We start November with about two dozen ski areas open on each side of the Atlantic, and the good news (after a long hot summer) is that there’s been lots of fresh snowfall in September and October in the Alps, Rockies and Scandinavia.
Other ski areas like the Balkans, Dolomites and Pyrenees have also seen their first significant snowfalls of the autumn, building up anticipation for the ski season ahead, and hopefully ski areas there will begin opening by the end of the month too. In fact, hundreds of ski areas should be open across Europe and North America by the end of the month.
Currently Austria has the most ski areas open with nine resorts to choose from. All but one of these are glacier ski areas, and although they had a challenging summer due to the intense heat in southern Europe, a series of significant snowfalls this autumn has helped to rebuild bases and even provided powder days in September and October. Let’s hope it continues! The centres open include the Stubai, Dachstein, Pitztal, Kitzsteinhorn, Hintertux, Sölden, Molltal and Kaunertal glaciers.
The one Austrian resort that’s open already which doesn’t have a glacier ski area is Kitzbühel. It uses snow-farming techniques to open early each autumn, claiming to be the first on-glacier ski area to do so.
Elsewhere in the Alps there are about half-a-dozen areas open, mostly in Italy (Val Senales, Stelvio and Cervinia) and Switzerland (Engelberg, Laax, Saas-Fee and Zermatt) along with Tignes in France.
In Scandinavia, the Galdhøpiggen ski area in Norway is open along with Geilo, also in Norway, and Ruka in Finland. Many Scandinavian ski centres will open through November.
Across the Atlantic snowmaking ahead of the season got underway in Colorado in late September, and there have been several big snowstorms in the west of the North American continent too. Arapahoe Basin and Loveland ski areas, amongst the world’s highest, are among the first to open there, and other areas including Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and Keystone all open at the start of November.
Across the US, Killington in Vermont aims to open by the end of October, which is the norm thanks to its mighty snowmaking arsenal.
