The road is not recommended for trailers. Having said that, it all depends on your driving ability, what you are towing and what you are towing it with. I have towed my box trailer over the road many times - mostly before it was sealed all the way.
The road is narrow and in places quite steep. If you were towing a 2 tonne+ caravan with anything less than a Landbruiser diesel, you may expect to have overheating issues. There are hairpin bends and a lot of the climb from Tom Groggin to Dead Horse gap you have the drop on your side. I would tow my 16.5 ft Jayco poptop over this road with care, but without too much fear, but I have driven this road on and off for over 50 years. There are steeper sections of road in Australia, but none of them are nearly as long nor as winding. The road is sealed all the way.
What is your vehicle setup? When are you intending to go? How long do you intend to take to do the trip? Do you know exactly how wide your van is and how it tracks? How good is the cooling system in your tug? Need more info in order to make a better assessment. There aren't many places where you can pull off for a break once you start the trip.
The road out from Khancoban climbs steadily up past Murray 1 Power Station (currently not open for inspection - if you want to see a power station, go to Murray 2 before you start the climb, about 4 km from Khancoban) and on to the peak of that climb at Scammels Spur. There is a magnificent lookout just off the road, if the weather is clear. Worth making the 200 m detour. From there, you descend steadily for about 5 km. You have the drop on your side and the road is narrow (it is narrow all the way). Use your gears, not the brakes to control the speed on the downhill sections. After crossing a creek, you climb a little bit before dropping down to Geehi airstrip. This is a piece of heaven and a superb place to stay overnight. From Geehi, you have about 10 km of us and downs before you get to Tom Groggin. This is where the steep climb starts. You have about 1700 m of climb with no letup or place to pull over until you get to Leather Barrel Creek (about 15 km or so), and then it is more of the same until you reach The Willows. From there on, you have a reasonably easy, if slow, run to get to Dead Horse Gap. It is all downhill from there until you get to Thredbo. About 15 km past Thredbo, you exit the Kosciuszko Park, and you have a short but steep climb, and it is effectively downhill all the way from there.
Weather is another factor. It can snow at any time of the year, and towing a caravan in the snow is not fun.
There is an alternative to the Alpine Way. In summer, you can turn off before you get to Khancoban and go up over Tooma Dam , Tumut Pond dam and past Cabramurra to Kiandra and thence to Adaminaby. This road is very steep and narrow in places, but it is normally open to all traffic from October till June each year. Another alternative is to go towards Tumbarumba and then take the Elliot Way, which goes up past Tumut 2 Power Station (underground, not open to the public) and then close to Cabramurra and on to Kiandra and Adaminaby. Again, this road is steep and narrow in places, but this road is normally kept open all through winter. A school bus used to do the run from Cabramurra to Tumbarumba each day, and truck use this road as well.
I am not trying to scare you about these roads - I use them all the time, often towing heavy trailers or my caravan (not normally the Alpine Way because that road doesn't go where I want to go). Take your time, STAY ON YOUR OWN SIDE OF THE ROAD, expect some clown to come the other way on your side of the road, sit back and enjoy the scenery - it is the part of the most spectacular corner of this country
The saves way I think is going to Batlow , Tumut and then on the Snowy Mountains Hwy to Cooma ,from there to Jindabyne. Long way , not as nice as erad pointed out the other way,cheers
The Barry Way is a road which runs from Bruthen (Vic) - nowhere near Corryong - to Jindabyne (NSW). It is a narrow, winding road with gradients which any normal car/caravan could cope with without any major problems. Alignment and road width is another matter. From memory (fading fast these days), there is about 70 km of gravel. - mostly good surface these days. The road winds a lot and is very narrow, and although 2 trucks can pass each other, they must take a lot of care.
The road was pushed through in the early 1960's as a shortcut to get cattle from the Jindabyne area to Bruthen for sale. My first traverse of it was in 1966, in a Triumph 2000. It was OK, although in places I bottomed out in soft mud. All good now.
There is a long downhill section leading down to Suggan Buggan which is narrow, especially for upcoming traffic (they have the drop on their side). After Suggan Buggan, the road ducks and dives wildly. Visibility of oncoming vehicles is really limited, so you must keep your speed down to 30 km/h or so, especially on the gravel section. There are some sealed sections of this road down there.
Superb piece of territory. The road follows the Snowy River for about 40 km, mostly only about 5 or 10 m above the river itself. There are some sharp bends which crop up unannounced, so you must keep your speed down accordingly. Go off the road along here and no-one would find you for quite a while. Good campsites along beside the River. The climb up from Jacobs River is steep, (Not too bad) but you have the drop on your side of the road.
The only services on the road are at Buchan and Gelantipity (general store). It runs through National Park for probably 90 km or so, and hence no services at all there.
Would I take my caravan along that road? No - mainly because there is a sealed road alternative (Via Cann River) which takes about 1 hour less to travel to Bruthen.
-- Edited by erad on Saturday 17th of March 2018 08:42:21 PM
-- Edited by erad on Saturday 17th of March 2018 08:43:36 PM
-- Edited by erad on Saturday 17th of March 2018 08:43:57 PM
As I brought the Barry Way up (it's called the Snowy River Road in Victoria) in error but Erad has expanded upon it I think I'd better repeat what I deleted:
You would have to be out of your tiny mind to take a caravan along the Snowy River Road heading north past its junction with Limestone Black Mountain Road.
Erad; there are many kilometres near Suggan Buggan where it is impossible for two trucks/caravans to pass, even with two cars one of them usually needs to reverse. Also this section of road is unguarded dirt and has a 90 degree drop for around 300m+ into the valley - basically, if you go over that edge you're dead.
Even in my 4WD with no trailer I hate doing that section.
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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
Roberts description of the Alpine Way is very much as I remember it. I travelled in the opposite direction from Jindabyne to kahnkoban my 7 mtr motorhome just over a year ago. The ascent down to Tom Groggin was about the best test I could give the Fiat braking & transmissions systems I can think of that I have travelled. It was no issue in the MH size wise however I not sure I would take a caravan on it. It is an awesome piece of country like the rest of the Alpine region. We love the area and plan on driving the Great Alpine rd soith via Dinner Plains after Easter. Cheers,
Mike: we are getting off topic a bit here, but I think we agree that the Barry Way is not really suitable for caravans. Yes - you could drive a caravan along that road and most likely you would not have a problem, but if you met a large vehicle coming the other way, backing up could be quite an issue. I occasionally use this road for a change (not towing) to get from Melbourne to Cooma or vice versa. It actually takes about 1.5 hours longer to go this way than going through Cann River, even though it is 25 km shorter.
Back to the Alpine Way: As I first said, there are some steep sections and even though the road is sealed all the way, if you had mechanical problems, stopping would be hazardous on most of that road - you simply cannot pull off the road. The alignment is not to bad - there are only 2 hairpin bends I can remember, but there are hundreds of other bends, ranging from moderate to quite sharp. It is simply a matter of staying on your own side of the road and regulating the speed so that you can stop if you have to because of some clown coming the other way.
Driven sensibly, you could tow a caravan on either road but I wouldn't do so on the Barry Way, and the Alpine way is not that much better. Still, if I want to get to the Western side of the main range, I have little option other than to take one of the roads and they all have similar problems. In winter, I often detour via Canberra simply to avoid the icy roads.
-- Edited by erad on Sunday 18th of March 2018 06:35:08 PM
