Winter is Coming, Bringing Hope for the 2025/2026 European Ski Season

The leaves are beginning to fall from Europe’s trees. The next thing to fall across our continent, outside of the autumnal showers that mark the end of summer, will be snow. The saving grace that gets us all through winter, ski season, is coming. 

We had a dry but brilliant summer. Thankfully, that same precipitation-free pattern won’t continue, as our mountain regions long for the early-season snow dumps that provide the base for the ensuing five glorious months of vertical descent on two planks (or one). 

Unlike the changing of the seasons, optimal skiing conditions are never guaranteed, even in the depths of winter. Europe’s (and North America’s) ski seasons have presented a mixed bag in recent years. Promise in December from heavy snowfall, followed by warm temperatures in the peak months reversing that good work, only for a spring resurgence to catch us all off guard. And then the opposite the year after. Ski seasons are not predictable, and increasingly so in our modern world as we try to understand our changing climate. 

The organisers of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, alongside participants, and spectators at resort, or home, will all be hoping for more typical Italian alpine winter conditions. Queue romantic memories of watching snow-drenched Winter Olympic Games from the cosy comfort of our sitting rooms, accompanied by a bowl of soup and hot drink of choice. Good conditions in Italy in February 2026 likely mean good conditions across the Alps for those not competing for an Olympic medal, and instead on a family trip, meandering down a blue run followed by a vin chaud with a view across the Alps.

Across Europe, the resorts, the lift infrastructure, the mountain restaurants, chalet staff, and ski hire shops will be there, open and ready for business, as they are every year. The Three Valleys, Tignes/Val d’Isere, Zermatt, Ski Arlberg, and Chamonix are ready to go. The historical resorts of Europe, alongside their teams, are so refined now, and run like clockwork. Only one component will make or break the 2025/26 season: the weather, and it’s why we spend so much time talking about it. 

The 2025/26 ski season could coincide with a La Niña weather pattern, which typically brings lower temperatures and increased levels of precipitation in Europe. But, to the surprise of no one, it’s never that straightforward with weather. La Niña is not guaranteed, and even if it was, its positive snow-bringing effects during your week in the Alps aren’t. 

If you follow the long-range forecasts, which currently point to an early La Niña pattern prediction, the US and Canada benefit from cooler conditions. Back over the pond, this extends to a potential cold spell in northern and central Europe, particularly throughout January. The rest is more difficult to predict, with some forecasts even suggesting less precipitation for the rest of the season. La Niña who?

If you’ve booked for 2025/2026, or are booking soon, the excitement will build as you step outside each day and notice an increasingly cool chill in the air. We’ll be checking resort webcams before we know it. 

The snow-sure resorts are called just that for a reason, they’re snow-sure. And like with summer trips, the weather is always a roll of the dice. Outside of the climate consideration, when we reflect on ski trips, the weather we experience should be analysed with the same laissez-faire attitude as our trips everywhere else. After all, that’s what makes bluebird days special. They’re never guaranteed. 

Thankfully, European weather is as unpredictable as European politics. Collectively, we’ll go into another European ski season hoping for the best, but knowing the greatest days out in the most beautiful areas of our planet are guaranteed, whatever the weather.