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North America's largest ski area, Whistler Blackcomb in BC Canada, says it will open for its 24-25 season a day earlier than planned at the end of this coming week.

"We're opening one day earlier than planned, so get ready and get up here on Thursday November 21 when lifts on Blackcomb Mountain start spinning! Whistler Mountain's opening will follow on Friday, November 22 as planned," a spokesperson said.

It's the latest of North America's big name resorts with Vail and Mammoth opening this weekend as well as the East Coast's largest ski area, Killington.

It is though a mixed picture, as usual. Snowfall in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico as well as the Northwestern US and in BC Canada is running a little above the average for mid-November and dozens of ski areas have opened there already.

Colorado's Wolf Creek which was the first area to open in North America almost a month ago, now has almost all of its terrain open, the most of anywhere in the world at present and the first centre anywhere to open more than half its runs this season so far.

On the East though its been unseasonably warm and its only in the past few days that Killington and Sunday River in Maine have manged to open as colder weather allowed for snowmaking systems to fire up. Both have very lited, advanced skiers only terrain open so far. Tremblant in Quebec to the north has given up on its plan to open on November 22 and is now targetting the 28th.

Most larger North American ski areas endeavour to have at least some terrain open for the lucrative Thanksgiving Holidays period at the end of the month.

After three weeks of mostly dry and sunny weather in the Alps with high pressure dominating Western Europe, there was excitement earlier this week for skiers as a front managed to break through and bring a dusting of snowfall, heaviest in the west and recorded as far south as the Pyrenees. Italy's Bardonecchia is pictured above on Tuesday.

The good news is that, whilst the details remain as uncertain as usual, it does appear the current blocking system will increasingly breakdown next week allowing colder air to move down from the far north with significant snowfall expected in Monday and Tuesday and more unsettled conditions thereafter.

Snowfall, again likely to be heaviest in the western Alps initially, could amount to several feet in the most optimistic forecasts, potentially perfectly timed for the expected start of the French ski season at the end of next week.

Temperatures will also get to double-digits below freezing, which should be good news for frustrated snowmakers who have been waiting for a sustained temperature drop to low elevations to get base building.

There's some uncertainty at this point whether the trend later next week will be for Atlantic or Arctic Air systems to dominate, with the latter the more likely to keep things cold enough for more snow to lower levels.

Taking place from 8-16 February 2025, the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, in British Columbia, Canada, will be the first staging of the contest for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans, to include winter sports.

The Games staged in Whistler and Vancouver will feature more than 500 competitors from up to 25 nations. Winter sports will include Alpine skiing and snowboarding, Nordic skiing and biathlon, skeleton, and wheelchair curling.

In addition the core Invictus Games sports of indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball will continue to be competed.

"Whistler resort will remain open and operational, with minimal terrain impacts on Whistler Blackcomb," a spokesperson for the resort reassured regular visitors.

The Invictus Games, now staged every two years, were founded by Prince Harry in partnership with the Ministry of Defence. He's said that his inspiration in setting up the contest was a visit to the Warrior Games in Colorado in 2013, where he witnessed the ability of sport to help both psychologically and physically.

The 24-25 ski season already started at Cervinia thanks to the re-opening of its connection to Zermatt's glacier ski area on 26 October. Originally promoted as sharing Zermatt's year-round ski operation with the opening of the Alpine Crossing series of lifts between the two resorts, that's now been pared-back to an 11-month season in the latest marketing.

New this winter, a high-speed detachable six-seater chairlift has been installed in the Goillet area, replacing an old fixed-grip triple chairlift that had worked on the route for the past 46 years. The long-upgrade will dramatically speed up the link between the ski area of Breuil-Cervinia and Valtournenche, taking five-minutes to make the ascent rather than the previous 11. The valley station is located at an altitude of 2,692 metres to arrive at 3,093 metres, and the hourly capacity increases from 1,600 to 2,400 passengers.

The Leitner built chairlift is fitted with the EcoDrive system, making it both efficient and sustainable, by automatically adjusts the speed of the chairlift depending on the number of skiers in line. Just one metre per second of speed reduction can generate energy savings of up to 20 per cent. The lift is also quieter and more efficient.

With announcements of delayed season starts, survival-fundraisers and uncertainty again over the likely operation of Cairngorm's funicular for three of Scotland's five centres, Glencoe has posted a very positive message for the season ahead.

The West Coast resort that's closest to Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, has laid out a host of improvement for the coming season and says they're committed to opening from day one of the season and staying open 7-days a week to the latest possible date.

"Delighted to report that winter preparations are now well underway and all uplift will be good to go the minute we get enough snow. The forecast is starting to look promising for a cool down and snow from mid-November," the online statement begins, noting that irrespective of natural snowfall, Glencoe's plan is to open for sledging and beginner ski and snowboard lessons on manmade snow by mid-December.

