Conditions in Austria are very good for mid-November following multiple snow storms, and along with resorts that usually open early for the ski season doing so with slopes looking much better than usual for this time of year, a number of big players have announced plans to open early for their 17-18 ski seasons this weekend.
About 15 Austrian ski resorts are open already, with Obergurgl (pictured above) the latest to open, on schedule, today.
But more big name ski areas including Saalbach Hinterglemm and Zell am See (pictured top) say they’ll be opening this weekend for special ‘season preview weekends’ because of all the snow.
Saalbach say 5 lifts will be running and lift passes will be 25 Euros for adults, 10 Euros for under 18s, at Zell am See, open from today, adult day tickets are €36.
More than a Dozen Austrian areas Already Open
Zell’s neighbour Kaprun has been enjoying snowsports on its Kitzsteinhorn glacier since early October. It’s one of eight Austrian glaciers that have been open since early autumn and have seen increasingly big snowfalls over the past 10 weeks, the past few earlier this month delivering up to a metre of snow at 3000m giving amazing powder conditions (The Stubai earlier this month).
Other Austrian areas that are already open at weekends include Kitzbuhel, Montafon and Schladming. Kitzbuhel opened five weeks ago using snow stockpiled from last season but now has a 60cm base on top with fresh snowfalls since.
