While this time last year many European and American resorts were speaking of bringing forward their opening dates to get the season under way early, this year most are staying decidedly tight lipped.

In the USA, Colorado is the best, but by no means good and the bigger resorts are talking of having 10 to 25% of their ski-ing on offer for Thanksgiving, with maximum snow depths of 40 to 50cm on the upper mountains. Accumulations recently have just been the result of intermittent snow showers and forecasts promise nothing in the way of a serious dump of snow over the next week. In the New England resorts it has been cold enough to make use of extensive snow-making facilities, so ski-ing is improving all the time as long as it remains below freezing.

Europe mirrors the UK. It has remained mild, and only the very high resorts are being able to make snow. Verbier, in common with the rest of Switzerland, has little snow to speak of and St Anton in Austria is much the same.

Information supplied by SKI HOTLINE. For details of conditions and weather reports from any of 200 different resorts call 0891 881900 (calls charged at 50p per minute).