by Patrick Thorne with First Tracks!! Online Media staff reports

Kiltarlity, Scotland, UK – As the southern hemisphere’s ski season continues to wind down, resorts in France, Switzerland and even the U.S. are opening, or have opened, in the last seven days. Fresh snow in the Alps and the start of snowmaking in Colorado are further signs that the ski season is just around the corner, and in fact at a dozen resorts it has already started.nFollowing reports of early season snow in Alberta and British Columbia last week, with hike-up skiers making first tracks at Fernie and others, as well as news that one of the world’s highest ski area, Loveland in Colorado has started snow making, Timberline ski area in Oregon has announced that it will reopen for the start of winter 2010-11, for weekends only initially, this Friday, Oct. 1.

“Late spring storms and focused summer grooming and maintenance of the Palmer Snowfield have provided a great level of snow above 7,000 feet,” said a resort spokesperson. “We’ll be operating our Magic Mile and Palmer Chairs on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through October, weather and conditions permitting. We’ll look to open more lifts as soon as the snow starts to fall and we can build a base on the lower mountain.”

The Palmer Snowfield is recommended for advanced intermediate and above skill level only, and downloading on the Magic Mile lift is required during the early season.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic there’s been fresh snow in the Alps again in recent days with up to 30cm (a foot) falling and leaving powder conditions at the open glacier ski areas, which are now back in to double figures thanks to resorts opening in Austria, France and Switzerland.

With the reopening of the Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun, Austria has by far the widest choice of ski areas open in the northern hemisphere with seven centers to choose from. The Stubai (60cm), Solden (61cm), Kaurnertal (55cm) Molltal (90cm) and Pitztal (33cm) are also all open, with only the Dachstein glacier remaining closed. Hintertux, which is open virtually all year, has a 1.1m base but has expanded the amount of open terrain to 39km over a 600m plus vertical, and so is offering one of the largest snow areas open anywhere at present.

France is also now back in to the ski and board market with the reopening of Tignes glacier (50cm) last weekend.

In Switzerland, The Titlis glacier above Engelberg plans to open its slopes this Saturday, two weeks earlier than last year, with snow cover of up to 70cm.

“This is the earliest opening date possible,” said Peter Reinle of Titlis Rotair, who believes that opening the slopes in September wouldn’t make sense as the snow might melt again and most people don’t think of skiing. But, “From now on there’s a big chance the snow will stay,” Reinle said.

Titlis will join already, and almost always open Sass Fee and Zermatt, both with more than a meter of snow.

In Italy Val Senales and Passo Stelvio remain open, the former with over a meter of snow and 30cm of that fresh from last weekend.

Elsewhere in Europe, Ruka in Finnish Lapland has revised its initial plan to open this Friday to two weeks later on October 15th.

Following the heavy snow storms that brought up to a meter of new snow to New Zealand’s ski slopes – in some cases the biggest falls of the southern hemisphere’s winter – a number of areas have announced they intend to stay open longer than originally planned. Whakapapa and Turoa on Mt. Ruapehu both plan to stay open longer, in the latter case hopefully into November.

Turoa’s season will be extended for skiing until Nov. 7, making. Mt Ruapehu’s the longest season in the southern hemisphere. Whakapapa’s upper mountain facilities will remain open until Labor Day, Oct. 25, and the Happy Valley beginners’ area will be open a week longer than planned until Oct. 10.

Mt. Ruapehu marketing manager, Mike Smith says that while the recent storm that lashed the entire country meant down time on the mountain, the end result is positive for Mt. Ruapehu with plenty of snow and the best snow conditions of the whole winter season.

“We’d never experienced such a fierce and sustained storm as that one in our organization’s history – it was completely unprecedented,” says Smith. “However, despite having to close for so many days, the storm brought with it plenty of snow so our bases are looking very healthy at over two meters on both sides of the mountain.”

In Queenstown on the south island, Coronet Peak, which had intended to close on Sunday, will stay open an extra week to Oct. 10.

The weather in New Zealand has settled down a lot after the extremes of last week. But it is still snowing and Mt. Hutt has reported another 15cm (six inches) overnight, keeping its base near two meters on 195cm (6.5 feet). The Remarkables has 180m (six feet) on the ground.

It’s the last week of the ski season in Australia but the snow is still falling with resorts reporting a dusting overnight as temperatures dipped well below freezing. At Mt. Hotham the average natural snow depth is 76cm with 140cm in snowmaking areas. Six lifts are open and the Summit Terrain Park is constructed for spring styling action as it warms up a lot in the day and the snow will tend to soften as the day progresses.

“The grooming team have been hard at work and all intermediate and beginner runs are nicely shaped and smoothed awaiting your turns,” said a spokesperson at nearby Mt. Buller. “Little Buller Spur and Summit are two of the top picks for the day.”

Perisher has 161cm (5.3 feet) of snow and says it was stay open up to and including Monday next week, Oct. 4.

It’s coming to the end of the ski season in South America, too, with many areas now closed. In Chile, Valle Nevado is one of the few still open and is due to close this weekend but still has a 30cm base. In Argentina the continent’ largest area, Catedral, is still open with a 115cm (just under four foot) base.