Where can you ski in October?
12 areas, all of them on glaciers, in 3 countries. 3 of them are Swiss. The earliest opened on 19 September.
| Area | Opens | Top station | Day pass | Country | Status today |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schnalstaler Gletscher South Tyrol | 19 Septemberglacier, at first a single race piste | 3,212 m | EUR 62 | Italy | … |
| Pitztaler Gletscher Tyrol | 26 Septemberglacier | 3,440 m | EUR 77 | Austria | … |
| Hintertuxer Gletscher Tyrol | 2 Octoberglacier | 3,250 m | up to EUR 82 | Austria | … |
| Saas-Fee Valais | 3 Octoberglacier, at first the two upper drag lifts | 3,600 m | CHF 87 | Switzerland | … |
| Sölden (Rettenbach- und Tiefenbachferner) Tyrol | 9 Octoberglacier: Schwarze Schneid I and II gondolas, Karleskogl drag lift | 3,340 m | EUR 86.50 | Austria | … |
| Stubaier Gletscher Tyrol | 9 Octoberglacier | 3,210 m | EUR 75.50 | Austria | … |
| Kitzsteinhorn / Kaprun Salzburg | 10 Octoberglacier | 3,029 m | EUR 82 | Austria | … |
| Kaunertaler Gletscher Tyrol | 17 Octoberwinter season | 3,113 m | EUR 75 | Austria | … |
| Breuil-Cervinia / Valtournenche Aosta Valley | 24 OctoberPlateau Rosà | 3,480 m | EUR 64 | Italy | … |
| Diavolezza-Lagalb Grisons | 24 Octoberglacier run, confirmed on 19 October; until 15 November only Wed, Sat, Sun | 2,978 m | CHF 88 | Switzerland | … |
| Engelberg-Titlis Obwalden | 29 Octoberglacier | 3,028 m | CHF 78 | Switzerland | … |
| Stilfserjoch / Passo dello Stelvio South Tyrol | no date given | 3,450 m | EUR 48 | Italy | … |
What "open" means in October
Open and skiable are two different things, and in October the gap is wide. On its opening day, 19 September, Val Senales was running a single piste, roughly thirty metres wide, prepared hard and meant for racers; the Swedish team was among those training on it. The 42 kilometres the area advertises arrive with the natural snow, not with the opening.
That is the normal case in October, not an exception. Glacier areas open with what snowfarming and the glacier itself carry: one or two runs on the upper section, often reserved for race training in the mornings. Whoever wants a full area waits for December.
Every date here depends on enough snow and cold, including the confirmed ones. Only the lift company's own announcement is binding, and the state of every date is in our opening dates.
What it costs
A day pass in October runs from EUR 48 at Stilfserjoch / Passo dello Stelvio to CHF 88 at Diavolezza-Lagalb. That is the full price at the window for a single adult day, and it buys a fraction of the terrain the same ticket covers in February. Several areas sell cheaper autumn tickets; it is worth asking before you travel.
Areas without a date
1 of these areas give no fixed date: Stilfserjoch / Passo dello Stelvio. That is not an oversight on our part. Hintertux says "probably late September", Les 2 Alpes "early December" for its autumn window. Those are not dates, and we do not invent them. Where a lift company names a day, it is in the table above.
All glacier ski areas of the Alps → What is open right now →
Dates cross-checked with the lift companies on 20 September 2026. Key figures for the Swiss areas from our own dataset, for the others from skiresort.com. Status is worked out in the browser from today’s date, so it is a seasonal status and not a live lift report.