Spain's Formigal ski resort plans to open this weekend.

With the exception of Eastern North America, which is suffering from unseasonally warm temperatures and a complete lack of snowfall, most other parts of the Northern Hemisphere have enjoyed exceptional early season conditions leading to early openings.

Europe:

Resorts across the Alps, Dolomites and Pyrenees have reported big and on-going snowfalls.

Switzerland: Engelberg was virtually closed down by snow at the start of the week as a massive storm hit central Switzerland with over three feet of fresh snow. St. Moritz and the Engadin Valley received 1.3m (4.4ft). Most other Swiss resorts have done well, too. Sedrun, for example, received about a metre (three feet) of new snow on November 30th.

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The campaign is intended to reduce alcohol abuse in European ski resorts.

The British government has decided that alcohol abuse during ski vacations is a large enough problem to act upon.

A major safety awareness initiative by the Foreign Office to tackle the problem will come into full swing in December when the first British skiers will be heading for the French, Swiss and Italian ski slopes. The security and safety awareness campaign will also emphasize the necessity of full travel insurance coverage.

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Val Thorens has opened for the season. The French ski area the highest major resort in the Alps.

Many of the world’s major resorts in at least a dozen countries opened for the season this past weekend.

In Europe, several major alpine resorts opened their doors. Europe’s highest major resort Val Thorens is the second resort to open in France, joining Tignes which has been open for nearly two months already. In Austria, Obergurgl is opening and in Switzerland, Andermatt, Davos, Klosters, Flims and Laax join Engelberg, Zermatt, Verbier, Les Diablerets and Saas Fee which are already open. In Italy, Livigno is opening early and is running its lifts free of charge this week with no lift pass required.

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Colorado's Keysone ski resort is one of several that have opened over the last week.

The 2009-2010 season is continuing its promising early start with more heavy snow reported this week and a plethora of resorts across the northern hemisphere opening earlier than planned.

Big name resorts to open in the past few days include Cortina in Italy, Hemsedal in Norway, Keystone and Copper Mountain in the Western US and Killington and Bretton Woods in The East and Verbier in Switzerland.

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There will definitely be no border officials up there.

Although a year later than originally planned, Slovenia’s Kanin resort and Italy’s Sella Nevea resort will open a new cable car and piste linking the two ski areas this season.

The two resorts which straddle opposite sides of the mountain range splitting the two countries had planned to open the connected ski centre for the 2008-2009 season, but building permit delays prevented completion before last winter. The project has reportedly been estimated to cost €11.5 million ($17m).

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Sun Peaks in British Columbia, Canada on October 27. Photo Credit: Corey Wiwchar

Big snow falls across Europe and North America have propelled several ski areas into early openings over the last two weeks, and many others are getting ready.

SOURCE: skiinfo.co.uk

THE ALPS:

In the Alps, many Austrian resorts and glaciers are open, including Kitzbuhel whose early opening SkiRebel.com reported on a few days ago. The heavy snowfall there last week has set up some great conditions with most areas reporting a three to five-foot base. The glacial areas are Dachstein, Hintertux, Molltal, Kitzsteinhorn (Kaprun), Pitztal, Solden, Stubai, and Tux.

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snowcarbon.co.uk wants to get Brits to the Alps without leaving the ground

A new UK-based website is attempting to be a one-stop shop for train trips to ski destinations in the Alps.

It’s called Snowcarbon, and it explains exactly how to book rail journeys, how to get the best fares, and which resorts are easiest to reach by train. Founded by two respected national travel journalists, the site purports to fill a vital gap. Before it, there was no single source of information about rail travel to ski resorts.

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