Ski resorts begin to open with ‘excellent conditions’ on the highest slopes

It remains too early to say how the start of the ski season will play out in the Alps. But after a warm summer melted snow cover on many of Europe’s glaciers, the autumn weather has been much cooler with regular snowfalls through September and October above 2,000m.

As a result, more than 20 ski areas in the Alps and Scandinavia are already open for the season, with glacier ski centres reporting “excellent conditions”. 

It’s currently possible to get early turns in on more than a dozen Alpine glaciers, with Austria leading the way with a choice of seven. They also have some of the largest areas already open, with Sölden reporting more than 30km of slopes, and the Hintertux and Stubai glaciers more than 20km each.

Five centres will be open in Switzerland to start November with St Moritz (Diavolezza glacier), Saas-Fee and Zermatt joined by Adelboden and Engelberg.

You can also ski in Italy at four centres from the start of November with access to Zermatt’s glacier slopes re-opening from Cervinia, after a two-month lift closure.

There’s nowhere expected to open in France though until Chamonix, Tignes and Val Thorens in the last week of November, with the country giving up on autumn skiing due to climate change. There have, though, been good snowfalls on high slopes ahead of the season.

A few resorts in Norway, Finland and Sweden are also already open, in most cases thanks to snow farming (reusing snow stockpiled through the summer) to make a mile or so of piste.  

Resorts in North America began opening on October 22, with Colorado’s Wolf Creek winning the annual race to be first after a big temperature drop and 53cm snowfall over the weekend. Most of the continent’s major resorts will now aim to open through November, to be able to offer skiing for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend at the end of that month.

Below we outline the opening dates for the world’s leading ski resorts and how the snow is shaping up ahead of the season.

Skip ahead to your favourite destination:

Aspen: November 28

Beaver Creek: November 27

Big Sky: November 27

Breckenridge: November 8

Copper Mountain: November 8

Crested Butte: November 27 

Heavenly: November 22

Jackson Hole: November 29

Keystone: “As soon as conditions allow” 

Killington: “As soon as conditions allow”

Mammoth: November 15

Palisades: November 27

Park City: November 22

Solitude: November 15

Telluride: November 28

Vail: November 15

How’s the snow looking?

It looks like a La Niña weather system will return to North America this winter (there’s a 79 per cent likelihood at present). This essential means forecasts will likely predict more moisture in the west, with the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington state and Canada’s British Columbia) likely to see heavy snowfall. It will likely be drier in the Rockies. It’s too early yet to tell if predictions will be correct, but resorts are already claiming that the first heavy snowfalls over the weekend of October 19 to 20 were, “an early gift from La Niña.”

Find more of the best resorts in America in our guide.