can I go from OS X 10.6.8 to mountain lion

Yes you can. Open the Mac App Store App and search for Mountian Lion, Pay for it and it will download to your Mac. Then you have to start the install by clicking the Continue Button.

Snow Leopard is 10.6.8.

Mac OS X 10.6.8 is Snow Leopard

Mac OS X 10.6.8 is Snow Leopard. If you have Mac OS X 10.5.8 and not Mac OS X 10.6.8, you must go through Snow Leopard.

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10.6.x, the x is for any POINT Release (it could be 10.6.0 to 10.6.8), IS Snow Leopard. 10.5.x was Leopard and 10.7.x is Lion.

So If you are Running 10.6.8 that is OS X Snow Leopard. Which in numbers is OS "X" (Roman Numerals) = 10 Point 6 (Snow Leopard) + Point release version 8.

So you do have the Mac App Store, it is the circle icon, Blue in color with grey ring, With an A in the center of it.

As others have already said, you can simply buy Mountain Lion (Mac OS X 10.8) in the App Store and install it. What nobody mentioned were the precautions that should be taken prior to any major system upgrade!

When you upgrade, you need to do the following:

1) Check all your software for compatibility with the new system.

2) Repair the hard drive with Disk Utility.

3) Make a full backup of your whole system using Time Machine.

4) Ideally, make a second full backup of your whole system using something else, like Carbon Copy Cloner. (I consider two backups to be the minimum.)

5) Wait until you have time to deal with any possible problems that crop up.

6) Install the upgrade.