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49-865: The Brindabella Range , commonly called The Brindabellas or The Brindies , is a mountain range located in Australia, on a state and territory border of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The range rises to the west of Canberra , the capital city of Australia, and includes the Namadgi National Park in the ACT and the Bimberi Nature Reserve and Brindabella National Park in New South Wales. The Brindabellas are visible to

98-500: 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. There

147-475: A drought that ranks as one of the worst in 103 years of official Australian weather records. 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

196-579: 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. 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

245-420: A museum before being destroyed in the 2003 Canberra bushfires . A new shelter designed and built by University of Adelaide students opened in 2008. Today, cross country skiing is possible in the area, when conditions allow. Cross Country skiing is also practised at Mount Gingera, which rises above the city of Canberra to an elevation of 1,857 metres (6,093 ft), and is the most prominent snow-covered peak above

294-544: Is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales , Australia , and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia , being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera system. It makes up the northeastern half of the Australian Alps (the other half being the Victorian Alps ) and contains Australia's five tallest peaks , all of which are above 2,100 m (6,890 ft), including

343-538: Is at work while the mountains are being uplifted until the mountains are reduced to low hills and plains. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example. As the uplift was occurring some 10,000 feet (3,000 m) of mostly Mesozoic sedimentary strata were removed by erosion over the core of the mountain range and spread as sand and clays across the Great Plains to

392-474: Is endemic to the alpine region, and covers a mere 300,000 square metres (3,200,000 sq ft). Many rare or threatened plant and animal species live within the Snowy Mountains. 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

441-451: 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. Anton also recognised

490-419: 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. There is evidence of periglacial activity in

539-865: The Alpide belt . The Pacific Ring of Fire includes the Andes of South America, extends through the North American Cordillera , the Aleutian Range , on through Kamchatka Peninsula , Japan , Taiwan , the Philippines , Papua New Guinea , to New Zealand . The Andes is 7,000 kilometres (4,350 mi) long and is often considered the world's longest mountain system. The Alpide belt stretches 15,000 km across southern Eurasia , from Java in Maritime Southeast Asia to

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588-551: The Annamite Range . If the definition of a mountain range is stretched to include underwater mountains, then the Ocean Ridge forms the longest continuous mountain system on Earth, with a length of 65,000 kilometres (40,400 mi). The position of mountain ranges influences climate, such as rain or snow. When air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools, producing orographic precipitation (rain or snow). As

637-687: The Goodradigbee River flows through the valley. The traditional custodians of the area now known as the Brindabella Range are the Ngunnawal , Walgalu and Djimantan , all Aboriginal Australian peoples. The Brindabella Valley , located in New South Wales to the west of the range, was first settled by Europeans as a stock outstation for the Yarralumla station in the 1830s, with the first land grant made in 1849. Gold

686-804: The Iberian Peninsula in Western Europe , including the ranges of the Himalayas , Karakoram , Hindu Kush , Alborz , Caucasus , and the Alps . The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest , which is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) high. Mountain ranges outside these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera , Appalachians , Great Dividing Range , East Siberians , Altais , Scandinavians , Qinling , Western Ghats , Vindhyas , Byrrangas , and

735-615: The Mithrim Montes and Doom Mons on Titan, and Tenzing Montes and Hillary Montes on Pluto. Some terrestrial planets other than Earth also exhibit rocky mountain ranges, such as Maxwell Montes on Venus taller than any on Earth and Tartarus Montes on Mars . Jupiter's moon Io has mountain ranges formed from tectonic processes including the Boösaule , Dorian, Hi'iaka and Euboea Montes . Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains , known informally as " The Snowies ",

784-949: The Southern Hemisphere . In 2022, Perisher had 48 lifts covering 1,245 hectares and four village base areas: Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Smiggin Holes and Guthega. 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

833-435: The snow cover usually melting by November (although it can occasionally persist through high summer and the next autumn). It is considered to be one of the centres of the Australian ski industry during the winter months, with all four snow resorts in New South Wales being located in the region. The range is host to the mountain plum-pine , a low-lying type of conifer . The Alpine Way and Snowy Mountains Highway are

882-507: The 1860s and experienced a boom in the 20th century following the commencement of the construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme between 1949 and 1976 which brought many European workers to the district and opened up access to the ranges. The discovery of gold at Kiandra (elevation 1,400 m or 4,600 ft), in 1859, briefly enticed a population of thousands above the snowline and saw

931-554: The Australian ski industry. 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. 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 Eucumbene , Blowering Dam , Talbingo Dam , Lake Jindabyne and Tantangara Dam . The higher regions of

980-625: The Brindabella National Park and Kosciuszko National Park, within New South Wales, and the Namadgi National Park, within the ACT and covers an area of 213.6 square kilometres (82.5 sq mi). The Brindabella Valley , in the middle of the range, is 40 kilometres (25 mi) south-west of Canberra and 350 kilometres (220 mi) from Sydney . The valley is on the edge of the Snowy Mountains and

