Two things coincide this week. On Thursday, 8 October, the first real cold front of the autumn crosses the Alps, and the weekend after it the glacier season starts in Tyrol and Salzburg: Sölden and the Stubai Glacier on Friday, the Kitzsteinhorn on Saturday.
A week ago it looked different. Kaunertal had cancelled its start, there was hardly any fresh snow on the glaciers, and whether snow would come in October at all was a coin toss in the weather models. Now it is certain.
How much snow falls on Thursday
For 8 October all 51 runs of the European weather model bring snow at 3,000 metres, in every glacier area in our overview. On 2 October it was just over half for that day. Central Switzerland gets the most:
Show the figures as a table
| Resort | driest tenth | middle run | wettest tenth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Titlis | 16 cm | 22 cm | 26 cm |
| Hintertux | 8 cm | 12 cm | 15 cm |
| Pitztal | 7 cm | 12 cm | 16 cm |
| Sölden, Stubai | 6 cm | 10 cm | 15 cm |
| Diavolezza | 6 cm | 10 cm | 15 cm |
| Saas-Fee | 4 cm | 9 cm | 15 cm |
| Zermatt, Cervinia | 6 cm | 9 cm | 12 cm |
| Mölltal | 4 cm | 8 cm | 12 cm |
| Kitzsteinhorn | 3 cm | 6 cm | 11 cm |
| Kaunertal, Val Senales | 4 cm | 6 cm | 11 cm |
Some weather apps show up to 50 centimetres for the Titlis. That is the high-resolution MeteoSwiss model, which gives 37 centimetres at 3,000 metres for Thursday and just under 50 by Saturday. In the ensemble not a single one of the 51 runs brings 50 centimetres by Friday. There will be plenty of snow either way, and by 21 October the middle run adds up to 24 to 64 centimetres depending on the resort. The full calculation is in our October forecast.
Who starts this weekend
| Resort | Start | What runs |
|---|---|---|
| Sölden | Friday, 9 October | Schwarze Schneid I and II gondolas, Karleskogl drag lift, one piste (piste 32) |
| Stubai Glacier | Friday, 9 October | glacier; the lift company lists open lifts at the start |
| Kitzsteinhorn | Saturday, 10 October | glacier, run down to the Gletscherjet 3/4 middle station |
All three confirm their dates on their own pages, Sölden with the line “Everything is currently going to plan!”. The weather brings little fresh snow before the start, 11 centimetres in Sölden and at Stubai in the middle run, 8 at the Kitzsteinhorn. So skiing will be mainly on snow that is already there or has been made. It is cold enough to make snow in every run.
Heading to Sölden: the glacier road is open from 07:30 to 16:30, toll-free with a valid ski pass. Winter tyres are mandatory, and the lift company recommends carrying snow chains. The glacier ski bus leaves Sölden (Innerschmiedhof) at 08:35 and 10:05 and reaches the Rettenbach glacier at 09:07 and 10:37.
Who is already running
- Pitztal since 26 September.
- Hintertux since 2 October.
- Saas-Fee since 3 October, at first with the two upper drag lifts, Allalin 2 and 3.
- Val Senales in training operation; free skiing on request, according to the lift company.
Who is still waiting
- Kaunertal called off its 26 September start and still names no new date, “as soon as snow and temperature conditions allow ski operations”.
- Titlis: 10 October had been announced. Whether it holds we could not check with the lift company by our deadline; its website was not reachable for us. We will add it.
- Diavolezza “from mid-October”, Mölltal on 23 October, Cervinia on 24 October, the same weekend as the World Cup in Sölden.
- Zermatt starts its winter season on 1 November, with Sunnegga/Rothorn and Gornergrat following on 28 November.
In November the first large resorts follow: Davos (6 November), Verbier (7 November), Glacier 3000 (8 November), Tignes (21 November), Samnaun (26 November), Les 2 Alpes (28 November). The Zugspitze, Germany’s only glacier ski area, is also planning to start on 27 November. All dates are kept up to date on our opening dates page.
Read on: When will the ski resorts really open? · World Cup in Sölden · Where can you ski in October? · Open now
Sources
- Weather data: ECMWF ensemble (IFS 0.25°, 51 runs) via Open-Meteo, retrieved on 7 October 2026 at 15:09, calculated at 3,000 metres; snow derived from precipitation and wet-bulb temperature (method in the October forecast). Single-model values for the Titlis from the MeteoSwiss ICON-CH2 model via Open-Meteo. Script: scripts/oktober-prognose.mjs.
- Dates and operations: soelden.com (ski area news, glacier road, glacier ski bus, timetable of line 70 of the Ötztaler Verkehrsgesellschaft), stubaier-gletscher.com, kitzsteinhorn.at, kaunertaler-gletscher.at, pitztaler-gletscher.at, hintertuxergletscher.at, saas-fee.ch, schnalstal.com, corvatsch-diavolezza.ch, moelltaler-gletscher.at, cervinia.it, matterhornparadise.ch, tignes.net, les2alpes.com, zugspitze.de, all retrieved between 2 and 7 October 2026.
