The Countdown to Winter Ski Season of 2025/26 Starts Now!

by admin in RSS Social News. Posted October 1, 2025

It’s the time of year when us skiers and snowboarders realise it won’t be too long before we are able to make some turns.

It’s actually possible now.

Six resorts currently have some of their glacier areas open and three more are opening this weekend.

Open Resorts in the Alps:

Zermatt – Switzerland
Saas-Fee – Switzerland
Passo Stelvio – Italy
Val Senales – Italy
Hintertux – Austria
Pitztal – Austria

This weekend Stubai, Kaunertal and Soelden in Austria open some slopes for skiing and snowboarding.

Kitzteinhorn and Moltaller open the following weekend, 10th and 11th October.

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A post shared by Stubaier Gletscher (@stubai_glacier)

In Finland Ruka and Levi also open this weekend using snow stored from last winter.

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A post shared by Ruka Ski Resort (@rukaskiresort)

PlanetSKI has just returned from an autumn trip to St Gervais in the French Alps where snow was falling at 2,000m last weekend.

St Gervais, France. Image © PlanetSKI

In the end Soelden postponed its opening until this weekend.

We were in St Gervais to look at the growth of people visiting ski resorts in the so-called ‘shoulder season’:

Shoulder season in the Alps

September 2025 – Mont Blanc Massif, France. Image © PlanetSKI

So, what may the season of 2025/26 hold in store?

PlanetSKI editor, James Cove, has been gazing into his crystal ball:

“There is certainly a move to ski at higher altitudes with height now more important for many than the size of the ski area,” said James.

“There has also been a growth in short breaks to the mountains for next winter according to the operators I have spoken to.

“The price of lift passes is continuing its relentless upward trend, with more resorts using ‘dynamic pricing’, while the North American multi-resort passes of Epic, Ikon and Indy are continuing their expansion inot Europe.

“The high-cost of a lift pass is the biggest grumble I hear from people, with some operators offering discounted lift passes to entice bookings.

“There is a growing interest in train travel, though it is still a niche way of getting to the Alps for the British and only realistic to a small number.

“Don’t forget it will be a whole new experience going through borders as the EES system starts on October 12th and will be rolled out across the winter.

“I also detect a growing interest in heading to less well-known resorts, that are often less crowded and cheaper.

“Next season is an Olympic year with the 2026 Winter Games taking place in Milan-Cortina in Italy next February.

“We have some realistic medal chances and there will likely be an improvement from Team GB on the disappointing tally at the Beijing Olympics four years ago.

“Italy also has a couple of new developments with helmets compulsory for everyone next winter and one resort, Madonna, restricting the numbers on the slopes at busy times,” added James.

At PlanetSKI we have already posted a few articles about what companies, service providers and resorts are offering for the 2025/26 ski season:

Ski Operators:

‘Graciosa’, La Plagne,. Image c/o VIP SKI.

Travel:

The Eurostar ski train. Image © Eurostar

More articles will be following this month, as we look at what’s new in ski resorts and ski areas across the world.

As skiers increase in Japan tourist changes are introduced

Rusutsu, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

October also sees a number of UK snowpsort industry events, and we will be keeping our ear to the ground and updating as we hear further details from tour operators and resorts.

Then there’s the Northern Snow Show at the Snow Centre, Manchester this coming weekend, October 4th and 5th, plus the return of the London Snow Show to its spiritual home of Olympia on October 18^th – 19th.

Countdown on for London Snow Show

PlanetSKI has negotiated some free tickets for its readers so help yourself:

Free tickets to London Snow Show for PlanetSKI readers

And let’s not forget a more unusual event in London this month – Urban Pond Skimming at Tower Bridge:

Ski City – London’s first ski skimming event

Image c/o Icebreaker

We mentioned the snow earlier and it is of course far too early to say what conditions may look like next season.

The past week has certainly seen some colder temperatures in the Alps with the snow line creeping down the mountains.

An unusually intense cold outbreak develops later in the week, thanks to a large cold pool expanding from eastern into central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean.

This will bring more snow in places.

The cold period should extend to next weekend.

Then, the changing general weather pattern could bring temperatures back to normal for early October and bring back the warmth from the west.

All of it will not make any difference to snow conditions next season, but it does show the seasons are changing and it is getting us in the mood for winter.

PlanetSKI will be out in the Alps in November and early December reporting on the season as it gets underway.

We’ll be in Val Thornes in France for its opening weekend and then in Innsbruck in Austria.

Then in mid-December PlanetSKI editor, James Cove, is off to Canada for a 2-month extended stay.

We will be based in Canmore near Banff and will be visiting others resorts in Alberta and British Columbia.

It should be quite an adventure.

In Europe our team of reporters will be out and about across the Alps, the Pyrenees and Scandinavia keeping you up to date on all that is happening in Europe.

‘Happy October’ everyone – The Countdown to Winter Ski Season Starts Now!

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