Kitzbűhel have announced they'll be opening for the 2015-16 ski season this weekend.
It's not the first time that the well known resort in the Austrian Tirol has opened in October, indeed in recent years they've made a habit of it, partly it seems in response to dire predictions a decade ago that
the ski area's low elevation will mean it will be a likely early victim of climate change.
It's the first non-glacier ski area in the Alps to open, although elsewhere in Europe Ruka in Finland has opened too.
Snowfall and cold weather for snowmaking in recent days has covered the mountains around Kitzbühel (and many other parts of the Alps) in white.
Several lifts will be operating over the weekend (24/25 October) in the resort's Resterhöhe / Pass Thurn slopes.
At the same time Sölden has the first World Cup Race this coming weekend from Friday to Sunday and excellent snow conditions are forecast after heavy snow at the end of last week.
Crystal Ski Holidays, which broke the Kitzbűhel early opening story in the UK, has come up with a special offer to celebrate the early snow: if you book your Crystal ski holiday by 2nd November to any of the European resorts, you qualify for a Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF) offer on ski or snowboard equipment rental saving you up to £165 (based on the price for superior snowboard hire in Grindelwald).