Opening Time
Tuesday September 29, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

On Saturday Tignes re-opened for skiing after a short break.

Now we are not going to pretend for a second that it was like mid-winter up on the Grande Motte glacier as not many runs were open and it was pretty patchy in places; icy and a bit bare in the morning and quickly softening up.

"The snow conditions on the glacier are not very optimum at the moment as it hasn't snowed for 2 weeks and it is very hot actually," says Stephanie Aillet from the resort.

"The summer was very dry and hot too, especially in August. But the skiing keeps going on with 3 slopes open and 5 ski lifts too. We hope that new snow falls will come soon."

But it was at least open, skiers and snowboarders were out enjoying a few turns and people's thoughts on the slopes were most definitely turning to winter.

Long hot summerTignes is open all day with the last descent of the lift at 5.30pm.

There is, most definitley, a bit of anticipation developing about the approaching winter out in the Alps.

"I'm optimistic about the coming season and we're pleased to say that bookings for us are actually up on this time last year which is a nice surprise given some of the economic worries," says Andrew Lockerbie, the chairman of the British Association of Snowsports Instructors (BASI).

The organisation now has 5,000 members and last winter ran 3,900 training course places for its instructors.

In PlanetSKI's base resort of Verbier thoughts are turning to winter too.

Last weekend a celebration was held as the cows came down from the high pastures with winter approaching.  Some our readers joined the local Swiss at a celebration raclette festival that we reported on here.

Elsewhere in Switzerland, Saas Fee and Zermatt are open for skiing and snowboarding. Andermatt plans to open on the weekend of 14/15 November if there is enough snow.

Verbier opens in November too for weekend skiing and we will bring you a special PlanetSKI report direct from the slopes.

Murren opens its top lift on 28th November and the rest of the ski area is due to follow on 5th December. The Jacobshorn area in Davos opens on the 20th November with the other areas of Davos/Klosters opening over the the following weeks.

In France Les Deux Alpes opens in the last week of October with the exact date depending on conditions while Alp d'Huez and Les Arcs swing into action on 5th December. Val d'Isere is scheduled to open on 28th November.  Val Thorens plans on a 21st November opening.

Star openingIn Austria Obergurgl opens on the 13^th November and a couple of weeks later Ischgl opens with a concert in town by Katie Perry.  Ischgl always opens and closes its season with a concert by a big-name artist.

We reported on the announcement of Katie Perry here on PlanetSKI. 

Also in Austria glacier skiing is taking place already at Kaprun and Zell am See is due to open on November 21st.

On 27th November, St Anton fires up its lifts.

Meanwhile in Italy, Cervinia opens for weekend skiing on 10th November, and will open full-time on 31st October.

Across Europe in The Pyrenees the resorts in Andorra open on 28th November.  Arcalis is probably the best place to head for as it is the highest resort in the tiny principality and many of its slopes are north facing.

Thoughts are turning to winter; all we need now is a bit of snow!

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