Ski areas have opened on four continents this weekend as both the southern hemisphere winter 2013 gets underway and summer ski glacier areas open in the northern hemisphere.
In Canada Whistler Blackcomb has re-opened for a five week run of glacier summer camps claiming the greatest concentration of terrain park facilities on the planet at present.
In the Alps, Les 2 Alpes is the third and final French ski area to re-open for glacier skiing following Tignes last week and Val d'Isere the week before. It claims to offer the biggest summer glacier ski area in the northern hemisphere and again has major terrain park facilities.
In the southern hemisphere most resorts in South America (Argentina and Chile) opened this weekend including world famous Portillo.
In Australasia it was The Remarkables' turn to open in New Zealand (pictured) with great snow conditions. New Zealand has had great early season snowfall with 10 feet (3m) falling in places in the last week bringing excellent conditions but also a big job for avalanche patrol making slopes as safe as they can at resorts like Mt Hutt.
Australian ski areas opened two weeks ago with little or no snow but have had some in the past week and with the help of machine made snow have each been able to open several runs and build bases to around 30cm.