Glaciers in November 2026: what conditions to expect from 7 to 14 November

To be honest: not much for certain. Everything I write below about November is based on long-range forecasts and my own speculation from them, not a prediction of conditions. A specific forecast for a chosen glacier is worth reading 7 to 10 days before departure at the earliest. It is, however, worth knowing where we are starting from and which scenarios are more or less likely today.

Why is this autumn different from previous ones?

In summer 2026 every lift-served glacier in Europe closed. According to Snow-Forecast, this happened for the first time in 60 years. Saas-Fee stopped skiing on 10 August, Zermatt suspended public skiing on the Theodul from 1 August, and Passo Stelvio ended its season on 15 August because there was no overnight frost and the snow was no longer safe. The Swiss monitoring network GLAMOS reported that the country's glaciers lost more than 5% of their remaining ice this year.

Then came a warm, dry September. On 15 September, when I wrote about the situation on the Austrian glaciers, Pitztal and Kaunertal were reporting zero centimetres of snow, including at Café 3440. Opening dates began to fall apart. Sölden planned to start on 25 September and opened on 9 October. Kaunertal cancelled the opening planned for 26 September and has still not announced a new date.

Which glaciers are already open and what are conditions like?

The figures speak for themselves. Pitztal and Kitzsteinhorn each have 6% of their pistes open, Hintertux just under a quarter, and the whole of Sölden is currently one piste. Kaprun, which opened today as planned, has the deepest reported snow: 50 cm at the top station. In Tyrol the snow cover is in practice a thin layer of fresh snow on top of the ice and on whatever the resorts managed to store under covers in snow depots. Sölden is currently spreading snow from those depots on the World Cup slope on the Rettenbach, because on 24 and 25 October it hosts the giant slaloms that open the World Cup.

The front that crossed the Alps on 8 October was forecast to bring 10 to 20 cm high in the mountains. Reports from Tyrol point to the lower end of that range or less. The webcams show a wintry landscape, but there is still no base for the pistes.

What do the forecasts say for the second half of October?

The news here is not good. The latest runs of the European ECMWF model, discussed by Meteored on 7 October, show a blocking high over Central and Eastern Europe. Lows are expected to circulate to the west and south-west of the Alps, sending warm south-westerly air our way. For October as a whole, the model gives the Alps a temperature anomaly of 2 to 3 degrees above normal and below-average precipitation on the northern side of the range.

There is one interesting detail. The same pressure pattern means a wetter signal on the southern side of the Alps. If lows over the western Mediterranean start pushing moisture onto the main ridge, the first heavy precipitation could hit Val Senales, Sulden, Stelvio and the Matterhorn area rather than Tyrol. The catch is that with a southerly flow the freezing level can sit above 3,000 m, so even heavy precipitation may fall as rain up to the height of the top stations.

Glaciers in November: three scenarios for 7 to 14 November

For November itself we only have seasonal forecasts, and they need to be read with care. As ECMWF itself stresses, they describe the probability of departures from normal over months, not the weather in a given week. The closest analysis we have covers Germany: according to wetter.com both ECMWF and the American CFS see November there as 1 to 2 degrees warmer than average and slightly wetter. Applying those numbers directly to the Alpine ridge would be a stretch. What remains is the general direction.

In the background a very strong El Niño is developing. Its effect on Europe is indirect and, as climatologists openly admit, it does not determine the Alpine winter. Seasonal models for Europe do, however, lean towards a “warm and wet” scenario, meaning plenty of snow above 1,800 to 2,000 m and rain in the valleys.

For anyone choosing glaciers in November, that is not a bad combination at all. The pistes lie between 2,600 and 3,400 m, so a warm, wet November may mean regular top-ups of snow at that altitude. That leaves three possible scenarios for 7 to 14 November.

Scenario one: the breakthrough comes at the turn of the month. The blocking high breaks down at the end of October or in the first days of November, a series of fronts moves into the Alps from the west or north-west, and half a metre, maybe a metre, falls in a few days. The glaciers then open pistes wholesale, and from 7 to 14 November we ski freshly prepared, wintry slopes. That is what happened in 2023: a warm October forced Kitzsteinhorn to push its opening back to 3 November, after which November brought very heavy snowfall to the high Alps.

