The glacier season is starting. Seven areas have an opening date, the Stelvio has been running again since 4 September, and Val Senales joins on Saturday.
One is missing from that list: Zermatt. Over the next sixteen days the Theodul glacier faces thirteen frosty nights and 3.2 centimetres of fresh snow, more snow than any other area in this overview. Nothing has been announced.
The dates, and where they come from
| Area | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Stelvio | open since 4 September | confirmed, operator statement |
| Val Senales | Saturday 19 September | confirmed, written reply to us |
| Kaunertal | Saturday 26 September | announced, not cross-checked |
| Pitztal | Saturday 26 September | announced, not cross-checked |
| Sölden | Saturday 26 September | brought forward, confirmation pending |
| Stubai | Friday 2 October | announced, not cross-checked |
| Hintertux | Sunday 4 October | announced, not cross-checked |
| Zermatt | none | no announcement |
| Saas-Fee | Sunday 1 November | winter operation, no autumn skiing |
The right-hand column is the actual content of this table. Two dates come straight from the operators, the rest from an overview published on 1 September that we have not yet checked back with the lift companies. A second-hand date is a good lead, not a commitment, and that difference belongs in the table rather than in a footnote.
One date sits differently from the others. For Sölden the overview of 1 September still gave 4 October. According to our information the start was brought forward to 26 September, which is what happens after snow and cold in September. We have not confirmed it with the lift company, so that is how it appears in the table.
What the weather says about it
Two rows of this chart are worth a second look.
Zermatt sits in second place and still is not opening. Thirteen frosty nights, 3.2 centimetres of fresh snow, the highest figure of the group, and on 24 September the first day in months that does not rise above freezing even in the afternoon. That is exactly the condition we identified at the end of August as the decisive one, because it was what tipped it in 2022. It is now in the outlook for the first time.
Sölden sits at the other end and wants to open earliest of the Austrians. Eight frosty nights, 0.2 centimetres of fresh snow, and at 3,050 metres the lowest terrain in the overview. That is not a contradiction but the reason snowfarming exists there: the snow for the season opening has been waiting under fleece since spring, it does not have to fall in September.
Why Zermatt is not the outlier it looks like
It is tempting to read something into the silence. We will not, and the reason is in the Zermatt Bergbahnen statement from the summer. Alongside the weather it carries a second sentence that most reports leave out: the challenges of technically maintaining the transport installations are steadily increasing.
Frost does not repair a lift. What helped in 2022, besides the cold, was that maintenance work continued during the closure and the installations were ready when the weather came. Whether that is the case this time we do not know, and we are not pretending otherwise.
For Saas-Fee the question does not arise. There the summer operation was not suspended but ended, on the grounds that pistes and glacier infrastructure no longer meet the standards. The next date is winter operation on 1 November.
What we are working on
This table is an interim state, not a finished article. Two things are missing, and we write them down so it is clear what is still to come:
- Cross-check the five dates with the lift companies, above all the brought forward start in Sölden. Asked, answer pending.
- Zermatt. As soon as there is an announcement it will appear here and on the resort page.
If you need certainty before then, check the operator’s own site. Every date is subject to sufficient snow and cold anyway, including the confirmed ones.
Read on: When can the glaciers reopen? · The Stelvio reopens · Snowfarming: how a pile of snow survives the summer · How will the winter of 2026/27 turn out?
Sources and method
- Val Senales: written reply from Vinschgau Marketing of 1 September 2026 to our enquiry.
- Stelvio: statement by S.I.F.A.S. on passostelvio.eu, operations resumed on 4 September 2026, daily 06:30 to 12:00.
- Kaunertal, Pitztal, Stubai: overview on schneehoehen.de of 1 September 2026. Not cross-checked with the lift companies; enquiries are out.
- Sölden: the same overview gave 4 October. The start brought forward to 26 September rests on our own information and is not yet confirmed by the lift company.
- Hintertux: announced season start on 4 October 2026. The same overview names a park opening from 2 to 4 October.
- Zermatt and Saas-Fee: statements by Zermatt Bergbahnen and Saastal Bergbahnen from summer 2026; as of 14 September 2026 there is no new announcement.
- Weather data: Open-Meteo, which combines the models of MeteoSwiss and the German weather service, retrieved on 14 September 2026. For each area the altitude of the ski terrain was fixed, otherwise the model uses the altitude of its grid point. The first seven to eight days are reliable, after that it is a trend.
