Reports are coming in from the Ski Club of Great Britain that tells of some fantastic snowfalls across Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland, most unusual for this time of year. Over the weekend of the 7th & 8th of November, skiers and snowboarders enjoyed outstanding conditions for this time of year as a handful of European resorts opened earlier than expected following snowfalls of up to 20ins. Crucially the temperatures have been staying low so the snow is settling; even leaving some resorts blanketed like it’s the middle of winter.
Resorts like Saas Fee in Switzerland, have reported snow depths that have already reached more than 3ft on upper slopes, while the Austrian resort of Kitzbühel set an 80 year record by opening on October 24, unheard of say specialist ski holidays operator. The first week in November saw some places having up to 50cm of fresh snow, which is just short of two feet! For people looking for a ski holiday in December, when the best ski deals are to be found, can expect snow conditions that are more like January and February and they can be confident that there will be a good base layer of snow on the pistes.
Kitzbühel, which is one of the lower Austrian resorts can often struggle in the early part of the ski season but this year was one of the earliest to open its lifts in October, after heavy falls over the last three weeks. A spokesman for the resort’s lift operators said: “We are so pleased that this year it was possible to provide this skiing facility at an earlier date than ever before in the 80 years of the resort’s history.”
With the early snows, it is possible to take advantage of a plethora of cheap ski deals which is good news for skiers and boarders and all this comes on top of a wonderful year last year when many Alpine resorts experienced the best snow conditions in a generation, long may it continue!