SAM Magazine-Kiltarlity, Scotland, Sept. 29, 2010-The website www.skiinfo.co.uk reports that as the southern hemisphere's ski season continues to wind down, resorts in France, Switzerland and the USA are opening, or have opened, in the last seven days. Fresh snow in the Alps and the start of snowmaking in Colorado are further signs that the ski season is just around the corner, and in fact in a dozen resorts it has already started.

There's been up to a foot of fresh snow in the Alps in recent days, providing powder conditions at the open glacier ski areas. These are now back in double figures, thanks to resorts opening in Austria, France and Switzerland.

With the reopening of the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, there are now seven areas open in Austria. In France, the glacier at Tignes reopened last weekend. In Switzerland, the Titlis glacier above Engelberg plans to open on Saturday, two weeks earlier than last year. It will join already (and almost always) open Sass Fee and Zermatt. In Italy, Val Senales and Passo Stelvio remain open.

In North America, following reports of heavy snow in Alberta and British Columbia last week, hike-up skiers have made first tracks at Fernie and others. Loveland, Colorado, has started snowmaking operations, while Timberline ski area in Oregon will reopen for weekends starting this Friday, Oct. 1.

"Late spring storms and focused summer grooming and maintenance of the Palmer Snowfield have provided a great level of snow above 7,000 feet," said a resorts spokesperson. "We'll be operating our Magic Mile and Palmer chairs on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through October [weather/conditions permitting]. We'll look to open more lifts as soon as the snow starts to fall and we can build a base on the lower mountain."