A New Year dawns at Fernie, British Columbia, Canada
Happy New Year! This week, North America experienced significant snowfall, especially in California, while European ski resorts faced a mostly dry week with limited snow. However, Italian ski areas saw an increase in snow depths, and the Pyrenees benefited from fresh snow, leading to improved conditions.
The Snow Headlines - January 1st
- California sees huge Christmas snowfalls to jumpstart a delayed season.
- Some snowfall in Bulgaria enables Borovets to finally open.
- Lake Louise posts an all-time record for November/December snowfall, topping 5 metres/16 feet.
- Unlike most of the Alps, Italian ski areas see an increase in snow depths and opened terrain.
- Ski areas in the Pyrenees are close to fully open after fresh snowfall.
Snow in the forecast.
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World Overview
The Alps have endured another mostly dry week, with some regions now more than a month without new snow and many others last seeing flakes in early December. Snow bases remain well below par, and numerous lower slopes below 1,800 metres/5,906 feet are still bare. Even so, most major resorts have managed to keep 70–90% of their groomed terrain open, in some cases expanding skiable areas for the peak holiday period thanks to long-honed snow management strategies and consistently cold temperatures at altitude, which have slowed thawing and supported snowmaking.
On-piste conditions remain generally decent, but off-piste options are minimal. The good news is that snowfall appears to be on the way, although it looks set to predominantly favour more southerly destinations.
In the meantime, the Pyrenees, the southwestern Alps, and parts of the Balkans are exceptions, having seen fresh snow and, in places, elevated avalanche risk. Scandinavia also caught a significant storm.
North America saw turbulent holiday weather: California was hit hardest, receiving 1.2–2.1 metres/4 to 7 feet of snow that transformed previously limited terrain openings once road closures, power cuts, and avalanche hazards eased. The northern Rockies also benefited, with Lake Louise recording its snowiest November–December on record and improvements across northern Utah, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.
Further south, however, major Colorado and Utah resorts continue to struggle to open substantial terrain despite some recent snowfall. Across in Japan, it has been a wintry week with some centres in Northern Hokkaido reporting bases of more than 3 metres/10 feet.
Europe
Austria
Austrian conditions feel very familiar for a fourth week running, with December remaining dry, sunny, and largely unchanged regarding snow depth. Despite this, ski areas have still managed to open more terrain, with many areas 70–90% open, and some with plenty of high-altitude terrain like Sölden now have over 99% of runs open despite pretty thin cover.
Unusually for the start of January, Ischgl still leads the country for the amount of open terrain, while some larger areas such as the Arlberg around St Anton and Lech, as well as Saalbach Hinterglemm, remain just over half open.
France
Conditions in the French Alps are much the same as last week. Most regions have stayed dry for nearly the whole of December, with only light snowfall, typically around 2–20 cm/0.8 to 8 inches, brushing the southern ranges recently. Southerly Isola 2000, closest to Nice, saw the most, nearing 50 cm/20 inches.
Despite the dry weather, cold temperatures, rarely above freezing above 1,800 metres/5,906 feet, have allowed extensive snowmaking, helping major resorts keep 70–90% of their pistes open. The 3 Valleys has about two-thirds of its vast domain open, similar to the country's other large ski regions.
Italy
With the exception of a few southern French and Swiss areas, Italian ski areas are the only ones to post an increase in snow depths this week after snowfall on a front moving in from the southwest bolstered conditions slightly. Totals were mostly in the 10–20 cm/4 to 8 inches range, however, and depths remain thin. The standout was again little Piedmont in the far southwest, where the storm into Christmas was eventually measured as delivering a remarkable 1.5 metres/5 feet of snowfall in just over 24 hours to the resort of Prato Nevoso.
The Via Lattea (Milky Way) around Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, and others is now about half open with 200 kilometres/124 miles of slopes, overtaking Val Gardena to offer the most in the country. That said, a larger area is skiable from Cervinia over to Zermatt.
Switzerland
Another predominantly cold, dry, and bright week in Switzerland too, with settled weather dominating much of the Alps here as elsewhere. Only the southwestern fringe, close to the Italian border, saw measurable snowfall, with Saas Fee and Zermatt amongst those that collected 10–20 cm/4 to 8 inches of new snow.
