Fantastic early season snow conditions continue across Europe and North America, with snowfall down to village level and regular top ups on the Austrian and Swiss glaciers.
Temperatures have remained low, which has allowed snow making to be activated in full effect, building up those piste bases for the season ahead.
The Austrian resort of Solden will win the race to be the first Alpine resort to open for the 2023/24 Winter Season when the lifts start spinning tomorrow (10 November).
They’ve already opened the glacier terrain and successfully hosted the first FIS World Cup races of the season.
And Friday sees the runs back to the village open for the first time.
Verbier in Switzerland also opens tomorrow for weekend skiing until the start of December, when the resort will open fully for the season.
Across the pond, Vail in Colorado and Mammoth in California both open tomorrow (10 November) for the season, with Mammoth hoping for another record breaking Winter.
Tignes in France has announced that it’s bringing its Opening Day forward to Saturday 18 November, with 1,300m of vertical available from the Grand Motte glacier back to Val Claret.
And with over a metre of snow falling at village level at Avoriaz in the Portes du Soleil, it can’t be long before we see more French resorts joining the party.
It’s a big weekend of racing across Europe with Levi, Finland opening the Women’s World Cup Slalom calendar for 2023/24.
And in Zermatt, Switzerland and Cervinia, Italy we get to witness the first running of the Men’s Matterhorn Cervino Speed Opening.
The unique cross-border downhill race will launch the World Cup season for the speed athletes.
The “Gran Becca” course, designed by Olympic downhill champion Didier Défago, begins in Zermatt, Switzerland at 3800m and finishes on Italian soil in Cervinia, making it the highest downhill race in the Ski World Cup!
We’ll be posting twice weekly snow reports on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the 2023/24 Winter season, so bookmark us or better yet subscribe to get the latest snow news and our tips for where the snow will be.
If you’re out in resort drop us a line via our social media channels to share your ‘on the snow’ experiences and photos.
WHAT’S OPEN NOW
There’s been plenty of fresh snow across the higher peaks of Europe the past 3-4 days with superb skiing on offer at the Austrian and Swiss glacier resorts.
Hintertux (14/21 lifts; 27/60km piste; 0-75cm base), Kaunertal (3/7 lifts; 6/55km piste; 60-95cm base), Kitzsteinhorn (3/3 lifts; 40-55cm base), Molltaler (3/9 lifts; 7/43km piste; 0-70cm base), Pitztal (6/7 lifts; 12/41km piste; 5-100cm base), Solden (10/31 lifts; 31/143km piste; 5-125cm base), Stubai (13/26 lifts; 24/68km piste; 5-70cm) in Austria
Glacier 3000 (4/5 lifts; 5/7 slopes; 0-100cm base), Saas Fee (8/23 lifts; 11/100km; 0-260cm base), Zermatt (8/51 lifts; 18/332km piste; 0-200cm base) in Switzerland.
The Finnish resorts of Levi and Ruka and the Swedish resort of Kabdalis continue to open up more terrain thanks to snowmaking and natural snowfall.
Levi (6/26 lifts; 5/38.5km piste; 10-26cm base), Ruka (8/22 lifts; 5/19km piste; 20-30cm base) in Finland.
Kabdalis (2/4 lifts; 5/9km piste; 35-90cm base) in Sweden.
Across the pond, Arapahoe Basin (1/9 lifts; 1/105km piste; 10-45cm base), Eldora (1/12 lifts; 5-51cm base), Keystone (4/22 lifts; 3/132km piste; 46-46cm base), and Winter Park (3/25 lifts; 3/132km piste; 30-46cm base) all in Colorado, and Killington (2/22 lifts; 2/118km piste; 35-35cm base) in Vermont are the resorts open in the US
Sommet-Saint-Sauveur (1/8 lift; 1/38km piste; 10-20cm base) in Quebec, Mt Norquay (2/6 lifts; 1/16km piste; 40-46cm base), and Lake Louise (2/11 lifts; 6/139km piste; 28-28cm base) both in Alberta are the resorts open in Canada.
FORECAST FOR THE NEXT 3-4 DAYS
Continued cold temperatures and snowfall across the mountainous areas of the Northern Hemisphere.
France and Switzerland will see a mix of clear days and snowfall and 40-50cm forecast.
The Nordic countries will see below freezing temperatures and clear skies in the coming days, perfect for continued snow making and base building.
A big storm system looks to be bringing 50-100cm of fresh snow to the Western US over the next 3-4 days.
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