega.[11]

Map of Snowy Mountains Scheme

Snowy Mountains Scheme

Main article: Snowy Mountains Scheme

The Snowy Mountains also feed the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers from the Tooma River, Whites River and Yarrangobilly River. The range is perhaps best known for the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a project to dam the Snowy River, providing both water for irrigation and hydroelectricity.

The project began in 1949 employing 100,000 men, two-thirds of whom came from thirty other countries during the post-World War II years. Socially this project symbolises a period during which Australia became an ethnic "melting pot" of the twentieth century but which also changed Australia's character and increased its appreciation for a wide range of cultural diversity.

Tumut 3 generating station

The Scheme built several temporary towns for its construction workers, several of which have become permanent:

Guthega in the 1950s by ex-Snowy Scheme workers, who realised the potential for expansion of the Australian ski industry.[12]

By 1974, 145 km (90 mi) of tunnels and 80 km (50 mi) of aqueducts connected the sixteen dams, seven power stations (two underground), and one pumping station.[20] The American Society of Civil Engineers has rated the Snowy Scheme as "a world-class civil engineering project".

The principal lakes created by the scheme include:

Lake Jindabyne and Tantangara Dam
.

Geography

Climate

Mount Kosciuszko from the Snowy River.

The higher regions of the park experience an alpine climate which is unusual on mainland Australia. Generally, only areas above 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) are subject to a consistent heavy winter

Albury only 165 metres (541 ft) above sea level. The weather station at Charlotte Pass recorded Australia's lowest temperature of −23.0 °C (−9.4 °F) on 28 June 1994.[21]

Glacial lakes

Blue Lake in the characteristically U-shaped glacial valley, Kosciuszko National Park.

Part of the mountains known as Main Range contains mainland Australia's five glacial lakes.[22] The largest of these lakes is Blue Lake, one of the headwaters of the Snowy River. The other four glacial lakes are Lake Albina, Lake Cootapatamba, Club Lake and Headley Tarn.

During the

epoch, the highest peaks of the main range near Mount Kosciuszko experienced a climate which favoured the formation of glaciers, evidence of which can still be seen today. Cirques moraines, tarn lakes, roche moutonnées and other glacial features can all be seen in the area. Lake Cootapatamba, which was formed by an ice spilling from Mount Kosciuszko's southern flank, is the highest lake on the Australian mainland. Lake Albina, Club Lake, Blue Lake, and Hedley Tarn also have glacial origins.[23]

There is some disagreement as to exactly how widespread Pleistocene glaciation was on the main range, and little or no evidence from earlier glacial periods exists. The 'David Moraine', a one kilometre long ridge running across Spencers Creek valley seems to indicate a larger glacier existed in this area at some time, however the glacial origin of this feature is disputed.[24]

There is evidence of

Frost heave is also a significant agent of soil erosion
in the Kosciuszko Area.

Ecology

Snow Gum at tree line along Dead Horse Gap Walk, Kosciuszko National Park.

The Snowy Mountains cover a variety of climatic regions which support several distinct

heaths, herbfields, feldmarks, bogs and fens. The windswept feldmark ecotope
is endemic to the alpine region, and covers a mere 300,000 square metres (3,200,000 sq ft).

Fauna

Many rare or threatened plant and animal species live within the Snowy Mountains.[25] The Kosciuszko National Park is home to one of Australia's most threatened species (the corroboree frog), the endangered mountain pygmy possum and the more common dusky antechinus are located in the high country of the park.

By 2008,

culling and relocation.[26]

Dead Horse Gap, overlooking the Thredbo Valley

Flora

The high country is dominated by alpine woodlands, characterised by the

Montane and wet sclerophyll forests also occur across the ranges, supporting large stands of alpine ash and mountain gum. In the southern Byadbo wilderness area, dry sclerophyll and wattle forests predominate. Amongst the many different native trees in the park, the large Chinese elm
has become naturalised.

Snowy Mountain Bushfires

Aftermath of the 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires showing the burnt out hillsides alongside the Omeo Highway, near Anglers Rest, Victoria, Australia.

In Summer 2003, the Australian Alps experienced their largest bushfires for over 60 years with an estimated 1.73 million hectares burning. The bushfires burnt across Victoria, New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) during a drought that ranks as one of the worst in 103 years of official Australian weather records.[27] Fires are a natural feature of the park's ecosystem.

In November 2004, a committee "The Snowy Mountains Bushfire Recovery Taskforce" was set up by the NSW State Premier's Department to help residents in the region recover from the fires. The Taskforce commissioned Louise Darmody from Sound Memories to produce a documentary involving 26 people from the Snowy Mountains to talk about their experiences.[28] The interviewees included farmers, school children, volunteers and employees from the NSW Rural Fire Service and National Park Snowy Hydro.[28]

Again in 2020, there was a large bushfire in the Snowy Mountains.[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Snowy Mountains". Visit NSW. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  2. ^ "DECC Kosciuszko National Park". DECC National Parks website. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
  3. ^ "Top of Australia hosts park's centenary". ABC News. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Selwyn Snowfields - Your Winter Playground - History".
  5. ^ "Selwyn Snowfields - Your Winter Playground - History".
  6. ^ The history of skiing at Kiandra has been the subject of several studies, including 1959's "Historic Kiandra", written by the Kiandra Historical Society and Kiandra Goldfields to Skifields (2006) by Norman W. Clarke
  7. ^ Charlotte Pass Ski Resort - Kosciuszko Chalet Hotel Archived 10 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Of ice and men". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 January 2009.
  9. ^ "NSW Wilderness Red Index". Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd. September 1999. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  10. ^ Upe, Robert; Darby, Jim; Holt, Russell; Bredow, Susan (6 June 2009). "50 reasons to love Australian snow". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  11. ^ a b c d "Perisher Resort Statistics and Information". Perisher Resort. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  12. ^ a b c "History | Thredbo Alpine Village, Australia".
  13. ^ "Christiana Capital : Guthega Ski Resort".
  14. ^ "History of the Australian Alpine Club".
  15. ^ "About Thredbo Resort | Snowy Mountains, Australia".
  16. ^ "Snowy Mountains - No business like snow business". National Roads and Motorists' Association. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  17. ^ "The History of Perisher". Perisher Resort. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  18. ^ "Adaminaby". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 January 2009.
  19. ^ "Towns - Jindabyne". Snowy Mountains. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  20. ^ Designated Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Archived 21 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 28 February 2008.
  21. ^ "1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2008". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 7 February 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
  22. ISBN 1-875293-08-6
    .
  23. ^ West,D.,(1994) Kosciuszko Natural Heritage.
  24. ^ Galloway, RW (1963), Glaciation in the Snowy Mountains: A Re-appraisal
  25. ISBN 9781741379365
    . Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  26. ^ "Environmentalists call for aerial brumby cull". ABC News. 16 January 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
  27. ^ "A report on the 2003 Australian alps bushfires" (PDF). Australian Institute of Alpine Studies: 1–16. 15 June 2003.
  28. ^ a b "Oral history interviews for the 'Spirit and Survival Project' regarding the Snowy Mountain Bushfires in 2003 by Louise Darmody, November 2004-January 2005". State Library of New South Wales Catalogue. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  29. ^ "Bushfires burning at emergency levels across Snowy Mountains region".

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Snowy Mountains.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Snowy Mountains.
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