Australia Weather News

The 2025 winter season in the Snowy Mountains has been hailed as one of the best and busiest in years.

Decent snowfall totals have brought an influx of visitors to the region and relief for businesses off the back of to two poor seasons.

But car parks have been filling up quickly, prompting a debate about how to best manage the traffic congestion.

Sydney couple Mark Allwood and Adina Parr have been based at Jindabyne for the winter season.

They said car parking was an ongoing issue.

"It is pretty bad. Sometimes you just won't get a park," Mr Allwood said.

"Every time we drive up I'm always like, 'They need to expand the car park.'"

Ms Parr said weekends were particularly busy "so you want to be here before 9 o'clock to get a park."

"It would be nice if they could expand it a little bit, if that's possible," she said.

Local businesses in Jindabyne have heard similar concerns from customers for years.

Jacob Loten, a supervisor at Boss Outdoor Sports ski hire, said demand for car parking had noticeably increased this winter.

"It's been really busy this season, we've had loads of snow," he said.

"This season has definitely been more busy and car parks fill up earlier.

"Busy weekends, the car parks fill up. That's just how it is."

Train, bus or car

Roads to the ski resorts are managed by Transport for NSW but the car parks, which are on national park land, are managed by the resorts themselves.

There are more than 6,000 public car parking spaces across ski fields in NSW including Perisher Valley, Thredbo Village, Smiggin Holes, Guthega, Bullocks Flat and Selwyn.

There is no car parking at Charlotte Pass because the resort is snowed in.

The roads to Perisher and Thredbo have temporarily closed several times this season, including during the peak NSW and ACT school holiday period and on weekends, due to the car parks filling up.

There is an SMS service run by Transport for NSW that alerts subscribers of when car parks are nearing capacity and when they are full.

Perisher Resort services director Andy King said it was a popular winter due to ideal conditions, with the snow base "probably up around 150-160 centimetres."

In a bid to ease traffic congestion snow-goers are being encouraged to take the alpine railway or the bus.

"We recommend using the Skitube, which is basically a train that can transport people up here," Mr King said.

"That way people don't have to drive in alpine conditions.

"We're also seeing a lot more people getting onto the bus and not dealing with driving up."

The Snowy Mountains Bus Service, run by the NSW government, had completed 81,580 customer journeys since the start of winter through to August 3.

The Bullocks Flat car park, which adjoins the Skitube, has recorded 88,244 inbound vehicles so far this winter.

Cars remain a popular form of transport, with more than 231,109 vehicles recorded visiting Perisher and Thredbo from June 7 to August 4.

Car park debate

Solving the congestion problem is not as simple as building more car parks.

President of Bushwalking NSW David Bell is "reluctant" to support that.

He instead suggested a "financial incentive" such as lift-pass discounts if taking the bus, or making the bus trip free to entice drivers to swap out their vehicles.

"No matter how well designed, car parks do have an impact on the environment," he said.

"We don't want to be polluting streams and waterways with runoff from car parks.

"National parks are not supposed to be full of cars."

Snowboarder Charlie Pearse from Broadwater in NSW agrees.

"More national park, less parking — that works for me," he said.

"The ecology and the environment is more important than us going skiing."

Skier Thomas Heins said he was willing to put up with the struggle of finding a car park for a chance to visit the snow.

"If you're willing to ski then you're willing to park and you're willing to walk," he said.