First Ski Areas Opening in Dolomites For 2017-18

[b]Good news from The Dolomites overnight – two ski regions in the giant Dolomiti Superski pass network have announced they'll be opening this weekend – December 10th – 11th.[/b]

The news comes after the Dolomites enjoyed some of the same healthy snowfalls the alps did at the start of this week, and there's also been cold weather for snowmaking.

World famous Cortina d'Ampezzo (pictured top) will have limited terrain open this Saturday and Sunday, as will the 3 Peaks sector of Dolomiti Superski.

The area has had a challenging start to the past three seasons in terms of natural snow cover, so everyone is hoping that this early snow signals a more traditional start to the ski season in 2017.

Around 98% of Dolomiti Superski's 1200km of piste do have snowmaking cover anyway though and it has managed to open almost the entire network even with virtually no natural snow cover in previous seasons.

Elsewhere in Italy Passo Tonale is also opening this weekend joining already open Cervinia – where there has been [powder skiing this week – and Val Senales.

fantastic ...only another 9 weeks...hope it lasts

The snowmaking and management in the Dolomites is absolutely fantastic. The natural snow was a bit scarce last year when we were there in February but the pistes were still in great shape. Heading back there this year and really looking forward to it :lol:

Another 20cm reported in the past 24 hours :)

Wanderer is right: the commitment to making sure the whole area is snow-covered is superb. We were able to ski Piculin in late March earlier this year.