Most Swiss regions remain snow-poor, leaving only around half of Swiss pistes open, mostly above 1,800 metres/5,906 feet, so the country's smaller, lower ski areas are suffering while the big name destinations are typically 60–80% open.
The standout is Gstaad's Glacier 3000, which continues to report the world's deepest base at just over 3.8 metres/12.5 feet, while Zermatt–Cervinia leads for open terrain with roughly 240 kilometres/149 miles available. The coming week is expected to stay cold and mostly dry once again, with isolated snow flurries.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia has enjoyed cold temperatures and fresh snowfall this past week, with Sweden posting a major winter storm to end the year. The new snow has helped reinforce the still-modest bases across many resorts. Åre currently leads for open terrain, offering around 50% of its slopes and thus nearly 50 kilometres/31 miles. Most other resorts are posting 30–60% of their terrain open.
With short days (and up in Lapland resorts still in its sunless mid-winter), most pistes need to be floodlit throughout the day.
The first week of the new year will stay firmly wintry: Norway is set for –5°C to –12°C/23°F to 10°F, Sweden similarly cold and mostly dry, and Finland the chilliest, with Lapland frequently down to –20°C/–4°F.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees are in great shape after recording the heaviest snowfall in mainland Europe over the past week. Most resorts are now close to fully open thanks to that fresh snowfall. It's one of the few regions with fresh snow off-piste, but inevitably, the new cover has pushed avalanche risk higher.
Andorra's Grandvalira is now operating at nearly 90% of terrain open, the most in the region. Spain's Baqueira Beret has expanded its open slopes to 160 kilometres/99 miles.
A cold, settled spell is expected through the week, with –7°C to –15°C/19°F to 5°F at altitude, firm dry snow, only light flurries, and gentle winds keeping conditions calm.
Scotland
After hitting the buffers during a largely warm, wet December, Scotland's ski season is back to life, just about, with the country's all-weather snowmaking-equipped resorts managing to open small patches of terrain. Cairngorm, Glenshee, and The Lecht have fired up their machines and offer limited skiing on beginner slopes. Cairngorm also benefits from a little natural snow high on the mountain.
Glencoe has created a snow area but is only using it for sledging at present, while Nevis Range, which lacks all-weather snowmaking, remains closed.
Eastern Europe
There's finally been both consistent cold temperatures and fresh Christmas snowfall in southern Eastern Europe, meaning improvements at last for Bulgaria and finally allowing Borovets to open, albeit with only a token amount of terrain so far, while Bansko has surged from 9% to around 61% of its slopes in time for New Year, now offering roughly 40 kilometres/25 miles and overtaking Slovakia to offer the most in the East.
Sunshine has returned across the southern part of the region with light snowfall in the north, with freezing days and overnight lows near –15°C/5°F, good news for snowmakers.
North America
Canada
Canada continues to stand out as one of the best destinations worldwide for early-season skiing. Improving conditions on the west coast have enabled Whistler Blackcomb to open around 85% of its slopes for the New Year week after it struggled to open many runs in November and the first half of December.
That hasn't been the case at Lake Louise, which has been posting stellar conditions over the past few months, and this week announced it has surpassed its all-time early-season snowfall record, passing the 5-metre/16-foot mark.
It's looking good on the East Coast too, with cold and snowy weather.
USA
Some excitement for America's West Coast at last, with ski areas in California posting 1–2 metres/3 to 7 feet of snowfall in the much-heralded Christmas snowstorm. This huge dump, after months of dry, mild conditions, had left most ski areas unable to open much, if any skiing at all, saw a rush to open by the weekend, and ski areas went from 0 to 90% of their runs skiable.
All the natural snow caused issues like tree wells and high avalanche risk, while also bringing delight to skiers and boarders.
Unfortunately, although the northern Rockies are looking increasingly promising with some healthy 50 cm/20 inches of 48-hour accumulations, famous ski states like Colorado and Utah remain very far below average for snowfall, and although they scored a little fresh, most of their famous resorts still only have 5–25% of their slopes open as we start 2026.
On the East Coast, another big storm and some bitingly cold temperatures have kept conditions amongst the best early season of the past decade.