110km of slopes will be open in the 'Matterhorn Ski Paradise' that straddles the border between Cervinia in Italy and Zermatt in Switzerland, from this weekend, 3rd-4th December. That's more than double what's currently open there and will be one of the largest areas open in Europe so far this season.
"For several weeks now, Zermatt Bergbahnen have been offering excellent slopes thanks to intensive preparation work, and a trip to the Italian side of the ski area has also been possible since last weekend. Now, this coming weekend, various slopes and lifts in the Rothorn Sunnegga and Gornergrat areas will be open, as well as in Cervinia and Valtournenche," the lift company's Communication & Media Manager Marc Lagger commented.
Cervinia and Zermatt often have the largest ski area open in Europe during the period from late November to early December, before bigger areas like the 3 Valleys are fully open.
This winter though it has lagged behind some resorts like Obergurgl and Solden in the Austrian Tirol who have both had more terrain open so far and it remains to be seen how much Ischgl, which currently reports 120km of runs open already in its area shared with Swiss resort Samnuan, will have open at the weekend.