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Professor Klaus Schwab attends the 20th Anniversary Schwab Foundation Gala Dinner in New York, NY USA. Copyright by World, World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

Season · December–March

Ski Season

December to March: St. Moritz, Gstaad, Courchevel, Kitzbühel, Wengen, Davos and Aspen, from the Christmas opening to the Engadin marathon

The ski season is the international calendar's only season defined by a sport rather than by a place, and it has a fixed set of dates that has barely changed in decades. The resorts open for the Christmas holidays in the third week of December; the World Cup downhills at Wengen and Kitzbühel fall on consecutive January weekends; the Snow Polo World Cup and White Turf put polo and racing on the frozen St. Moritz lake in late January and February; the Courchevel fireworks festival lights the Thursdays of February and March; and the Engadin Skimarathon in mid-March, with several thousand skiers crossing the frozen lakes between Maloja and S-chanf, is the season's traditional last day out. Davos in January and the Winter X Games in Aspen are the two events that bring people to the mountains for reasons other than snow.

The season's center is the Engadin. St. Moritz has more fixed events than any other resort, the Cresta Run is in operation from Christmas to the end of February, and the lake gives the resort a stage nothing else in the Alps has. Gstaad's season is musical as much as sporting, with the Sommets Musicaux in the village churches in late January and early February. Kitzbühel's is built around one weekend. Aspen's is the American counterpart, with the X Games at the end of January and the holiday fortnight as its peak.

01The destinations

Badrutt's Palace Hotel, St. Moritz Switzerland St. Moritz The Engadine resort where Alpine winter tourism began in 1864, quiet outside two seasons. St. Niklaus Chapel, 59 Promenade, Gstaad, Canton of Bern, Switzerland, view from north Switzerland Gstaad A Bernese Oberland village built on skiing since the 1920s and music since 1957. Courchevel France Courchevel A purpose-built French resort of four villages, the best-known gate to the Three Valleys. Church of Our Lady, parish church St, Kitzbühel Austria Kitzbühel A medieval Tyrolean town known for the hardest downhill in ski racing each January. The John Denver Sanctuary in Rio Grande Park, Aspen, Colorado United States Aspen A Colorado mining town, rebuilt after 1945 around skiing and ideas, busy in two seasons. Klosters Parsenn, Klosters, Switzerland, Davos Switzerland Davos The Alpine town of 11,000 that hosts the World Economic Forum each January. Park City Utah Historical Wood Cabin photo Don Ramey Logan United States Park City A Utah mining town with two large ski resorts, and Sundance's host through January 2026. Sun Valley, Idaho United States Sun Valley The first purpose-built destination ski resort in the US, opened by a railroad in 1936.
St. Moritz Gstaad Courchevel Kitzbühel Aspen Davos Park City Sun Valley

02How it moves

The season opens quietly and peaks twice. The Christmas fortnight, from around the 20th of December to Epiphany, is the first peak, and it is about occupancy rather than events: St. Moritz, Gstaad, Courchevel and Aspen are full, prices are at their highest, and the calendar is the resorts' own. The second week of January is the lull, and the one to choose for skiing rather than for the season.

The second peak is the last two weeks of January and the first of February, and this one is built on events. Wengen's Lauberhorn weekend comes first, in the middle of January; Davos overlaps it and runs into the following week; Kitzbühel's Hahnenkamm is the next weekend, and its Saturday downhill is the most watched day of the alpine year; the Snow Polo World Cup on the St. Moritz lake is the last weekend of January, with the Sommets Musicaux running in Gstaad at the same time; Winter X Games in Aspen and Sundance in Park City fall in the same fortnight on the other side of the Atlantic. White Turf then takes the St. Moritz lake for the Sundays of February.

March is the long ending. The Courchevel fireworks festival runs on Thursday evenings from February into March; the Engadin Skimarathon is the second Sunday of March; the high resorts stay open into April, but the international calendar has moved to Palm Beach, Monaco and the Caribbean by then.

03The events

  1. 22Jan
    AspenWinter X Games Aspen · Winter X Games 31 Expected
  2. 21Jan
    BoulderSundance Film Festival · First Boulder edition Confirmed
  3. 18Jan
    DavosWorld Economic Forum Annual Meeting · 57th Annual Meeting Confirmed
  4. 15Jan
    WengenLauberhorn Races · 97th International Lauberhorn Races Confirmed
  5. 18Jan
    KitzbühelHahnenkamm Races · 87th Hahnenkamm Races Confirmed
  6. 22Jan
    St. MoritzSnow Polo World Cup St. Moritz · 42nd Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz Confirmed
  7. 7Feb
    St. MoritzWhite Turf St. Moritz · First race day (120th White Turf) Confirmed
  8. 29Jan
    GstaadSommets Musicaux de Gstaad · 27th edition Confirmed
  9. 7Feb
    CourchevelCourchevel International Fireworks Festival · 23rd edition Expected
  10. 6Mar
    EngadinEngadin Skimarathon Confirmed

04Weather

Snow is the variable. The Christmas opening depends on early-season cover and has been thin in warm Decembers at lower resorts like Gstaad and Kitzbühel's town runs; St. Moritz, Courchevel's upper villages and Aspen are higher and more reliable. Late January and February are the coldest weeks and the most dependable for snow across the Alps; the St. Moritz lake events require measured ice and are shortened or moved when it is not thick enough, so the organizers' notices in the preceding week matter. March brings longer days, softer afternoon snow and the first spring conditions; the Engadin marathon has been rerouted in years when the lakes would not bear. Aspen's season runs later than the Alpine one, often into mid-April.

05Where next

The mountain crowd's next fixed points are in the sun: Cheltenham in mid-March, the Bal de la Rose in Monaco, the St. Barths Bucket, the Dubai World Cup at the end of the month, then Geneva, Augusta and the Monte-Carlo Masters in April. The Alps return to the calendar in July with the Verbier and Gstaad music festivals and the Hublot Polo Gold Cup in August.