1029-551: The Brindabella Range and include the Namadgi National Park in the ACT and Bimberi Nature Reserve and Brindabella National Park in New South Wales. The highest mountain in the ACT is Bimberi Peak, which lies above the treeline at 1,912 metres (6,273 ft), at the northern edge of the Snowy Mountains. A ski chalet was constructed at Mount Franklin in 1938 to service the Canberra Alpine Club. Ski runs were cleared and ski tows were improvised. The chalet later operated as

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1078-676: The Brindabella Valley and wrote an autobiographical work, Childhood at Brindabella , which told of her early life in the valley. The name brindabella is said to mean “two kangaroo rats” in one of the local Aboriginal language . However, another account states that "Brindy brindy" was a local term meaning water running over rocks and bella was added by the Europeans from the Italian bella vista , meaning "beautiful view". The most northerly ski fields in Australia are located in

1127-544: 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

1176-627: The air descends on the leeward side, it warms again (following the adiabatic lapse rate ) and is drier, having been stripped of much of its moisture. Often, a rain shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. As a consequence, large mountain ranges, such as the Andes, compartmentalize continents into distinct climate regions . Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to erosional forces which work to tear them down. The basins adjacent to an eroding mountain range are then filled with sediments that are buried and turned into sedimentary rock . Erosion

1225-575: The area. Solifluction appears to have created terraces on the north west flank of Mount Northcote. Frost heave is also a significant agent of soil erosion in the Kosciuszko Area. The Snowy Mountains cover a variety of climatic regions which support several distinct ecosystems . The alpine area above the tree line is one of the most fragile and covers the smallest area. This area is a patchwork of alpine heaths , herbfields , feldmarks , bogs and fens . The windswept feldmark ecotope

1274-512: The city. Snow play is available at Corin Forest, near Canberra, at an elevation of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). A development plan was drafted following the 2003 bushfires which would see three 600 metres (2,000 ft) chairlifts installed together with snowmaking facilities and accommodation at this site. Mountain range Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys . Individual mountains within

1323-485: The east. This mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift. The removal of such a mass from the core of the range most likely caused further uplift as the region adjusted isostatically in response to the removed weight. Rivers are traditionally believed to be the principal cause of mountain range erosion, by cutting into bedrock and transporting sediment. Computer simulation has shown that as mountain belts change from tectonically active to inactive,

1372-515: The economy of Cooma has been sustained by the Scheme. Townships at Adaminaby , Jindabyne and Talbingo were inundated by the construction of Lakes Eucumbene , Jindabyne and Talbingo . Improved vehicular access to the High Country enabled ski-resort villages to be constructed at Thredbo and Guthega in the 1950s by ex-Snowy Scheme workers, who realised the potential for expansion of

1421-492: The facility. At 1,760 m (5,774 ft), Charlotte Pass has the highest village base elevation of any Australia ski resort and can only be accessed via over-snow transport in winter. The growing number of ski enthusiasts heading to Charlotte Pass led to the establishment of a cafe at Smiggin Holes around 1939, where horse-drawn sleighs would deliver skiers to begin the arduous ski to the Kosciuszko Chalet. It

1470-702: 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. 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. Recreational skiing began at Kiandra in

1519-422: The introduction of recreational skiing to the Snowy Mountains around 1861. The Kiandra Goldrush was short-lived, but the township remained a service centre for recreational and survival skiing for over a century. Australia's first T-bar lift was installed at Kiandra in 1957, but the ski facilities were finally shifted up the hill to Selwyn Snowfields in 1978. Steeper slopes and more reliable snows lie further to

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1568-537: The major roads through the Snowy Mountains region. 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

1617-609: The mountains known as Main Range contains mainland Australia's five glacial lakes . 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 last ice age , which peaked about 20,000 years ago in the Pleistocene epoch , the highest peaks of the main range near Mount Kosciuszko experienced

1666-885: The norm. In the sub-alpine snow gum areas deep gradational soils with moderate amounts of organic matter are common. Vegetation changes with altitude, aspect, cold air drainage and soil saturation. Low elevations with dry aspects carry red stringybark, white gum, broad-leaved peppermint, candlebark and brittle gum. Moist sites have alpine ash, mountain gum, narrow-leaved peppermint, manna gum and brown barrel, with tree ferns, blackwood and sassafras in gullies. Between 1,000–1,500 metres (3,300–4,900 ft) alpine ash and mountain gum dominate and abruptly change to sub-alpine snow gum woodlands, heath, grasslands and bogs between 1,500–1,800 metres (4,900–5,900 ft). Common species include snow grasses, leafy bossiaea, yellow kunzea, alpine pepper and sphagnum bogs, with candle heath and swamp heath. Alpine herbfield and rare feldmark communities are found above

