Questions about the ski season, answered with the record
Every answer here comes out of one dataset: 10 seasons of modelled snow depth at 53 ski destinations, read in the week each one traditionally opens. Where the record is unflattering, it is printed anyway.
10 seasons, the 2016 to 2025 opening weeks · computed 27 August 2026 · natural snow only
Snow-ready means modelled snow depth of at least 30 cm on at least 3 of the 7 opening-week days, natural snow only, no snowmaking modelled. Every figure on every page below is computed from the same 10-season dataset, last built 27 August 2026, and both tables behind it are free to download from the index.
Start with when you want to ski
Each page ranks the destinations that open in that window on whether the snow was actually there, and links straight through to live conditions.
Start with how the numbers work
The method pages. What the threshold is, what the index deliberately excludes, and what a score is worth.
Why these answers are different from the usual ones
Most pages answering "when do ski resorts open" reprint the resort's own calendar. That calendar is a plan, and a plan is not evidence. Everything here is built instead on one measured record: 10 seasons of modelled daily snow depth at 53 ski destinations, read in the week each one traditionally opens, with the same threshold applied to every destination and no exceptions.
The result is often unflattering, and it is printed anyway. 13 of the 53 have never had a natural base at opening in the whole record. The point is not to embarrass anyone: several of them are excellent mountains that open on time every year on snow they made. The point is that the difference between a name and a record is exactly the thing a traveller is trying to find out, and nobody selling the trip has a reason to tell them.
These are historical base rates, not forecasts, and they say nothing about this week. For this week, the live board shows where it is snowing right now and each destination file reads the weather model at that mountain's own elevations.
All 53 destinations in one ranked table, the season-by-season record behind every score, the full method, and both tables free to download under CC BY 4.0.
Curated destination files for all 53, each with live model conditions read at its own summit elevation.