Preparing For An End-of-season Ski Trip

In an ideal world, we'd all be heading to the mountains in the peak of the season. Across Europe, this tends to be at the back end of December, all the way to March.

As we all know from recent events, we live in anything but an ideal world. The ski resorts know this more than most destinations; they have been eerily quiet for the past eighteen months. It means that particularly now, many of us will grasp any opportunity to hit the slopes - regardless of when in the year it is.

If you are prepping for a trip at the end of the traditional ski season, today's piece is for you. Let's now jump into several tips that can help you along your way.

Check the weather forecast

As outlined above, the weather conditions are tremendously different at the end of a traditional ski season. In fact, once you hit March, you can expect warm temperatures and plenty of sunshine.

For some holidays, this is the dream. For skiers, it is the opposite. In short, the colder the better, and you need to be checking those forecasts to see if snow is on the cards. It's not the end of the world if it's not, as you can always rely on snow cannons, but this is only possible if the temperatures are low enough to begin with. Take a look at the snow forecasts from Piste Pro before you pick up your gear. It might just save you some valuable rental fees.

The demand may drop at the end of the season

The ski season is a very predictable curve. If you were to plot it on a graph, there would be several bumps and dips along the way. However, at the back end of a run, you'd expect it to be slower than usual.

If you are going in the off season, here's some advice: don't even try to replicate the same kind of plan that you might commit to in the height of winter. There are far fewer people around; with that comes fewer lifts and runs getting affected by closures. In other words, it's not just the weather that can impact your resort, it's the classic issue of demand as well.

It's worth saying that this is less likely to happen in the current climate, with ski bookings for the current year through the roof as people bid to make up for lost time. However, it still might apply to other facilities that your resort offers.

There are no universal rules - some resorts close earlier than others

A final tip is to consider whether the resort itself will still be open. In other words, don’t rely on ‘industry standards’, as there isn’t really such a thing, and each resort can have its own rules.

This isn't something that will impact all European ski destinations, but it does apply to several. For example, in Austria and Italy the season starts closer to Christmas (and in some cases even later) than other resorts across Europe.

As a result, some of them close earlier. This means you'd have to head further north - possibly into Switzerland or France - in order to find another resort that could accommodate you. The final piece of advice here is to check how long a resort stays open for after Easter; this is often crucial if you are looking at skiing into May or June.