Summer upgrades have included improvements to the top station of the Rannoch Chair to make life easier for beginners and snowboarders with ground re-profiled to make the off ramp much gentler. There's also been continued improvements to snow fencing around the mountain to ensure snow retention in key areas and the access road has been partially re-surfaced alongside improvements to parking.

Before the season begins a new, more efficient, tractor/snow plough is due to arrive to help keep the Access road and car park clear of snow and a new high quality webcam is due to be installed at the top of the Rannoch Chair showing views across Rannoch Moor, down the Plateau Run, Coire Pollach and Rankins Return.

There's also been continued expansion and improvements to ski hire (all bookings will be online this year), four new larger lodges with services at the base for overnight stays and a surprise, "which should make life much easier," is promised at the sledging slope. Season passes for this winter are now available to purchase at Glencoe's website.

"We remain committed to open for skiing 7 days a week from the first day we have skiable snow to the last. We look forward to welcoming you back in a few weeks' time," Glencoe's statement concludes.

Six European ski areas are currently open in four countries thanks to snow-farming, the practice of stockpiling snow from the previous season through the summer then spreading it back out on the slopes in Autumn as temperatures, hopefully, cool.

Kitzbuhel is the latest resort to open some runs using the technique with about a kilometre of slopes opening at its Resterkogel area this weekend.

It joins Switzerland's Adelboden and Murren (pictured) which have opened with farmed snow in recent weeks.

In Scandinavia, Sweden's Kandalis ski area is open with a slope made of farmed snow but Finland's Ruka and Levi, are the main experts in snow farming creating over 2km of slopes, terrain parks and additional cross-country trails which opened more than a month ago.

However, even here, despite storing record amounts of snow last summer, limits to the concept appeared as a warm October and early November made the snow soft and had the resorts battling top maintain it. That's different to most years when natural snowfall and low temperatures for new snowmaking soon after the snow is re-spread on to the slopes keep it fresh.

That has now happened in the last week though and the FIS just gave the green light to Levi's running of the next stage of the Alpine Skiing World Cup next weekend.

Scotland's Nevis Range ski area says it probably won't open its ski slopes until February this winter.

The news comes as the four other Scottish areas prepare for the start of the 24-25 season as the Highland bask in warm sunshine and some of the highest temperatures in the UK.

In a detailed blog post, similar to one a year ago in which the centre, which opened 35 years ago, announced it had not turned a profit on its wintersports business in 15 years, along with the plan not to open until the February school holidays, Nevis Range say they also won't open on Mondays and Tuesdays except in school holidays.

However, they do note, "If we're fortunate enough to have exceptional snow conditions before then, we'll do everything we can to open early—but realistically, this delayed start is the best approach given the winter weather we've come to expect."

Nevis Range say they have been badly impacted by climate change, which not only cut their 23-24 season to three days in January last winter, but also brought extreme storms which have caused expensive-to-repair damage to infrastructure.

All five Scottish centres purchased all-weather snowmaking machines a few years ago which have been used in different ways. In Glencoe's case for a successful sledging slope, at cairngorm for a beginner's area and at Glenshee to help create several short ski runs. Most of the centres invested in proven TechnoAlpin SnowFactory machines but Nevis Range invested in a different system they hoped would be better but, they revealed in their post last year, had failed to work successfully.

In this Autumn's post they say they are now working on a vision to shift to all year-round skiing,

"We're actively pursuing opportunities to introduce a large dry slope for year-round snowsports. This isn't just an idea—it's an ambition we're already working toward with potential investors. We're determined to create a future where skiing at Nevis Range remains accessible, but in a way that reflects the reality of our climate."

The other four Scottish centres currently hope to open as normal. The Lecht has a summer crowdfunder "to help us survive" which had raised over £25,000 at the last report. Cairngorm is optimistic the troubled funicular railway, "will be operational again this winter" although it is unclear if it will be so from the start. Due to the removal of other lifts it's the only way to reach the top of the slopes without needing to hike up.

At least a 15 US ski areas are expected to open this weekend in seven western states, many of them due to significant snowfall in the Rockies this week, where multiple resorts have posted over two feet of fresh snow since Saturday.

Most of the resorts opening will be in Colorado where five more centres will join already open Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Wolf Creek.

However the first resorts will also open in Arizona (Arizona Snowbowl), Idaho (Lookout Pass), New Mexico (Pajarito), Utah (Brian Head) and Washington State (Timberline). Mt Rose will also be second to open in Nevada.

In Colorado Breckenridge and Copper Mountain had long planned to open this weekend but Eldora, Loveland and Winter Park have announced they'll be joining them thanks to the snowfall.

"OMG, OK! It's happening! Everybody stay calm. Everybody STAY CALM! Just kidding, now is definitely not the time to stay calm... we've received 2 feet of snow this week and we're opening THIS FRIDAY," a spokesperson for Breckenridge (pictured above preparing for the season start yesterday) commented on social media.

Nevada's Lee Canyon which opened last weekend is expected to re-open this.

With at least four ski areas opening in Canada too it means that Europe and North America will have roughly the same amount of centres open this weekend.