All is snow (and sunshine) above Saalbach, Austria
Where to Ski in December 2025
It's December, and as ski areas start opening, we can get an accurate picture of how things really are in terms of snow depths and open terrain, following months of pre-season hype when resorts celebrated big snowfalls but failed to report dry, warm, thawing spells.
A few hundred areas have already opened in Europe, Asia, and North America, with the next three weekends seeing thousands more opening. December is definitely a big month in the ski world calendar!
Currently, things are looking good in the Alps, particularly the west, after huge snowfalls (up to 1.2 m/47 inches in 72 hours reported in the Chamonix Valley) in the last week of November got everyone excited.
Elsewhere, the season is just getting started in Eastern Europe, the Pyrenees, and Scandinavia, with the surprise opening of November being Cairngorm in Scotland after a cold, snowy spell. Things are not quite so good in North America, especially the western US, where dry, mild November conditions have led to delayed openings, including big names like The Palisades and Jackson Hole. The most open terrain so far is north of the border in Canada, but Eastern North America has had more wintry weather, and ski areas in New England are enjoying one of their best early seasons for several years.
Japan's 25-26 season has also just started after some promising late November powder dumps.
Europe
Austria
Austria may not have the biggest ski regions in Europe, but until the larger areas are fully open—usually not until January or February—it can offer the largest areas actually skiable.
At the end of November, that included Solden and Ischgl at around 100 km/62 miles each, much more than was open in the 3 Valleys or 4 Valleys, for example.
Most of the country's big areas, including Saalbach, Schladming, and dozens more Austrian areas, are open as we start December, with the rest set to open over the next three weekends.
November weather was mixed, with some mild, dry conditions in the first half, but recent weeks have brought up to 50 cm/20 inches of fresh snow, especially on high slopes, with low temperatures down to valley floors aiding snowmaking efforts.
France
France was the last of the big four Alpine ski nations to open for the season, with Tignes and Val Thorens first up just over a week ago.
Conditions improved dramatically in the last week of November, with huge snowfalls, over a metre/39 inches for Chamonix and La Clusaz. These ski areas, as well as others including Montgenevre, opened on the final weekend of last month, some opening earlier than planned.
For most French resorts, the season start will be on the first or second weekends of December.
Italy
Italy's season is getting underway too, and there was fresh snowfall here in late November, heaviest in the northwest.
The giant Milky Way (Via Lattea) and parts of the Dolomiti Superski region opened for the last weekend of November, joining resorts like Madonna di Campiglio and Cortina d'Ampezzo, the latter of which will host the 2026 Winter Olympics in only two months.
It's not all good, though. Pila announced it is delaying its planned November opening into December due to inadequate early cover.
As elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, most other Italian resorts will open over the next few weekends.
As an aside: this winter, Italy became the first ski nation to make helmet wearing on snow mandatory for all ages - so pack your lid!
Switzerland
Switzerland had more centres open than any other European nation (over a dozen) during much of November, and that total rose above 30 last Saturday. Most of the big names are open already—Adelboden, Andermatt, Arosa, Crans Montana, Davos, Gstaad, Saas-Fee, St Moritz, and Zermatt.
Verbier actually opened a whole month early after the snowy week at the end of October, but the country did suffer, like the rest of the Alps, in the first half of last month from mild conditions. It also saw low temperatures and big snowfalls in the final week of November.
Zermatt, with its Cervinia link, is posting the most terrain open as we start December, among the most in the world, with over 90 km/56 miles of slopes, rapidly increasing. Last December, it offered the most in the world until larger areas finally got moving.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees are enjoying one of their strongest season starts in years, thanks to heavy storms sweeping in from the north and west throughout late November. Resorts across the range have reported snow depths of 30–40 cm/12–16 inches at altitude, with freezing temperatures enabling extensive snowmaking. This combination has created excellent early conditions, reminiscent of the bumper 2019–2020 opening.
The first resorts, including Spain's Baqueira Beret, opened on 29 November, and skiers can expect access to substantial terrain, while forecasts suggest further snowfall will expand opportunities into December. That's good news for the series of public holidays the region has early in the month, which all areas like to be open for.
At this early stage, the outlook is very promising for the 2025–2026 Pyrenean winter season.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is unusual in that it gets very cold and snowy weather in December, which would benefit most of the world's ski regions. However, it is also getting darker, so traditionally, Scandi skiers prefer hitting the slopes in the New Year as daylight increases and temperatures drop slightly.
The consequence is that there is not the rush to open every run; in fact, what is open in December is limited to floodlit slopes, with resorts in the far north of the region dropping to zero direct sunlight for several weeks over Christmas and New Year, necessitating floodlighting even further south. Ski areas in Lapland will be busier with non-skiing tourists visiting Santa than with slope users.
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe's season tends to get going in the first half of December, but some areas are already open, including one of the larger centres, Slovakia's Jasna. It opened on the final weekend of November after a cold and snowy few weeks.
That's the story across northern areas, but it has been more mixed further south, with the Balkans seeing double-digit plus temperatures in mid-December, although it is still a few weeks until Bulgarian areas plan to open, so there is time for conditions to recover.
Scotland
The Scottish ski season got off to one of its best starts in years in late November, aided by an unusually persistent cold and snowy spell and the fact that Cairngorm's funicular is running for the first time in several years. It was here that higher runs opened, with a little skiing in Glencoe too. Alas, the familiar warm, wet, and windy weather hit in the final days of last month, impacting cover, but a colder snap is now underway.
Cairngorm, Glencoe, The Lecht, and Glenshee all have all-weather snowmaking, so even if the weather doesn't cooperate, they can open some terrain, and all plan to do so by Christmas week. It's less certain for Nevis Range, which has hardly opened in the past two seasons.
Its most recent comment, in autumn 2024, was that it would do so if natural conditions justified doing so again.
North America
Canada
Canada's early season has had a bit of a stop-start in November.
Banff Sunshine was the first to open, and as we start December, it has more terrain open than anywhere else in the country.
The problem is that while larger ski areas like Whistler Blackcomb have now opened after reporting some big snowfalls, there have also been prolonged mild spells. So far, Whistler has little open.
Even northerly resorts like Jasper's Marmot Basin in Alberta were forced to delay opening, though they too have lifts turning now.
Prolonged cold, wintry weather would be welcome now, and December is certainly the right month for it. November was more wintry at times in the east, in fact, and the region's largest resort, Tremblant, is among those already open there.
USA
November conditions have caused headaches for most western US resorts, with mild, dry conditions leading many to delay openings and some to miss the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday long weekend at the end of last month. Most of those that have opened have just a mile or two, or runs with a thin base so far.
What snow there has been has tended to track south, with California's southerly Mammoth Mountain as well as Colorado's southerly Wolf Creek and the Arizona Snowbowl posting the deepest bases and most terrain open as we start December.
It has turned colder and snowier for much of the region over the past few days, so hopefully, things are now improving. The East Coast has, by contrast, had a better season start, the best for some years in fact, with cold, snowy weather leading many areas to open early with good early-season conditions.
Asia
Japan's season got properly underway on the final weekend of November, in terms of big-name resorts starting to open, with Nozawa Onsen and Shigakogen among the first.
The final week of November saw some good 30–50 cm/12–20 inches dumps of the country's famously light, fluffy powder.
Initially, bases are 50 cm/20 inches or less, and only a few kilometres of slopes are open at each, but most of the rest of the country's resorts will open over the next three weekends, and open terrain at each should increase rapidly too.