Here you are on the treeline between the subalpine and treeless alpine zones. The majestic snowgum is the only tree that grows at this altitude.
The snowgums here are more dramatic, twisted and stunted than those growing at lower levels because of altitude, climate and the blasting effects of wind, snow and ice. Even though these snowgums experience frequent wind and snow damage, they have the ability to repair themselves.
Look at a leaf on one of these trees. Can you see the minor veins almost parallel to the mid-vein on the thick, leathery leaves? The leaf veins and the rich colours of the trunk distinguish Eucalyptus pauciflora subspecies niphophila from most other eucalypts.
Australia is the only country in the world where a single genus of tree - the eucalypt - occurs from the desert, to the mountains and the sea.
These 'grandfather' trees are two to three hundred years old, some of the oldest in the park. Aboriginal tradition says that the spirit of the ancestral travellers live in these warraganj (old snowgums).