It's a very different start to December from a year-ago in the Pyrenees when resorts were struggling to open much terrain for the first full week in December, a key one in the region with multiple bank holidays meaning skiers can hit the slopes for 7 days but only need to take a day or two of their annual leave.
The good news this year is that is plenty of snow, with ski areas reporting the best early season conditions since the pre-pandemic season six years ago. 72-hour snowfall totals of up to 47cm (19") have been reported on the French side of the range, 20-40cm over the same period on the Spanish side. Most ski areas not yet open do so this weekend and those that are open have much more terrain open than usual for this early in the season.
Spain's Baqueira Beret (pictured above this week) which opened at the end of November is in a battle with the region's largest ski area, Andorra's Grandvalira, to open the most terrain. So far Baqueira Beret has the most open with 83km (52 miles) of slopes and has announced it plans to have over 100km (63 miles) of slopes open through the weekend which translates into more than 80 open slopes and 34 out of 36 ski lifts.
Grandvalira has opened with 77km of slopes skiable, about a third of its full area, but is also expected to open more this weekend.
The deepest snow in the region is on French side with Cauterets saying they have 1.2m (4 feet) lying up high already after 47cm fell over the past three days.