Sunday 14/09/2025 Perisher Valley – Kosciuszko Road – Perisher Gap – Betts Camp – Spencers Creek – Charlotte Pass – Southern Alps Lodge
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo Country
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies
With some ordinary weather in the forecast, we decided to place our bags on the oversnow transport to Southern Alps Lodge before skiing up for our week-long stay with the NSW Nordic Ski Club.
Max elevation: 1811 m
Total climbing: 203 m
Total descent: -136 m
Average speed: 4.68 km/h
Total time: 02:54:30
Having doubts as to how my knee might cope with being on skis again, this would be a great test as to how effective the last two months of physiotherapy treatment and a tailored exercise program had been.
We were greeted by more snow cover for this time of the year than there had been for the last couple of years. This meant, except for a couple of very short road interruptions, there was snow cover to ski on all the way from Perisher Valley. The trip was cool and breezy on spring snow.
Sue skiing down past Perisher Gap
We had lunch in the company of a raven at Spencers Creek before heading off-road towards the east and rejoining Spencers Creek. Following the creek closely, we got some excellent views. However, this section seems to be too wide and deep for the size of its catchment.
After a very enjoyable ski, with only a few mild complaints from the knee, I was feeling more confident about the week ahead. Once at the lodge, we started settling in and catching up with friends we had made on the same trip in years gone by.
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The local landscape features, geology, scenic highlights, flora, fauna, Indigenous history, white history and other nearby walks in the area (Gemini)
Landscape Features
The Perisher Valley region forms part of a subalpine upland plateau at elevations between approximately 1,600 and 1,840 metres. The terrain is characterised by broad, gently undulating valleys, meandering streams such as Perisher Creek and Spencers Creek, and a series of rounded ridges and low peaks. The prominent Kosciuszko Main Range to the west features more pronounced alpine landforms, including glacial cirques, block streams, and mountain tarns. Charlotte Pass, located around 1,837 metres in elevation, is the highest road-accessible pass on the mainland, offering expansive views of the surrounding ranges and river valleys.
Geology
The underlying geology is dominated by granitic batholiths, including the Cooma Granite and Kosciuszko Granite, intruded during the late Palaeozoic (Devonian-Carboniferous) period. These granites weather into coarse, sandy soils with scattered, large boulders and tors visible throughout the landscape. Occasional remnants of older sedimentary rocks exist in isolated exposures. The region also displays evidence of past periglacial processes, with block fields, solifluction terraces, and patterned ground in higher locations, reflecting the area’s recent glacial past during the Pleistocene.
Scenic Highlights
Scenic highlights include the sweeping grassy valley floors punctuated by rounded granite outcrops, the meandering courses of Perisher and Spencers Creeks, and the backdrop of the Main Range’s higher peaks beyond Charlotte Pass. In spring and early summer, the area is particularly notable for its wildflower displays, with snow gums framing distant vistas. Charlotte Pass itself provides a panoramic vantage point over the Snowy River valley towards Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest summit.
Local Flora
The vegetation across this corridor exhibits typical subalpine and alpine assemblages. Lower slopes and valley floors are dominated by snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) woodland, blending into short, wind-pruned woodland and then open alpine herbfields above the tree line. Alpine communities feature hardy species such as alpine dianella (Dianella tasmanica), alpine eyebright (Euphrasia collina), silver snow daisy (Celmisia asteliifolia), and patches of tussock grass and bog communities with sphagnum moss in wetter sites. The landscape’s flora is adapted to frequent winter snow cover, short growing seasons, and periodic fire.
Local Fauna
Faunal diversity includes several endemic and threatened species. Mammals found in the area include the broad-toothed rat (Mastacomys fuscus), mountain pygmy-possum (Burramys parvus), and the common wombat (Vombatus ursinus). Birdlife is abundant, with species such as the flame robin (Petroica phoenicea), mountain thornbill (Acanthiza katherina), and the critically endangered eastern bristlebird (Dasyornis brachypterus). Reptiles such as the alpine she-oak skink (Cyclodomorphus praealtus) are also notable inhabitants.
Indigenous History
The Perisher Valley region is situated within the traditional lands of the Ngarigo people. The Ngarigo have occupied the Monaro high country for thousands of years, utilising the alpine region—Ngarigo Country—during summer months for seasonal feasting, social gatherings, and ceremonies. Bogong moth (Agrotis infusa) harvesting provided a rich and important food source, attracting groups from surrounding areas for large intertribal gatherings. The region’s pathways—used for millennia—are mapped onto movement routes later used by pastoralists and settlers. The landscape remains of spiritual, cultural, and historical significance to the Ngarigo and surrounding nations.
White History
European exploration began in the 1830s, followed by summer grazing of cattle and sheep from the 1840s. The so-called ‘high country huts’ tradition commenced with simple grazing shelters, notably Betts Camp, established in 1901 as a refuge for skiers journeying to Kosciuszko. Kosciuszko Road itself was constructed to facilitate access for tourists and the budding ski industry in the early twentieth century, with Perisher and Charlotte Pass developing as skiing destinations from the 1930s onwards. The Spencers Creek snowcourse, near Charlotte Pass, has been a critical site for Australian alpine snow-depth measurements since 1954. The region has since become a centre of alpine tourism, conservation, and scientific study, particularly following the creation of Kosciuszko National Park in 1944.
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