Heavy snow and cold temperatures has led to resorts in Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the US to open earlier than expected – in some cases their earliest opening for 40 years.
Big name resorts to open this weekend include Sunday River and Mammoth in the US, Schladming in Austria, Ruka in Finland and Funasdalen in Sweden.
It’s the earliest ever opening for Schladming and the resort may close again before its planned opening, still 6 weeks away, if temperatures rise dramatically.
Many resorts across Austria reported between 40 and 180cm (15 inches – six feet) of fresh snow on their slopes but few have decided to open early until they are sure the snow will last and that there’s enough Autumn demand to make it worthwhile to employ staff, groom trails and run lifts to open.
However seven ski areas were open in the country before the heavy snowfall began, as they offered glacier skiing. The new snow has dramatically improved conditions at these centres, which had been suffering after a summer of high temperatures and clear skies. Now resorts like Solden, Hintertux, Kaprun all have great powder snow skiing and boarding.
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