Is this the worst start to the season ever?

Not in grandvalira. Good skiing to be had here. Crisp snow and sunny skies!

Thanks for all the responses. I suppose it is always going to be 'swings and roundabouts' with the weather. Maybe I was just spoiled. I remember my first ever ski hol in Mayrhofen where it was brilliant sunshine every day and it snowed fresh powder every night. Being new then I thought that was the norm. Funnily enough I hated that first trip as I managed to do the 'splits' twice in the first 2 days of lessons and was in agony all week. By the 5th day I threw the skis down the hill and swore I would never come back. However a year later my wife persuaded me to try again and second time was much better. Now can't get enough and go as many times as I can every year.
We have never been as lucky with the weather again as we were on that first trip, but not much stops us skiing now unless it's a total white out.
Worry at the moment is we have booked Soll for 2nd Jan. I hummed and harred before we booked it as I know it's low, but on speaking to the hotel owners they said that they could not remember an occasion where you could not ski in early Jan, so we took the chance. In hindsight I think we should have gone high, but it's booked now and there will be other trips this winter. Think I will do what I did last year and threaten the snow Gods by telling them if it does not get cold I will pack the Mankini. It worked last year, but literally only by a couple of days.
Next season we will definitely go high for the first trip.

Good plan Doug - lower resorts come into their won from mid-jan in my view. Winning as the snow is more reliable and high resorts hit their coldest and bleakest periods.
Early and late go high.
Mid season and the choice expands hugely.

I went to Soll last year and it was the exact same siutation - literally green fields for the first 3 weeks of December. It was awful, it was my first ski holiday and I was convinced I had wasted a lot of money. Then the snow came on Xmas eve and didn't stop for 4 days! Lifts opened across the SkiWelt and we had an amazing trip.

Keep the faith, ignore the vague long term forecasts (anything beyond 3 days is tenuous at bes) and remember, it doesn't take much to turn the place white!

My worst was 1971. No snow in January, and it did not snow again until Easter.

Heading off to Ellmau on the 22nd of January for two weeks, so for now I will remain calm, although with the current weather trend it is somewhat of a challenge to imagine I will arrive to a snowy SkiWelt this year. Its been a good 3 (soon to be 4) seasons in the Austrian Alps, but I think from 2017 I will be jetting off to Japan to get my annual snow fix - Snowfall and weather in the Alps the past three seasons has just been to unreliable.

Hi, I've skied the Skiwelt many times, there will be snow/pistes in January.
There were less slopes opened last Christmas & we were there 1st week of January & the piste conditions were very good, with over 200kms open.
I've also skied in March, when the hills were green with white stripes running down them, the pistes were in good condition, only suffering on the south facing side, Brixen Thaler, due to spring sun in the afternoon. The snow making facilities are first rate & operate at zero degrees & below, which is better than some resorts.
Saying that Soll is well protected on the opposite side & there are plenty of runs over to Scheffu/Ellmau.
I'm confident it'll be fine, as I'm there for the first 2 weeks.
Let it Snow, let it Snow!!!

DougR wrote:
Worry at the moment is we have booked Soll for 2nd Jan. I hummed and harred before we booked it as I know it's low, but on speaking to the hotel owners they said that they could not remember an occasion where you could not ski in early Jan, so we took the chance. In hindsight I think we should have gone high, but it's booked now and there will be other trips this winter.

Same here Doug, except that a) I'm off to Soll even earlier (26th) and there won't be any more trips for me this winter. So I'm even more worried than you, though I'm sure that doesn't make you less worried :))
I already gave up the hope of finding snowy mountains and white powder everywhere, but at least I hope it will be skiable. Right now 69 runs are open but the forecast for next week is for swimsuit skiing...

An old acquaintance of mine used to say: take the advertised "high season" of today, shove off the first and last weeks, and you got THE season. Maybe that was true in the pre-cannon days, but sometimes I think it's true even today.

If it's going to be an epic fail, then next time -> +2000m :)