Early Season

The mountains begin to come alive as early as October

At this point, some particularly high resorts look to open and the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup kicks off. Skiing will still be limited to high, glaciated resorts or those with good snow making infrastructure on their upper slopes in the Alps, but in North America some big hitters get going around this time. The first heavy snowfalls, hopefully, begin to build the snowpack.

By late November, more “normal” service begins as cold temperatures bring in good snow and preserve the embryonic snowpack. Some of the best value skiing can be found in a number of iconic resorts during this period, although don’t expect full areas to be open – the Grand Massif, for example, opens in mid-December a few weeks after the highest resort, Flaine, as do to the links between Tignes and Val d’Isére.

Shifting weather patterns and consumer taste means that this time of year is beginning to represent better and better value. Tour operators are offering better deals to ski in this uncertain period up to and including mid-December, and it is worth keeping an eye out for deals becoming available in September and October.

Christmas & New Year

Celebrating Christmas in the Alps can be heaven for many people.

Traditional celebrations, such as carol singing in the woods and piglet racing at Klosters, draw skiers and non-skiers alike to the mountains. For good value skiing with the whole family, this is often the best time to go, as the lingering early season snow uncertainty means good deals can still be found. However, conditions often have stabilised at this time, meaning good snow cover reaches all elevations and resorts large and small are open.

This can be an excellent time to head to North America. An earlier start to the season often means the season and the snowpack are more established in the Rockies and other mountain ranges, with plenty of time to explore true bucket list destinations.

January

The season really begins to shift through the gears in January.

Children have returned to school and mid-winter weather bringing excellent conditions across the Alps. For those who love to see the mountains bathed in snow, now is the time to head to the hills, as the snowpack builds deep enough to covered peaks and valleys alike. Often, this snowpack will have stabilised to reduce – although not eliminate – the avalanche risk, opening up off-piste routes around the world.

Be prepared, though, peak weeks in mid-January are often some of the busiest non-school-holiday-periods. The good, reliable conditions, plus the need to escape mid-winter blues, mean many people head to the mountains in January. The Ski Club runs its busiest holiday programme during, roughly, the third week of January – explore all our holiday options now to see the full range available.

January and February is the time of year to strike out for destinations like Japan, which host an enviable snow record but a noticeably shorter season than in the Alps and North America – expect the good stuff to be long gone by the time early- or mid-March rolls around.

February & Half-Term

Half-term holidays kick off in February across Europe

The middle weeks of February – coinciding with holiday dates in the UK as well as Alpine nations such as France and Switzerland – being the busiest weeks of the season. Expect busy slopes and peak pricing, but good skiing conditions as the snowpack will be deep and solid by this point. Some countries stagger their half-term breaks, such as France with a quarter of the country taking a week off through each week of February, meaning you may not escape the busy patches by booking outside UK holiday times.

If you are tied to half term skiing due to children, there are several things to consider. Book early to get access to early bird deals, and think carefully about where to ski – the best places might big resorts with good infrastructure to handle the crowds, such as Tignes or Les Arcs; or resorts off the beaten track for UK skiers, such as St. Gervais, SkiWelt or Saalbach Hinterglemm.

Looking to entertain the children on holiday? Many ski schools, including ESF in France, offer week-long instruction camps, really pushing and growing your child’s skiing development, and helping keep good skiers entertained with off-piste and freestyle days.

Spring & Easter

With the onset of March comes, in varying order, Easter and Spring.

Similar to January, mid-March presents some of the busiest non-school holiday periods in the season. People are heading to the mountains for spring sunshine, to sit on the terrace of their favourite restaurants with a glass of wine for the afternoon; to party away at one of the myriad music or comedy festivals that take place; or to free the heel and ski tour, setting off from the lifts each morning or skinning from hut-to-hut across the Alps.

This is also the time of school Easter holidays and can be the perfect time to get children into skiing. Not only is it cheaper – with holidays more spread out than one week in February and less surety of snow in lower resorts – but the warmer weather means less chance of children becoming cold and uncomfortable!

Summer Skiing

Just because the season comes to an end doesn’t mean the skiing has to.

Summer skiing has been drastically impacted by climate change in recent years, turning the certainty of glacier skiing into anything but. However, a number of resorts still aim to offer summer skiing for around six weeks each spring and summer, with Hintertux in Austria still offering skiing 365 days a year. Zermatt and Tignes are still good bets for summer skiing, too.

And, for those in search of a proper winter, why not head south? Skiing in Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand all comes to life whilst summer plays out in the north, offering the chance for snow-starved aficionados to get their powder fix in year-round.