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The Andermatt-Sedrun ski area in Switzerland, which is now owned by the American Vail Resorts group, has announced it plans to begin its 2022/23 on Saturday the 29th October, "if everything goes well."

The resort, which often posts the deepest snowpack in Switzerland for much of the winter, is aiming to open its Gemstock mountain above Andermatt, famed for its freeriding terrain, first of all.

Following long-awaited snowfall and lower temperatures in the Alps there are currently five ski areas operational in the Alps in Austria, Italy and Switzerland, although all have extremely thin cover reported of just a few inches and very limited terrain open at present.

The numbers open are expected to reach double figures over the first weekend of October.

Zermatt recently re-opened very limited terrain after an unprecedented seven-week break in its formerly year-round operation and the other Swiss glacier area operating is Saas-Fee, although it's believed that's still only open for race teams training, not to the public, at present.

Engelberg's Titlis glacier and the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz are expected to be the third and fourth Swiss areas to open, in mid to late October, ahead of Andermatt.

The famous cube-shaped Botta mountain restaurant at the Glacier 3000 ski area above Les Diablerets appears to have been largely destroyed by a fire.

The restaurant was designed by famous Swiss architect Mario Botta and was opened in 2001 at a cost of 17 million Swiss Francs.

The fire occurred when the building was empty so there were no injuries. However, fighting it was difficult given its location and firefighters had to be helicoptered up to the building.

The upper part of the building which housed the restaurant appears to have been destroyed by the blaze, according to Swiss reports, and its currently being determined whether the upper cable car station used to access the ski area and located in the lower part of the building is damaged or not.

The restaurant is co-owned by former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone who told Swiss newspaper Blick. "We don't know if it was arson."

Glacier 3000. Which is included on the Gstaad regional pass, has been in the news for other reasons in recent weeks and months.

It hit worldwide media attention at the end of August when a ridge, buried under ice for thousands of years, became close to being exposed due to the impact of climate change, dividing the ski area's slopes.

It is also in the process of creating a long tunnel through the mountain face above the valley which will enable skiers to descend a new black run to the valley floor with over 1,000 metres of vertical, due to open this coming winter.

(Image Credit: Vaud Police)

The snow has kept falling on Sunday up high. Hintertux and Zugspitze pictured

The snow has kept falling and resorts are now reporting up to 50cm (20 inches) has fallen so far in this increasingly epic spring dump!

Ski resorts across the Alps and Dolomites have been reporting snowfall down to as low as 1400m altitude in the past 24 hours.

It is hoped that the snowfall marks a turning point after the hottest spring and summer on record in the Alps, which has led to summer ski areas temporarily closing and some ski resorts that open in September delaying doing so.

However the sole area that has stayed open to all, Austria's Hintertux (pictured below this morning), has now been joined by Italy's Val Senales and a number of other ski areas including Solden and Zermatt (pictured top) have announced that they plan to open for the season or re-open in the next week or so.

Although the snowfall is just a 'dusting' below about 2,000 metres and a few centimetres at higher elevations, it's being seen as a very welcome sign, particularly by resorts like Les 32 Alpes, Solden and Zermatt which are each due to stage various 'season opening' World Cup races in just over a month's time.

Zermatt's lift company has announced it will resume summer skiing operations on the Theodul glacier from this coming Tuesday, 20th September.

Summer skiing operations at Matterhorn Glacier Paradise were suspended in early August and remained so for more than seven weeks for safety reasons due to the thin snow cover left on the glacial ice after record hot spring and summer temperatures following a dry winter in the Alps in 21-22.

Other than closure for the first few months of the pandemic, and occasionally due to bad weather, the glacier, which encompasses Europe's highest lift accessed slopes, is believed to have previously operated daily for many decades.
"After the precipitation and careful examination of the conditions, training for ski teams and general summer skiing operations will resume as usual. Thanks to the colder temperatures, the challenges associated with crevasse dangers can be mastered well and the high requirements regarding the safety of all guests who enjoy snow sports are met in full," a statement from the lift company, announcing the reopening, explains, adding,

"The precipitation and cold temperatures at just under 4,000 metres above sea level allow for safe and quality snow sports. Thanks to the ongoing maintenance work on the slopes and installations during the temporary closure, summer skiing operations can be resumed just a few days after the long-awaited precipitation. The only exception is the snow park, which will remain closed."

Zermatt is also heavily invested in a new Alpine Downhill World Cup racecourse, "Gran Becca", which runs down to above Cervinia in Italy and is due to host two Women's and two Men's downhill races, the first in just over a month's time at the end of October.

Closure of the glacier slopes had led to concerns about the state of the new slope and the likelihood it could host the races as planned this autumn, but Zermatt has stressed the races will go ahead.

"We remain confident that nothing will stand in the way of the first-ever staging of the "Matterhorn Cervino Speed Opening" at the end of October and beginning of November," says Markus Hasler, CEO of Zermatt Bergbahnen. Tickets are still available for the World Cup races at www.speedopening.com.

The only outdoor snow ski area open in Europe and the Northern Hemisphere over the past month has been Hintertux in the Austrian Tirol which managed to keep 6km of slopes open with a thin icy cover thanks to a glacier snowmaking system. It now has fresh snowfall this morning.

Australian ski areas are seeing a final blast of winter as the 2022 ski season – one of the best on record – nears its end.

Forecasting models project up to 60cm (two feet) snowfall totals over the coming few days, with resorts reporting up to 15cm (6") by the end of the first day with the snow still dumping down.

For several areas the snowfall was briefly preceded by rain as the cold air met the new front but this quickly turned to "heavy spring snow with fat flakes," as one area described it.

All major Australian ski areas are expected to stay open to at least the final weekend of September in a week's time with most continuing to the first and some the second weekend of October.

Most still have at least 60cm (two feet) of snow lying on lower slopes and 1.5m (five feet) or more up top, very healthy stats for late season in Australia and reflecting the consistent snowfalls through the season this winter.

The snowpacks are dropping noticeably now however, despite the new falls and temperatures of +10C or more are expected in the afternoons at resort level in the latter half of the coming week so the thaw is expected to accelerate.

Ski areas across Colorado have been posting images of early snowfall on their higher slopes, generating pre ski-season excitement.

For some, such as Arapahoe Basin it's their second snowfalls already this month, although for most it's the first ahead of the 22-23 season. Aspen, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Keystone and Vail were among resorts posting pictures and video of snowy scenes and getting lots of enthusiastic responses from skiers and boarders.

Colorado is more often than not the state where the first ski area opens for the season in North America, usually in the latter half of October, so potentially just a month away.

Otherwise most of the state's ski areas open in the first few weeks of November.

Colorado is home to about half of the worlds highest ski areas. One of them, Loveland, makes an event of starting snowmaking in its battle to be one of the first to open. It sets a countdown clock to the day its hoped the system will start producing snow in late September on its website. Earlier this week it made a media event from testing the system ahead of hopefully turning it on later this week if it is cold enough.

The Colorado snowfall follows similar snow coverings at several resorts in Alberta and BC to the north a week ago.