More Big Alpine Ski Areas Open
29th November 2025
Last modified on December 7th, 2025
More ski areas are opening this weekend in one of the best starts to a season in recent years in places. UPDATED
Updated:
As more resorts open across the Alps this weekend the weather remains mixed, with warmer temperatures.
There has been some fresh snow in the southern Alps and in Italy, but otherwise it is cloudy in the Alps with no significant snow falling or in the forecast.
All in all it has been a calmer week following the heavy snow last week.
It is warming up this weekend with the freezing level at around 2,000m in places.
Hundreds of resorts are now open in what for some is one of the best starts to a season in recent years.
Some areas in France, like Avoriaz, Flaine, and the Mont Blanc range, have seen their snowiest late-November in more than two decades.
Resorts across the Dolomiti Superski in Italy are opening – see our report from Wednesday below for further details.
“Thanks to some of the most favorable weather conditions of the past 20 years, we managed to prepare a large number of slopes in a short time for the enjoyment of our guests, who were already eager to kick off a new winter season with us,” said the President of Dolomiti Superski, Andy Varallo.
The Italian Alps and Dolomites did not see the heavy snow that fell in France and Switzerland last week.
Ischgl in Austria has the largest amount of terrain on offer – around 170kms of slopes.
Here’s Tignes/Val d’Isere in France as cloud dominates the weather.
Tignes/Val d’Isere. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Tignes/Val d’Isere. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Tignes/Val d’Isere. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
There’s 110kms of slopes open in Tignes/Val d’Isere and some blue sky has made an appearance.
Tignes/Val d’Isere. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Check out the video:
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More to follow…
Thursday 4th December
Dolomiti Superski in Italy, the Arlberg in Austria & Les3Vallees in France are just some of the main alpine ski areas joining the early season party.
The season in the Alps is well and truly underway.
Elsewhere more ski areas are opening this weekend in The Pyrenees and Scandinavia.
Many service providers are also starting their season including the transfer company Alpine Fleet.
“Seeing the exceptional snowfall, which has led to an increase in demand, we decided to increase our transport timings for this first weekend to all resorts across the Tarentaise resorts in France,” said the co-founder of Alpine Fleet, Simon Carrelli.
“We are seeing a ‘flurry’ of bookings for early December which we attribute to the good snow conditions.
“The season will start with a bang as we provide transportation for the renowned Rise Music Festival in Les2Alpes this Saturday 6th December”.
See here for more on Alpine Fleet:
The weather is currently unsettled in the Alps with some dusting of snow in places, but nothing like the big falls in some areas last week.
Wednesday 3rd November
More resorts are set to open over the coming few days culminating with some major ski areas firing up their lifts at the weekend.
One such area is the Italian ski area of Dolomiti Superski.
Some resorts in the area opened last weekend, including Cortina that co-hosts the 2026 Winter Olympics next February.
The remaining ski areas open between December 4th and 6th.
There was a strong early start last weekend, with 42,000 first entries and 540,000 lift rides—an increase of 6% on last year.
The ski lifts in Alta Badia, Val Gardena–Alpe di Siusi, Val di Fassa and Carezza, as well as Arabba, will open on Thursday, December 4th, 2025.
They join Plan de Corones, 3 Cime Dolomites, Val di Fiemme–Obereggen, and Zoldo (Civetta), which have been operating since November 29th.
The Dolomites, Italy. Image © PlanetSKI
“Thanks to some of the most favorable weather conditions of the past 20 years, we managed to prepare a large number of slopes in a short time for the enjoyment of our guests, who were already eager to kick off a new winter season with us,” said the President of Dolomiti Superski, Andy Varallo.
This winter sees ski helmets being made compulsory across Italy.
We broke the news to the UK last August on PlanetSKI:
“This new regulation essentially confirms what was already common practice, as the majority of adult skiers were already wearing helmets. For us operators, it is an important step because it further increases the safety of skiing enthusiasts,” said the Marketing Director of Dolomiti Superski, Marco Pappalardo.
This winter the Dolomit Superski area sees:
- €215 million in new lifts and snowmaking
- Expanded SmartPass mobile ticketing
- New sustainability initiatives
- Updated safety and pricing policies for international visitors
There area is also facing investigations and critiscisms:
The Dolomites, Italy. Image c/o Vanessa Fisher.
