The question comes every autumn, roughly when the first night drops below zero: when does it open?
Here are the planned dates for the coming season, and then the more useful part: why they sit where they do.
Planned opening dates 2026/27
According to SkiStar the plan looks like this:
Vemdalen - planned season opening from 3 December.
Sälen - official opening in connection with Ski Test Weekend from 4 December.
Trysil - official opening in connection with Ski Test Weekend from 4 December.
Åre - official opening in connection with Ski Test Weekend from 11 December.
Hemsedal - official opening in connection with Ski Test Weekend from 11 December.
Individual slopes and lifts can open earlier if snow conditions allow. The pre-season runs from 2 November to 17 December.
The snow guarantee from 18 December
From 18 December 2026 SkiStar's alpine snow guarantee applies, meaning a set number of slopes and lifts are to be open at each destination.
In practice that is the most important line in the whole plan. An opening date tells you when something opens, not how much. The guarantee date is the first date on which you know roughly what you are getting.
Why the start of December
It is rarely about natural snow. It is about cold.
Snow guns need low temperature and low humidity to work efficiently, and they need several consecutive cold days to build the volume required for a season's base. Resorts therefore start producing as soon as the cold snaps arrive, often in November, and pile the snow into large heaps which are then spread out across the slopes.
That is why a resort nearly always opens with a handful of slopes first, usually the lowest ones or those with the best snowmaking, and expands from there.
What the terrain has to do with it
Which slope opens first is rarely random, and the reason is visible in the terrain.
North-facing slopes get less sun and hold manufactured snow considerably longer in November and December. Sheltered sections below the tree line do not get scoured bare by wind. And altitude gives a few degrees of margin, which can be the difference between production and rain.
It is also why a resort on a free-standing mountain, such as Trysilfjellet, has an advantage: there is always a sheltered side and a shaded side.
Before the season
The dates above are plans and can change with the weather, so always check with the resort itself before booking.
And if autumn feels long: the mountain pieces are the terrain you ski in, in the state it stays all year. More on what a resort's numbers actually mean is in the guide to vertical drop and altitude.