Snowy Mountains Highway - The Highway

The Highway

The highway runs across the highland region in the southern part of New South Wales. It starts at its junction with the Hume Highway near Gundagai. From there, the highway runs generally south-east, through the town of Tumut, follows the shoreline of the Blowering Dam, then passes Talbingo before ascending the steep western slopes of the Snowy Mountains, entering the northern Kosciusko Naional Park and traversing the southern highland plateau past Yarrangobilly Caves and the historic Kiandra Goldfields. The highway then descends the eastern slopes of the ranges, passing close to the upper reaches of Lake Eucumbene and through Adaminaby to Cooma. From Cooma the highway continues in a south easterly direction through Nimmitabel then descends down Brown Mountain to Bemboka and continues on to Bega and Tathra on the south coast of New South Wales.

In winter, much of the highway is subject to heavy snowfalls and the highway is the access route for Selwyn Snowfields ski resort and the snowbound township of Cabramurra. Skiing in Australia began at the Kiandra goldfields (now located on the Snowy Mountains Highway) around 1861. The ski lifts were transferred to Selwyn Snowfields in 1978.