Which resorts open first?
Tuesday September 1, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Last Autumn we had spectacular early season conditions that were a foretaste of an epic skiing season.  Fingers crossed it will happen again.  Below is a look at which ski areas open first from our friends over at www.skinfo.com.

If you want to check out the latest conditions see this story on the current snow conditions around the world.

Austria

Solden's glaciers should open next weekend, September 5th, conditions permitting. The official glacier opening party weekend is October 9th – 11th and the World Cup rolls in to town for its annual northern hemisphere, outdoor kick off from 23rd October.

The Pitztal Glacier is always one of the first to open for its long winter season, which will continue to May 2010.  This year the lifts, including a new six-seater chairlift, will start operating on 12th September.

The Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun should also be open, with the centre offering  freestyle workshops from 17th October for three weeks.

Tux never really closes and by October is likely to have more terrain open than pretty well anywhere with a target 60km of runs to enjoy, all easy to access with the area's three Glacier Bus high capacity lifts. The resort stages its Octoberfest in September, unusually, on the 25th - 26th and then has a series of special season opening weekend festivals on 2nd - 34th and 9th - 11th October.

Four more Austrian glaciers are likely to be opening in September and October - the Dachstein, Kaunertal, Molltal and Stubai.

France

Summer view from the Grande MotteTignes is the first and only French ski area open in September and October. The resort's Grande Motte glacier re-opens four weeks after closing for summer skiing on September 25th.

Les 2 Alpes opens for the October 24th - 25th for its new 'Rock One Snowboard Tour' which replaces the giant annual 'Mondial' ski and board test weekends after 19 years.

Italy

Italy's Val Senales is the country's main centre for autumn skiing, with special re-launch parties scheduled for mid-October when the resort re-opens its terrain park for the winter. 

Cervinia, linked to Zermatt, is open for skiing until next weekend then opens again for October weekends (10/11 - 17/18 - 24/25), before re-opening full time for winter 2009-10 on Halloween.

Switzerland

Skiers enjoying Saas-Fee this weekEurope's highest ski slopes at Zermatt are open all year, and it's neighbour Saas-Fee has a popular terrain park open all winter which will host European Cup events in late October, and World Cup races in Early November.

Three other Swiss ski areas to look out for in October are Glacier 3000 above les Diabletets and Gstaad, Engelberg's Titlis Glacier and the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz, all open in October and the latter is offering special race training classes then too.

USA

Timberline in Oregon is expected to re-open it's near year round operation as usual in late September after a few weeks annual closure.  Then the annual battle for the 'first to open in the US' will kick off.  Colorado resorts Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Loveland, amongst the 10 highest in the world, are the prime contenders and in a good year will be snowmaking by late September and have a run or two open by mid-October.

Canada

Mt. Norquay looks likely to be the first resort in Canada to open for the country's Winter Olympic ski season. The Alberta resort next to Banff town is planning to kick off with a Halloween party on October 31st and will then open at weekends only through to December 5th.

Southern Hemisphere

Lone skier in Cerro CatedralOf course you can still find Spring skiing in Autumn, if you're justprepared to get there.

In Argentina the largest ski are in South America, Cerro Catedral, is also still open for skiing.

Chile has had a bumper snow year with some resorts clocking up more than 8 metres of snow by the end of August, setting the country up for good skiing through he warmer months of September and October.

Australia and New Zealand have also had above average seasons and most resorts look likely to stay open well into October.

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