25 Ski Areas Now Open in Europe With Some Deep in Snow

6th November 2021

Last modified on November 10th, 2021

Two big snow storms swept across the Alps last week leaving up to 70cm of fresh snow in places. It is an excellent start to the winter ski season with many hoping it is taste of what’s to come. UPDATED

The Swiss ski resorts of Laax, Arosa, Grindelwald and Davos/Klosters are the latest ski areas to fire up some lifts.

It comes after some good snowfall that we reported on as it hit the Alps last week.

Heavy snow falls in the Alps with some in the Pyrenees too

For the lucky ones able to get to the slopes it has been an excellent weekend.

One of the resorts open at the weekend was Les2Alpes in the Isere Region of France.

“It was busy, we had around 20,000 visitors over two weeks. It shows that many people want to ski – and this is confirmed by our high level of reservations for this winter,” said the director of Les 2 Alpes Tourist Office, Eric Bouchet.

The resort is now closed as the half-term holiday ends.

The lifts are only closing for a few weeks as Les 2 Alpes will reopen on 27 November for the winter season (until 1st May).

Thanks to its altitude, the resort guarantees good natural snow from the beginning to the end of the season.

Image (C)Les 2 Alpes_toussaint 20 21_Pyrène DUFFAU

The French resort of Val Thorens open pm Saturday November 20th and PlanetSKI will be there for the season opening.

[LIVE] Good morning from #ValThorens! 12 days to go… #WeWillSkiAgain #Les3Vallees #InfiniteMountainExperiences pic.twitter.com/tpj3vrAXQC
— Les 3 Vallées (@3Vallees_france) November 8, 2021

It is looking good in Stubai in the Tirol in Austria.

Stubia, the Tirol. Image c/o Tirol Tourist Office.

Stubai, the Tirol. Image c/o Tirol Tourist Office.

And in nearby St Anton.

❄ Im #Stanzertal verabschiedet sich langsam die Farbenpracht vom goldenen #Herbst. 🍁
📷 S. Falch #pettneuamarlberg #stantonamarlberg #arlberg #tirol #austria #winterliebe #winterlove #snowconditions #alps #inTirol pic.twitter.com/j5NTsUykGn
— St. Anton am Arlberg (@StantonReview) November 6, 2021

And Gastein in Austria.

Image © GasteinerBergbahnenAG.

It was not just the high-altitude areas that saw some snow and it fell to below 1,000m, though much of it has now melted.

PlanetSKI reader, Lindsay Cairns, lives in the small village of Sankt Ulrich am Pillersee in the Tirol at an altitude of 835 m.

Sankt Ulrich am Pillersee, The Tirol. Image c/o Lindsay Cairns

In nearby Innsbruck the mountains surrounding the city were covered in snow.

The images were taken by PlanetSKI reader, Holger Gassler, who lives in the city.

Innsbruck. Image c/o Holger Gassler.

The temperatures are set to rise over the next few days, but the snow will have left its legacy.

The alpine weather expert, Fraser Wilkin from Weathertoski.co.uk says that “at high altitude, where there has been significant snowfall, there is every chance that we now have a base, especially on north-facing slopes, and the glaciers are clearly now in excellent nick.”

See here for his full assessment on weathertoski.co.uk.

“So, all in all, November has got off to an encouraging start, with plenty of snow at altitude, especially in the southern and eastern Alps,” Fraser concludes.

“However, for most resorts (as you would expect at this time of year) it is still far too early to be drawing any conclusions as to how the “main season” will play out, especially as we are now expecting a lengthy spell of relatively settled weather.”

Here at PlanetSKI we will be updating this report over the weekend so do check back…