Kiltarlity, Scotland, UK - With heavy snow in western Canada and a week of fresh snowfalls in many northern hemisphere ski areas including Colorado, parts of the Alps and Japan, skiing and riding is now available at more than 30 resorts across Europe, North America and Scandinavia, while one resort hangs on in the Southern Hemisphere.
With Kitzbuhel’s earliest ever opening in Austria over the weekend, following the Planai above Schladming the week before that, as well as seven glaciers areas to choose from, Austria continues to offer the biggest choice of skiing in the Alps. The heavy snowfall there last week has set up some great conditions with most areas reporting a 90-150cm (three- to five-foot) base. The other ski centers to choose from include Dachstein, Hintertux, Molltal, Kitzsteinhorn (Kaprun), Pitztal, Solden, Stubai and Tux.
In Switzerland the latest ski area to open is Glacier 3000 above les Diablerets near Gstaad. Currently the Dôme ski lift and the snow park are open where there are several lines of a different level with tables, rails as well as boxes ready for use. The area joins the Engelberg, Saas Fee and Zermatt glaciers which are all already open.
There's exciting news from Italy, too, as Bormio has announced that it will open early beginning this weekend, Halloween, and the country has reported some of the best new snow this week with Livigno, not yet open, noting more than 30cm of fresh snow accumulated. Bormio will run a cable car and a high speed chair serving 18km of slopes between 2,500m and 3,000m altitude. It joins Cervinia (20cm) which will now be open daily after weekend opening through October, and still open summer ski areas Passo Stelvio and Val Senales.
In France les 2 Alpes is open this week for its new festival week, but will close again on Monday for four weeks until opening for the winter on November 28th. It has 20m of snow, a little more than Tignes, the other French resort that has now been open for six weeks this season but is currently suffering from a snow shortage and needs more.
Spain's Formigal ski resort reported its first dusting of snow last week. |
There are more than a dozen ski areas currently open in Northern Europe. Sweden currently has five ski areas upon which to ski or board - Funäsdalen, Kåbdalis, Tänndalen, Tärnaby and Hemavan. Tänndalen is the only area that is open daily. The country’s biggest resort, Sälen, is waiting for colder temperatures along with all other resorts. One that is standing by is Åre as under the right conditions, temp, humidity etc Åre can produce a 50cm snow layer on its main down hill slope in just 150 hours. However, Sweden needs colder temps to open new areas and the weather forecast don't look promising for the rest of the week.
In Norway skiers have six different ski resorts to choose from the upcoming weekend. Gaustablikk and Bjorli already opened already on Oct. 17, and Gålå has announced that their season starts this weekend. A ski season that starts in mid-October is early, even in cold Norway, and this means that the first winter ski resort opened before the last summer ski resort closed (Galdhøpiggen Summer ski resort closed on Oct. 25). Kvitfjell, Trysil, Hafjell, Geilo, Kongsberg and Uvdal all aim to open on Nov. 7.
Several areas are also open in Finland, including the first to open there, Ruka.
In Western Canada the Canada Olympic Park near Calgary in Alberta is already open and resorts across Alberta and British Columbia have been reporting heavy snowfalls ahead of planned opening dates in the next few weeks. The next due to open is Mount Norquay at Banff, which plans to open weekends beginning this Saturday, Halloween weekend. Other resorts in the region including Nakiska and Marmot Basin, both of which have new quad chairlifts, as well as Sunshine mountain will open within the next few weeks.
Resorts in British Columbia have been reporting heavy snow in recent days. Sun Peaks picked up 40cm, bringing settled snow depths to 70cm. More storms are on the way, with snow expected tonight, tomorrow and Saturday, according to resort spokesperson Melanie Simmons, prompting the resort to announce late today that they're moving up their opening by a week to Nov. 14. Fernie has also reported big snowfalls.
In eastern Canada Mont-Saint-Sauveur in Quebec was the first to open, thanks in part to an expanded snowmaking system, but has since had to close again because of warmer weather.
South of the border, resorts in Colorado and Utah are amongst those announcing fresh snow. In the case of Loveland, Colo., which has already been open for three weeks, that means that Chair 6 has opened as a “Halloween treat” for its guests. Its neighbors, Copper and Keystone plan to open within weeks. Arapahoe Basin remains open although there’s no beginner terrain at the moment and staffers are working to bring the upper mountain online. Another two inches (5cm) of snow has fallen there is the past 24 hours and there’s an 18-inch (45cm) base at mid-mountain. Three runs including Ramrod are now open with five features in the High Divide Terrain Park. Wolf Creek will open on Halloween, now with three lifts running instead of just one.
In California, Boreal is reopening for the weekend with one lift, one slope and one terrain park, while Mountain High will launch top-to-bottom skiing and riding on Thursday for season passholders only and for the general public on Friday. This marks the 13th straight season that Mountain High is the first ski area in the region to open.
On the East Coast Sunday River in Maine remains open from the resort's Locke Mountain triple chair.
In the southern Hemisphere New Zealand’s Mt. Ruapehu is about to launch its "Snovember" opening schedule. Turoa reports a base total at over 2.4m (eight feet) so it’s anyone’s guess how long it can stay open, but the current plan is for another few weeks at least. The ski area has re-opened for Christmas in recent years and more snow is expected in the next few days.
