The range straddles the borders of eastern Victoria, southeastern New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory.

It contains Australia's only peaks exceeding 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in elevation, and is the only bioregion on the Australian mainland in which deep snow falls annually.

[5] Formation of the Australian Alps was largely complete by around 100 million years ago, but during the past 90 million years, a number of minor uplift episodes occurred, with occasional eruptions of basalt lava from small volcanoes, which flowed across the landscape and down some of the valleys, filling in the low-lying areas to form the flat landscapes of these high plains.

Several medium-sized towns can be found in the valleys below the foothills, such as Jindabyne, New South Wales, Corryong, Victoria, and Mount Beauty.

[6] Additionally, many non-native, feral species have been introduced to the Alps, such as the European rabbit, deer, house mice, red foxes, dogs, cats, horses, and pigs.

The range's montane forests and woodlands support large breeding populations of flame robins and pilotbirds.

[7] The bogong moth seasonally migrates long distances towards and from the Australian Alps and gregariously aestivates in caves and other sites throughout the mountain range during the summer to avoid high temperatures and lack of larval food resources.

[9] Due to their mostly hot, dry climate, bushfires in Australia occur frequently, particularly in the well-forested areas of the Australian Alps.

Certain native flora in Australia have evolved to rely on bushfires as a means of reproduction, and fire events are an interwoven and an essential part of the ecology of the continent.

The 2003 Canberra bushfires severely affected almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory's pasture, forests (pine plantations), and nature parks.

New South Wales is home to Australia's highest snow country, oldest ski fields, and largest resort.

Recreational skiing in Australia began around 1861 at Kiandra, New South Wales, when Norwegian gold miners introduced the idea to the frozen hills around the town.

[15][16] 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 mountains in and around the Kosciuszko Main Range region, where Australia's best vertical drop is found at Thredbo and Australia's biggest resort, Perisher is now found.