Best time to hike the Snowies Alpine Walk
Best: December–March. Also good: April.
The Snowies Alpine Walk is 52 km long, in 4 stages. Below is the average weather for every month at about 1,806 m, the middle height of the trail (1,120–2,163 m), from 10 years of daily data (2015–2024).
Weather month by month
| Month | High °C | Low °C | Rain mm | Rain days | Daylight h | Snow cm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 7° | 116 | 12 | 14.4 | 0 |
| February | 19° | 6° | 62 | 8 | 13.5 | 0 |
| March | 17° | 4° | 87 | 10 | 12.4 | 0 |
| April | 11° | 1° | 65 | 8 | 11.2 | 5 |
| May | 6° | −2° | 77 | 12 | 10.2 | 24 |
| June | 3° | −4° | 80 | 13 | 9.7 | 48 |
| July | 2° | −4° | 75 | 14 | 9.9 | 63 |
| August | 3° | −4° | 82 | 14 | 10.8 | 52 |
| September | 7° | −3° | 65 | 11 | 11.9 | 25 |
| October | 11° | 0° | 120 | 14 | 13.1 | 9 |
| November | 14° | 2° | 119 | 12 | 14.1 | 8 |
| December | 17° | 5° | 94 | 10 | 14.6 | 0 |
Season notes from our guide
NPWS offers the self-guided walk from November to April. Snow lies on the Main Range into November in many years, so December to March is the safest window; January brings the wildflowers, and late summer the most settled weather. From June to October the route is under snow, Kosciuszko Road to Charlotte Pass is closed, and the Perisher to Bullocks Flat section is shut because it crosses ski trails. Even in summer the weather above 1,800 m can turn to freezing wind, rain, hail or snow within hours, and afternoon thunderstorms are frequent in summer.
November 2026: from 9 to 27 November NPWS closes the Guthega, Charlotte Pass to Perisher and Perisher to Bullocks Flat sections every weekday (5.45am to 8.15pm) for aerial pest control. The Main Range loop stays open, but the full walk can only be done at weekends in that period.
Stages, map, elevation profile, places to stay and emergency help, free.
Read the full Snowies Alpine Walk guideHike it with Outest
Offline maps, stages and places to stay on your phone.
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Weather: NASA POWER (MERRA-2 reanalysis), daily values 2015–2024 near -36.44, 148.32, adjusted to 1,806 m. Rain days: days with at least 1 mm. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th of the month.