Although several dozen ski areas are now open in the northern hemisphere, particular in the USA, it's November 18th/19th that looks like it will see the most big names resorts opening, including Davos, Val Thorens and Park City.
They'll join recently opened resorts including Breckenridge which opened yesterday (11.11.11) for its 50th season, Cervinia, which has been reporting heavy snowfalls and Lake Louise.
Davos begins a five week period of offering free lift passes to anyone buying an accommodation through their website up to Christmas Eve while Val Thorens finally provides a second French resort to choose from besides Tignes which opened back on October 1st.
Over in the USA Heavenly Mountain Resort and Northstar at each end of Lake Tahoe in California are both scheduled to open on Friday 18th November with Squaw Valley, which has invested $50m in upgrades over the past season, following on 23rd November.
A recent Arctic cold front has brought wintery weather and close to a foot of fresh snow to the slopes of Lake Tahoe last weekend. With another round of winter storms on track to deliver more snow for the Northern Sierra, another memorable winter looks promising as long range forecasters are calling for a return of the same powerful La Niña weather pattern that resulted in over double the average annual snowfall for the region last season.
Taking advantage of the recent cold temperatures, Lake Tahoe resorts have also begun supplemental snowmaking efforts to ensure early season coverage. Home to the largest snowmaking systems on the West Coast, Lake Tahoe is renowned for its reliable early season conditions and top-to-bottom skiing and snowboarding in late November and early December is the normal regular occurrence.
Heavenly Mountain Resort plans to open for the season on Friday 18th November thanks in part to its state-of-the-art snowmaking system capable of covering 73% of its trails with machine made snow. Opening week festivities include a screening of Warren Miller's new film "Like There's No Tomorrow" and concerts by recording artists Bush and Jonny Lang.
Northstar California has also begun snowmaking on a number of its runs including Cat's Face where a new Shaun White signature 22-foot halfpipe will be custom built this season. The resort is slated to open for skiing and snowboarding on Friday 18th November when the more than $30 million in offseason capital improvements will become apparent.