Tuesday 2nd December
Tuesday’s photo dump comes from Tignes where it is looking rather good – fresh snow, clear weather and very few people around.
Scroll on and enjoy:
Tuesday 2nd December, Tignes. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Tuesday 2nd December, Tignes. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Tuesday 2nd December, Tignes. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Tuesday 2nd December, Tignes. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Tuesday 2nd December, Tignes. France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
See here for an earlier PlanetSKI post on what’s new in Tignes for this winter:
Four ski areas in the Alps claim to have around 100 miles (160kms) of slopes open already:
- Zermatt-Cervinia in Switzerland
- Soelden in Austria
- Ischgl in Austria
- Tignes-Val d’Isere in France
In fifth place is the Ski Welt in Austria that has 50 miles (80kms) of runs open.
Shortly some other giant linked areas will begin to open, including Les3Valleys in France, the 4 Valleys in Switzerland, the Milky Way that is in France/Italy and the Arlberg in Austria.
Some resorts were scheduled to open last weekend – Val d’Isere and Les2Alpes – and duly did so.
Many others took advantage of the extraordinary November conditions and opened some of their ski areas early – Avoriaz, Crans-Montana, Gstaad, Flaine, Isola 2000, Ski Welt, Cortina and La Clusaz amoung them.
It was crowded at the weekend as people flocked to enjoy the great early season conditions.
In Les2Alpes 11,000 skiers and snowboarders came for the opening weekend.
The slopes are now free of the weekend crowds and the weather is set to be changeable this week with no significant snow in the forecast.
Here’s Laax in Switzerland on Tuesday:
Monday 1st December
Here’s Val d’Isere in France on Monday, as filmed by PlanetSKI reader Helen Gillespie.
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“This is ski heaven,” said Helen Gillespie.
“Empty pistes. Perfect and cold. Some snow coming.”
“The resort itself is quiet which is charming in its own way.”
Helen Gillespie, Val d’Isere France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Val d’Isere, France. Image c/o Helen Gillespie/PlanetSKI.
Helen is in Val d’Isere on a charity trip lead by the journalist Henry Druce, and organised by VIP SKI.
We posted about it earlier on PlanetSKI:
Over in Verbier in Switzerland it has been a great start to the season with plenty of snow at resort level.
Verbier, Switzerland. Image c/o Lynsey Devon/PlanetSKI.
Verbier, Switzerland. Image c/o Lynsey Devon/PlanetSKI.
And up on the slopes of Verbier it is looking good.
Verbier, Switzerland. Image c/o Lynsey Devon/PlanetSKI.
Sunday 30th November
Away from the Alps resorts have opened in the Pyrenees, The Jura mountains and further north in Scandinavia.
Sierra Nevada in Spain has also opened.
As has Jasna in Slovakia.
Many are saying it is the best start to a season in years, and here at PlanetSKI we judge it to be so.
The storm last week left 1.5m of snow in some places as we reported earlier:
Here was the snow at resort level at the weekend in Verbier in Switzerland as one of our readers arrived:
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Now the sun is out across the Alps and there were some fabulous weekend conditions.
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PlanetSKI’s Felix Milns was in Val Thorens as it opened the previous weekend:
Opening day in Val Thorens, Saturday 22nd November. Image © PlanetSKI
There was ‘considerable’ risk of avalanche across many of the open ski areas in the Alps – Level 3 – after the snow fell.
Eight skiers were partially buried in a huge avalanche is Stubai in Austria last Thursday.
See the weekend report from the off piste expert Henry Schniewind who is based in Val d’Isere:
It is all in stark contrast to the USA that has seen a poor start to winter:
But further north in Canada it is a different story.
PlanetSKI’s reporting team of Alex Cove and Marie Taylor headed to Lake Louise in Alberta on Saturday.
The road to Lake Louise, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI
“Snow was good today, coverage is coming along nicely but they are still making as much snow as possible,” said Alex Cove.
“Nearly every gun was running.
“The resort wasn’t too busy which was nice, we think the -22 temperatures this morning might have kept quite a few people away.”
Lake Louise, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI
Lake Louise, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI
Lake Louise, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI
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