A number of the world's leading resorts on both sides of the Atlantic have opened in the past 36 hours, in most cases reporting excellent early conditions and in some cases opening early because of all the snow.
Mammoth in California opened yesterday (November 8th) and Breckenridge in Colorado – the most popular destination for Brits heading to the US opens today, as do Lake Louise, Sunshine and Marmot Basin in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta to the north.
The Canadian resorts say they have already received around a metre of snow each, and that 48cm of fresh snow has fallen in the last 48hrs.
"All three Banff resorts are now open with amazing ski conditions following heavy snowfalls with blue skies signal what can only be another phenomenal season of skiing and snowboarding in Canada's Protected Playground, Banff National Park," said Dan Markham, Director of Marketing and Sales at Ski Banff Lake Louise Sunshine.
In the Alps the first ski areas that don't have glaciers – but do have high altitude skiing up to 3000m to rely on - are also opening. Obergurgl in Austria and Bormio in Italy are both opening early this weekend, crediting the pre-season snowfall in the Alps, although Bormio has also been producing large amounts of snow.
The team of snowmakers at Bormio report that the slopes down from 3000m to 2500m, in particularly the slope Stella Alpina are all ready to open. The company has made 36,000 cubic metres of snow per day, the equivalent of 600 trucks full of snow over the past week.
The cable car Bormio 2000-Cima Bianca as well as the Valbella-3000 and Pian dei Larici chairlifts will be open with ski connections from Bormio 3000 to Conca Valbella (2550m) and from Piana dei Larici to Bormio 2000 open.