J2Ski's Where to Ski in October 2024
J2Ski's Where to Ski in October 2024
Published : 01-Oct-2024 07:07
Ski areas closing in the southern hemisphere, glacier areas already open in Europe, and others preparing to open in the northern hemisphere.
Stubai Glacier, Austria, now open for skiing...
Where to Ski in October 2024
We're at the changing of the seasons in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
Temperatures have been rising and the snowpack melting fast in most ski regions of Australia, New Zealand and South America.
More than half of the southern hemisphere's ski centres have already closed with those still open having reduced their open terrain in most cases and the majority of those still operating planning to close the first weekend of this month, although a few will go a week or two later into October.
Of course, it's the opposite picture in the northern hemisphere with temperatures falling and anticipation building for the season ahead.
A big early snowfall in the Alps in mid-September led several glacier ski areas to start their 24-25 seasons early and as a result we expect the number of resorts open in the northern hemisphere to overtake the number open in the southern from next Monday October 7th, with a few more opening each weekend from then on.
Nowhere is open yet in North America but there have been some early snowfalls here too, raising anticipation levels and it's likely one or more centres will open in the latter half of the month.
Europe
Alps
There was a good snowfall in the Alps about a third of the way into September which deposited 50cm of snowfall on glaciers and seemed to mark a change to more wintery weather that continued up high for much of the latter half of last month.
As a result, we went from just two glacier areas at the start of September to almost double figures as we start October, with several resorts opening early thanks to the snow.
Austria is leading the way with a re-opened Hintertux offering the most open terrain in the northern hemisphere at the start of the month, about 25km of slopes.
The Pitztal, Solden and Stubai glaciers are also already open and Kaunertal plans to join them on the 4th, followed by the Kitzsteinhorn on the 12th and then the Molltal glacier on the 26th.
In Switzerland, Saas Fee and Zermatt are open and expected to be joined by the Diavolezza Glacier near St Moritz on the 19th.
In Italy, Passo Stelvio and Val Senales have opened and the link to Zermatt's glacier from Cervinia should re-start on the 26th.
There's currently nowhere open in France and nowhere expected to open in October with Les 2 Alpes and Tignes both having given up attempting to do so.
Scandinavia
Norway's Galdhoppigen glacier, Scandinavia's highest ski centre, re-opened in late September and should remain so throughout October, it's already had some fresh snowfall.
Finland's season is due to start on October 3rd with Levi and Ruka opening a few kilometres of slopes each, spreading snow stockpiled through summer back out on the slopes ahead of the first snowfalls, last year those were within days of opening.
Finally, Sweden's Kåbdalis and Tarnaby should open from the 26th for the final weekend of the month.
North America
October is normally the month when North America's ski season begins, but at the start of the month no one really knows where it will be and precisely when – all depends on where gets coldest quickest for snowmakers to make enough snows to form a base, with any natural snowfall a bonus.
More often than not that's one of the high centres in Colorado, but past years have seen resorts in California, the Pacific Northwest, Vermont on the east coast and even in the Midwest manage to get their lifts turning first.
There have been a few early snowfalls on most North American mountain chains, especially in the West (and as far south as Arizona) with ski areas around Banff – which officially have the earliest named season opening dates at the start of November, seeing the most so far.
Prime candidates for October opening, with their snowmaking systems ready to go and past history of opening in October, are Colorado's Arapahoe Basin, Copper Mountain, Keystone, Loveland, Silverton and Wolf Creek.
Southern Hemisphere
The southern hemisphere's 2024 ski season is winding down fast with Australia's biggest resort Perisher and Tasmania's much smaller Mount Mawson, the last centres to close - in the final week of September.
Most centres in Argentina, Chile and New Zealand have also either closed already or are due to on the first Sunday of October.
Around 10 ski areas across those three countries will carry on for a further one or two weeks.
In the Andes, Chile's Valle Nevado has extended its season by a fortnight so far, to October 20th and some New Zealand centres including Cardrona, Mount Hutt and The Remarkables are targeting either that weekend or the one before too.
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