We may still be at the end of September and the start of Autumn and the beginning of what promises to be a very 'different' ski season but Austrian ski centres are already jockeying for position for the 'Oktoberfest' skier market.
Several of the four Austrian glacier resorts that are now open (currently second only to New Zealand in terms of the number of areas open, and set to move to the top spot next week) have announced they're opening more terrain ahead of four more areas opening at the weekend, including big hitter the Stubai.
The Hintertux glacier, which has now been open for four months since Austrian skiing resumed in late Spring, plans to operate more lifts from October 1st following the recent snowstorms which brought around half-a-metre of fresh snow to the country's glaciers, greatly improving conditions.
It will open slopes 10 and 11a from Thursday then slopes 11 and 12 too from Saturday to increase the currently available terrain by 50% from 20 to 30km of runs.
The three other areas already open – the Kaunertal, Pitztal and Solden won't have as much terrain open yet but are also opening more runs, extending opening hours to around 4pm and planning for gear testing and terrain park opening events. In Solden's case hosting the opening Alpine World Cup races of the season is also coming up fast.
Besides the Stubai glacier, which is re-opening for the first time since lockdown, the Kitzsteinhorn and Molltal (pictured top today) glaciers, which had both re-opened over the summer too, will now open for their 20-21 ski seasons. The Dachstein Glacier which was previously only open for cross-country skiers, is also expected to start running its downhill lifts.
The eight Austrian areas are joined by three already open in Switzerland, the same number in Norway, two in Italy and from Friday the two Finnish centres of Levi and Ruka opening thanks to snow-farming and taking the number of areas open in Europe to 18.