Scenario two: winter arrives in instalments. Two or three smaller snowfalls of 10 to 20 cm each, with warm spells in between. At night it is possible to make snow and top up the base with snow from the depots. Roughly a third to a half of the glacier pistes are open, hard and with ice showing through in places, while the skiways down to the mid stations stay closed. I consider this the most likely variant today, because it fits the model signals best: warm, but not dry.

Scenario three: the high holds until mid-November. Sunshine, views and conditions close to the current ones, meaning a few pistes on each glacier. The least pleasant variant for one reason: the number of skiers will be the same as always, but there will be several times fewer kilometres to share.

Putting percentages on these scenarios would mean pretending to know what nobody knows. The most I can say is that no model currently points to the first, and none rules out the third.

Which glaciers to choose in November if your dates are already booked?

Glaciers in November are always a lottery, but with a season start like this three things matter more than usual: the altitude of the pistes, the resort's ability to produce and store snow, and how much terrain may open during your stay.

Sölden has a strong calendar argument here. The winter part of the resort is scheduled to open on 12 November, right in the middle of the week in question, and Gaislachkogl got a new snowmaking system before the season. The installations on the Schwarzkogl and Wasserkar have also been extended. If a few freezing nights come, the terrain will expand rapidly. If they do not, the date will be pushed back, which is worth bearing in mind.

Hintertux currently has the most open kilometres and the highest pistes in Austria, but skiing ends at 14:00 and it draws most of the training groups. Pitztal reaches 3,440 m and was the first to open this year, though terrain there is opening slowly. In good snowfall Stubai opens fastest of the five, because it has the most gentle glacier terrain. Kitzsteinhorn started its season on time and with 50 cm at the top, but its pistes end at 3,029 m, lower than in Tyrol, so it will feel a warm November more. Kaunertal remains an unknown until further notice.

On the southern side of the main ridge, Sulden opens on 24 October and Val Senales starts its Finail lifts on 31 October. Both resorts will therefore have at least a week of operation behind them before 7 November. If the wetter signal for the southern Alps proves right, these are the resorts that may have a better base than Tyrol. On the Matterhorn side, Zermatt reopens to visitors on 14 October and Cervinia starts daily operation on 24 October, and thanks to its altitude of 3,800 m this is the area least sensitive to warmth.

In practice: how to prepare for a November trip

The week from 7 to 15 November brings big ski test events: the Pitztal Testival (6 to 8 November), the Ski & Board Test on the Kitzsteinhorn (7 to 8 November) and the Intersport Testival on the Stubai (12 to 15 November). If you want peace and quiet, avoid those dates. If you want to try new ski models, you have them all in one week.

A few things that make a difference when the snow is thin:

• It is worth putting off the decision on a specific glacier until between 28 October and 2 November. By then the forecasts will cover your travel dates and the resorts will show what they have actually opened after the World Cup.
• Staying in a valley from which you can reach two glaciers gives you room to manoeuvre. From the Ötztal it is an hour's drive to Pitztal, from the Innsbruck area similarly to Stubai and not much further to Hintertux.
• Skis with sharp edges, and preferably not your newest pair. At the turn of October and November, rocks under a thin layer of snow are the norm, not bad luck.
• Take the first lifts. With only a few pistes open, the slope is skied off before eleven, and fenced-off training lanes take up part of the width.
• Organisers of club trips should ask the resort about training lane allocation now. With a limited number of pistes, lanes may be restricted.
• Bookings with free date changes are worth paying extra for this year.

Is it worth going?

Yes, as long as you are going for your first turns of the season rather than for the kilometres. Skiing at the turn of autumn and winter rarely offers the comfort of full winter, and this year starts from an exceptionally low point: after a summer in which every European glacier closed for the first time in six decades, and an October that looks set to be warmer than normal. At the same time, the models do not show a dry November, and at 3,000 m two decent snowfalls are enough to build the pistes.

The next test comes on 24 and 25 October in Sölden. If the Rettenbach hosts the World Cup on a wintry slope rather than a white ribbon among the rocks, it will be the first sign that the season is getting back on track. I will return to the subject of glaciers in November with an update at the beginning of November, when the forecasts cover specific days rather than trends.