Which ski resorts open in December?

15 of the 53 destinations in this index do, 11 of them in the first week, and as a group they have the healthiest opening-week record on the calendar.

10 seasons, the 2016 to 2025 opening weeks · computed 27 August 2026 · natural snow only

Imperial when your device is on a US time zone, metric otherwise, until you choose.

15 of the 53 destinations in the Opening-Week Snow Reliability Index traditionally open in December, and 11 of those open in the first week. December is where the record turns healthy: 5 of the 15 were snow-ready in at least 8 of the last 10 seasons, and only 1 was snow-ready in none. Revelstoke leads at 10/10 and 95.2 cm37.5 in.

Put the two months side by side and the shape of the season appears: 26 per cent of November's openings clear the 8-season bar against 33 per cent of December's. These are different mountains, not the same mountains a month later, so this is not a measurement of what December does to a November resort. It is a measurement of the choice: the group of resorts that waits for December is opening into a week the weather has usually already delivered.

Opening in the first week of December

11 destinations, the largest December window. Snow-ready means modelled snow depth of at least 30 cm (12 in) on at least 3 of the 7 opening-week days, natural snow only, no snowmaking modelled.

Index #	Destination	Country	Opening week	Score	Mean depth	Model cell
3	Revelstoke	Canada	Early December	10/10	95.2CM37.5IN	2241M7352FT
5	St. Anton am Arlberg	Austria	December	10/10	68.6CM27IN	1417M4649FT
8	Chamonix	France	December	9/10	72.7CM28.6IN	1034M3392FT
9	Verbier	Switzerland	Early December	9/10	69.2CM27.2IN	1555M5102FT
20	Val Gardena	Italy	Early December	5/10	31.9CM12.6IN	2007M6585FT
23	Zakopane / Kasprowy Wierch	Poland	December	3/10	19.8CM7.8IN	1926M6319FT
26	Grandvalira	Andorra	Early December	2/10	22.1CM8.7IN	2402M7881FT
28	Kranjska Gora	Slovenia	Early December	2/10	17.8CM7IN	1442M4731FT
31	Jasná – Chopok	Slovakia	December	2/10	15.6CM6.1IN	1276M4186FT
34	Niseko United	Japan	Early December	1/10	15.3CM6IN	302M991FT
41	Špindlerův Mlýn	Czechia	Early December	0/10	11.7CM4.6IN	1225M4019FT

Opening in mid December

3 destinations, windows of 11 to 17 December.

Index #	Destination	Country	Opening week	Score	Mean depth	Model cell
13	Garmisch-Classic	Germany	Mid December	9/10	52.8CM20.8IN	1915M6283FT
19	Hakuba Valley	Japan	Mid December	5/10	33.3CM13.1IN	720M2362FT
38	Bansko	Bulgaria	Mid December	1/10	10.1CM4IN	2627M8619FT

Opening in late December

1 destination, window of 21 to 27 December, and the strongest late-opening record in the index.

Index #	Destination	Country	Opening week	Seasons snow-ready	Score	Mean depth	Model cell
17	Gudauri	Georgia	Late December		7/10	44.4CM17.5IN	2881M9452FT

The model cell column is the elevation the weather reanalysis assigns to that destination's grid square, being the average of all the terrain inside it. Read a score against the cell, not against the summit: the full index sets out why. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), adapted for display.

The Christmas week question

Most of these mountains are open well before the holidays, so the December opening week is not the same question as the Christmas week conditions. What the record does say is that a destination which cannot clear 30 cm12 in in its own opening week in most years is starting the holiday period on a thin, manufactured base, and it will stay dependent on what falls between the opening and the school holidays. The 7 December openings scoring 3 or fewer seasons out of 10 are the ones to check the live forecast for before committing.

Read the model cell before you read the score

Two December rows show why the cell column matters. Garmisch-Classic is read at 1915 m6283 ft, near the top of a ski area that starts at 740 m2428 ft, and scores 9/10. Chamonix is read at 1034 m3392 ft, near the valley floor of a ski area that reaches 3842 m12605 ft, and scores 9/10. Both numbers are honest; they are answering slightly different questions about the same mountain, and the cell column is how you tell which.