by Patrick Thorne

Kiltarlity, Scotland, UK – When does one ski season end and another end? It’s a question we are always wondering, because tracking snowfall all year round, we know that somewhere in the northern hemisphere there’s always somewhere open for snow sports. With ski areas like Zermatt in Switzerland, Tux in Austria and Timberline in Oregon open all year round for skiing and boarding and other areas opening at certain times in late spring, summer or autumn it can be hard to decide!nFor some resorts the next year’s ski season begins only a few weeks after the last one ends. Saas Fee in Switzerland, for example, or the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier above Kaprun in Austria, close for a month or two after the end of the winter season before re-opening for a 10-month snow sports season from late May one year right through to the start of May the next. So they could claim to already be open in the 2010-11 season.

But still other glacier resorts, like Les 2 Alpes and Tignes in France and Cervinia in Italy, have a distinct “summer’ ski season, then close at the end of August or early September to gird their loins ready for a six- or eight-month winter ski season that begins in the autumn.

With Timberline also having a two-week maintenance closure in mid-September it does seem that this is the most favorable month, if any, to say one ski year ends and the next begins. The summer heat is dying away and temperatures are dropping. In North America some of the highest resorts in the world, but lacking glacier ski areas, like Copper, Loveland, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, all in Colorado, are likely to start snowmaking soon, some aiming to open in early October. It’s a similar picture in Scandinavia with resorts at northerly latitude, particularly in Finland, looking for October openings. In the southern hemisphere the season is beginning to wind down.

But which will be first?

A possible claimant is the Pitztal glacier in Austria, which operates the country’s highest lifts and has recently augmented its snowmaking system with the installation of one of only two “all weather” snowmaking systems imported from Israel that can make snow in temperatures above freezing. This year Pitztal is aiming to open on Wednesday, Sept. 15. A few days later Tignes will open and then in early October, a rush of a dozen or so glacier resorts in Switzerland and Austria as well as, probably, the high altitude resorts in Colorado and northerly resorts in Scandinavia, will join the ski areas open for 2010-11 list.

Whichever comes first, let’s hope for a repeat of the great early season snow in the Alps of recent winters, which has seen resorts like Bormio in Italy, Kitzbuhel in Austria and Cairngorm in Scotland all opening months earlier than usual. We will continue to post live snow information from all, and 2,000 other northern hemisphere ski areas as they open later in the year for the coming winter.