J2Ski Snow Report - October 16th 2025
J2Ski Snow Report - October 16th 2025
Published : 16-Oct-2025 06:41
It's not open for a while yet, but Mammoth, California, got some snow...
The 2025–26 ski season is gathering pace in the Northern Hemisphere with 15 resorts now open across the Alps and Scandinavia — led by Austria's seven — while the Southern Hemisphere winds down to just four remaining areas and early snowfalls begin in Japan and North America.
The Snow Headlines - October 16th
- Two more Austrian ski areas open, bringing the total to seven, the most in the world right now.
- The Southern Hemisphere drops to four areas still open, with the last in the Andes closing this weekend.
- North America awaits the 25-26 season start with increasingly wintery weather in the west.
- A fourth Swiss centre, the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz, opens for 25/26 this weekend.
- First snowfalls of autumn have been reported in Japan.
- Sweden's 25-26 ski season starts on Saturday.
Snow forecast for high peaks!.
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World Overview
The Southern Hemisphere's ski season is nearly over, with only a handful of areas still operating in Australia, Chile, and New Zealand. Meanwhile, the Northern Hemisphere's 25/26 season is slowly gaining momentum, with 15 ski centres now open across five countries, exclusively in the Alps and Scandinavia so far.
Austria leads with seven areas running, including new openings in Carinthia and Salzburgerland. Italy and Switzerland each have several glacier resorts open, while France is still weeks away from its season start. Beyond the open resorts, more fresh snow has fallen across Eastern Europe, with reports from Bulgaria's Balkans and even Turkey.
There remains nowhere open in North America yet, but we are getting closer with colder temperatures triggering snowmaking and early snowfalls of up to 46 cm/18 inches reported, along with high-altitude road closures and storm alerts. Further afield, Japan's Hokkaido region saw the country's first flakes of the coming winter.
Northern Hemisphere
The Alps
Around a dozen glacier areas are now open across Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, with Austria leading the charge with half of all the open areas located there, particularly in the Tirol, where Hintertux currently offers 25 km/15.5 miles of terrain despite a modest snow base.
Sölden follows with 22 km/13.7 miles, gearing up for the World Cup opener in two weeks. Other Austrian glaciers, including Stubai, Kaunertal, Pitztal, and the newly opened Kitzsteinhorn (Salzburgerland) and Molltal (Carinthia), offer between 3 km/1.9 miles and 8 km/5 miles of skiing, with snow farming helping to boost coverage at the latter.
Switzerland has climbed into second place for open areas, with Saas-Fee and Zermatt each offering around 15 km/9.3 miles of glacier runs. The Schilthorn terrain park, built from saved spring snow, adds a unique option, while Diavolezza near St Moritz opens this weekend.
Italy's Stelvio glacier is nearing the end of its long summer season, while Val Senales is just beginning its winter operations—both offering around 5 km/3.1 miles of mixed-use slopes.
The first half of the week saw settled weather above 2000 m/6562 ft, with sunny skies, light winds, and mild summit temperatures between 2°C/36°F and 6°C/43°F. The freezing level has hovered around 2300 m/7546 ft to 2900 m/9514 ft, creating freeze-thaw conditions on the glaciers. A wintry shift was expected midweek, with snow showers and snow falling on high slopes as temperatures dropped to -5°C/23°F at elevation, with gusty winds, providing fresh coverage across high-altitude terrain.
Scandinavia
It has been fairly cold with occasional snow showers on high slopes in Scandinavia this past week. The summer ski runs on Norway's highest peak, Galdhøpiggen, continue to operate, with a couple of kilometres of slopes open there. The same is true in Finland, where Levi and Ruka have similar amounts of terrain open, plus terrain park features. They are still mostly relying on the farmed snow saved from last season.
The next centre to open will be the first in Sweden for 25-26; Kåbdalis has used snow farming to stockpile snow through the summer and is currently spreading it back out on the slopes, ready to unveil a few kilometres of slopes on Saturday.
USA
North America's 25/26 ski season is edging closer, with widespread snowfall on high peaks and cold temperatures fuelling pre-season preparations. Snowmaking has begun at key resorts, with Arapahoe Basin, Loveland, and Keystone among those vying to open first—all targeting October.
Copper Mountain is also firing up its systems ahead of its scheduled 6 November launch.
In the past week, snowfall warnings were issued across eight states, with Alaska and Montana initially seeing the heaviest accumulations.
Recently, snowfalls in California have topped what with Bear Valley reporting an 46 cm/18 inch accumulation. Staff-member skiers have also been spotted on fresh snow on high slopes at Silverton in Colorado, which is already snow-covered, although it does not open to the public for another few months.
Canada's high-altitude resorts are also experiencing snowy conditions. Alberta and British Columbia have reported fresh snow, with Silver Star logging its first autumn flakes, while Marmot Basin and Sunshine Village continue to build on multiple early-season snowfalls.
Provisional opening dates are now less than a month away. Weather patterns remain dynamic. The Pacific Northwest and British Columbia's Coast Mountains have received more snowfall at higher elevations, while the Rockies are seeing intermittent flurries and colder air to end the week.
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere's ski season is drawing to a close, with most areas now shut.
In Australia, all major resorts have closed, though Tasmania's Mount Mawson has reopened intermittently after fresh snow.
In New Zealand, South Island fields have wrapped up, including Mount Hutt, which closed early due to poor weather.
However, Whakapapa and Turoa on the North Island remain open, with light snow and strong winds forecast midweek.
In the Andes, only Chile's Valle Nevado is still operating, until this coming Sunday when it will be the last to close, reporting good conditions and over half its terrain open. There was snowfall here over the past few days but also strong winds, though conditions should ease by the weekend.
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