1715-793: 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 snowpack . Snow normally falls to around 600 metres (2,000 ft) most winters, and can occur as low as 300 metres (980 ft) on the windward west side of the Snowies (on the South West Slopes ); and on a few occasions has even fallen in 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. Part of

1764-487: The park. By 2008, wild horse numbers in the National Park had reached 1,700 with that figure growing by up to 300 each year, resulting in park authorities coordinating their culling and relocation. The high country is dominated by alpine woodlands, characterised by the snow gum . Montane and wet sclerophyll forests also occur across the ranges, supporting large stands of alpine ash and mountain gum . In

1813-512: 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. The Scheme built several temporary towns for its construction workers, several of which have become permanent: Cabramurra (the highest town in Australia); and Khancoban . Additionally,

1862-479: The potential of the Thredbo Valley for construction of a major resort and village, with good vertical terrain. Construction began in 1957. 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. The last establishment of

1911-633: The range heads generally south, towards the eastern watershed of the Murrumbidgee River , in a line that marks the western edge of the ACT border with NSW. The most southern point of the range is at Bimberi Gap on the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales border. The range is located adjacent to the Bag Range, Baldy Range, Codys Ridge, Dingi Dingi Ridge and Webbs Ridge. Scabby Range and Bimberi Range lie to

1960-627: The rate of erosion drops because there are fewer abrasive particles in the water and fewer landslides. Mountains on other planets and natural satellites of the Solar System, including the Moon , are often isolated and formed mainly by processes such as impacts, though there are examples of mountain ranges (or "Montes") somewhat similar to those on Earth. Saturn 's moon Titan and Pluto , in particular, exhibit large mountain ranges in chains composed mainly of ices rather than rock. Examples include

2009-531: The same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology . They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes , for example thrust sheets , uplifted blocks , fold mountains, and volcanic landforms resulting in a variety of rock types . Most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earth's land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or

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2058-580: The south and in the 20th century, the focus of recreational skiing in New South Wales shifted southward, to the Mount Kosciuszko region. The Kosciuszko Chalet was built at Charlotte Pass in 1930, giving relatively comfortable access to Australia's highest terrain. In 1964, Australia briefly boasted the "World's Longest Chairlift ", designed to carry skiers from the Thredbo Valley to Charlotte Pass, but technical difficulties soon closed

2107-466: The south. The geology of the range comprises block-faulted granites and Palaeozoic metamorphic rocks . There are small areas of Tertiary basalt with buried river gravels and lake sediments. The typical characteristics of the range include low-relief high plains with steep margins and slopes and fault aligned river valleys with deep gorges and waterfalls. Soils in the range change with altitude. At lower levels in forests, texture contrast soils are

2156-504: 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. 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

2205-403: The tallest Mount Kosciuszko , which reaches to a height of 2,228 m (7,310 ft) 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 snowfalls for several months of the year; with significant accumulation during May, June, July, August, September and October with

2254-848: The tree line at 1,800 metres (5,900 ft). Common species include prickly snow grass, alpine wallaby grass, silver snow daisy, ribbony grass, white purslane, eyebrights, gentians and buttercups. Most alpine species have a limited range. The highest mountain within the range is Bimberi Peak at 1,913 metres (6,276 ft), Mount Gingera at 1,857 metres (6,093 ft), Mount Ginini at 1,762 metres (5,781 ft), Mount Franklin at 1,646 metres (5,400 ft), Mount Aggie at 1,421 metres (4,662 ft), Mount Coree at 1,421 metres (4,662 ft), Mount Bramina at 1,392 metres (4,567 ft), Bulls Head at 1,375 metres (4,511 ft), Black Bottle Mountain at 1,356 metres (4,449 ft), Mount Lickhole at 1,188 metres (3,898 ft), and Brindabella Mountain at 972 metres (3,189 ft). The range straddles both

2303-558: The west of Canberra and form an important part of the city's landscape. The Brindabella Range is located in the northern tip of the Australian Alps bioregion , marking the dividing line with the southern tip of the South Eastern Highlands bioregion and the eastern limits of the Riverina . The northern point of the range is Mount Coree , situated 34 kilometres (21 mi) west-northwest of Canberra. From this point

2352-487: Was found in 1860 and mined from the 1880s. In 1887 the Brindabella Gold Mining Company was formed and mining continued until 1910. The valley is now an agricultural area and consists of a number of small cattle farms including the heritage-listed Brindabella Station , the childhood home of Miles Franklin , an early 20th-century Australian author. Australian author Miles Franklin grew up in

2401-486: Was the construction of the vast Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme from 1949 that really opened up the Snowy Mountains for large scale development of a ski industry and led to the establishment of Thredbo and Perisher as leading Australian resorts. The Construction of Guthega Dam brought skiers to the isolated Guthega district and a rope tow was installed there in 1957. Skifields up by Kosciuszko's side were also established during this period, though their existence

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