Italy splits into two halves. The high resorts near the Swiss and Austrian borders, from Stelvio to Courmayeur, had natural snow at Christmas in almost every year of the 30 winters 1984/85–2013/14. The famous Dolomites sit at 1,600–2,000 m mid-mountain and get between 9 and 22 snowy Christmases out of 30: the climate there is drier than on the northern side of the Alps, and the holidays depend on snow cannons. In the Apennines there was not a single Christmas with natural snow. For a Brit this means a simple rule: if you head to the Dolomites for New Year, you are buying pistes with snowmaking, not a winter landscape. The numbers describe the climate of 30 winters and model scenarios; this is climate, not a forecast. The resort's snow report will show what actually lies on the slopes in your week.
The site calls the holidays snowy when, from 22 December to 4 January, natural snow was at least 30 cm deep on at least 10 of 14 days. If that happened in 25 or more of the 30 winters, the resort counts as snow-sure.
Contents
- Dolomites: beautiful, but Christmas snow is a question mark
- Stelvio, Schnalstal and Courmayeur: snow every holiday season
- Cervinia: counted together with Zermatt
- Height helps, but not everywhere
- Apennines: even snowmaking doesn't help here
- Italy next to France, Switzerland and Austria
- Which Italian resort to pick for Christmas
Dolomites: beautiful, but Christmas snow is a question mark
Alta Badia and Val Gardena, with a mid-mountain height of 1,900 m, scored 22 snowy Christmases each out of the 30 winters 1984/85–2013/14; Cortina d'Ampezzo at 1,800 m scored 18, Val di Fassa at 1,900 m just 12, and Kronplatz - Plan de Corones at 1,600 m 9 out of 30. With snowmaking all five reach 30 of 30, and it is exactly this column that explains the Dolomites' reputation as a place where the runs are ready even in a snowless winter. Campiglio Dolomiti di Brenta at 2,000 m got 20 of 30.
An example: a group of friends wants to ski the Sella Ronda between Christmas and New Year and is choosing a base between Val di Fassa and Val Gardena. Both valleys sit at the same height, but the tally over 30 winters differs: 12 of 30 against 22 of 30. The model counts each region separately, so a base in Val Gardena gives better odds of snow around the runs, although you can ski the snowmaking-covered slopes from either.
Stelvio, Schnalstal and Courmayeur: snow every holiday season
The leader Passo Stelvio - Stilfserjoch, with a mid-mountain height of 3,000 m, did not miss a single Christmas across the 30 winters 1984/85–2013/14, nor did the Schnalstal glacier in South Tyrol at 2,600 m or Courmayeur in Aosta Valley at 2,000 m. Just behind the leader, Bormio Ski at 2,100 m scored 28 of 30 and Livigno at 2,300 m 26. Sestriere in the Via Lattea area at 2,200 m stopped at 24 of 30, one Christmas short of the mark.
Cervinia: counted together with Zermatt
On the site Breuil-Cervinia shares one ski area with Zermatt across the border between the two countries, and its numbers stand in the Zermatt - Breuil-Cervinia row on the Switzerland page: 30 snowy Christmases out of 30 winters 1984/85–2013/14.
Height helps, but not everywhere
Of the 36 Italian resorts with a mid-mountain height of 2,000 m or higher, 16 came out snow-sure over the winters 1984/85–2013/14; of the 16 resorts below 1,500 m, not one. The reason lies in the regions: the Crocus model from the Copernicus C3S dataset calculates snow by NUTS-3 region and 100 m height band, and the dry southern slopes of the Alps get less snow than the same altitude near the border. How mid-mountain is rounded and where the regions come from is explained in the methodology.
Apennines: even snowmaking doesn't help here
Area Sciistica Abetone at 1,500 m did not get a single snowy Christmas across the 30 winters 1984/85–2013/14 and managed only 5 days with at least 30 cm in a typical season. With snowmaking it reaches 11 of 30; Area Sciistica Schia Monte Caio at 1,300 m, which closes the table, gets 9 of 30. Across the country, snowmaking lifts 109 resorts out of 117 to 25 or more snowy Christmases, and Abetone and Schia Monte Caio are among the few exceptions. Bear in mind that “with snowmaking” here means averaged snow cannons and piste groomers in the model: the data has no way of knowing whether a resort actually owns such machinery (methodology).
Italy next to France, Switzerland and Austria
| Country | Snow-sure (winters 1984/85–2013/14) | Median resort, snowy Christmases out of 30 |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 19 of 117 | 15 |
| France | 30 of 125 | 18 |
| Austria | 62 of 134 | 23 |
| Switzerland | 63 of 95 | 28 |
On natural snow at Christmas Italy comes bottom of the Alpine four. Its strength is snowmaking: with it, the runs are ready almost everywhere over the holidays.
Which Italian resort to pick for Christmas
Natural snow over the holidays in 30 of 30 winters 1984/85–2013/14 went to Passo Stelvio - Stilfserjoch, Schnalstal, Courmayeur and Breuil-Cervinia (in the row with Zermatt); Bormio Ski with 28 and Livigno with 26 of 30 are reliable too. The Dolomites will suit you if pistes with snowmaking are acceptable: Alta Badia and Val Gardena each gave 22 of 30, Cortina d'Ampezzo 18, Val di Fassa 12, Kronplatz 9. The Apennines, such as Abetone, are not worth picking for Christmas even with the cannons factored in.