Dan Lever

Dec, 8 2025- 6 mins

Is Skiing in November Worth It?

In my mind, November and skiing don't sound like they should go together.

Short days, half-open resorts, and a feeling that you’ll just be skiing on ice and rocks, across a small handful of average runs.

This year I decided to find out for myself.

I headed to Val Thorens for La Grande Première on 22 November – the resort’s official opening weekend – to see whether November skiing is actually worth it...

From Airport Queues to Mid-Winter Snow!

I flew into Geneva on the 21st November, not really knowing what to expect. The first surprise came before we even got near a mountain.

Geneva now has new biometric-style border checks for non-EU arrivals. Think fingerprints, face scans, and a lot of slightly confused people trying to figure out how to use the machines. This does mean longer queues, taking us close to an hour to get through – something to bear in mind not just in November (when it was relatively quiet), but especially at Christmas and half-term when the airport will be rammed.

1 hour of queues to get through Geneva Airport thanks to the new EES Entry System

Once we were through and driving up the Belleville valley, everything changed.

The higher we climbed, the harder it snowed. Headlights caught thick flakes, trees were loaded with snow, and the road narrowed into a convoy of cars all heading in the same direction: up. Lay-bys were full of drivers wrestling with snow chains. By the time we reached Val Thorens at 2,300m, it already looked like mid-winter, not late November.

Whatever I’d expected from “early season”, it wasn’t this.

A very snowy VT on our arrival to the hotel

What is La Grande Première?

La Grande Première is Val Thorens’ big season opener. Rather than quietly spinning one or two lifts for locals, the resort tries to kick things off with a proper winter weekend.

That’s a gamble for the tourist office. They have to persuade hotels, bars and restaurants to open early, without knowing exactly how many people the snow will attract. For many of the local establishments, it’s hard to justify full winter staffing levels before December, so not everything is open, but they do a serious job of making the resort feel alive.

This year, the weather played along perfectly.

Saturday dawned cloudless and cold, with deep fresh snow on the slopes above town. Val Thorens’ altitude is its secret weapon – it’s the highest major ski resort in Europe, with lifts rising above 3,000m – and when a November storm hits, it can look like January overnight.

A big chunk of the crowd were keen locals and weekend warriors who had driven up from nearby cities like Grenoble, Chambéry, Albertville and Annecy. They knew the forecast, and they weren’t going to miss it.

On the hill, there was a lot more open than you might expect for November. In total, 18 of the resort’s 31 lifts were running. That gave access to most of the Val Thorens bowl and the sunny slopes above Orelle in the neighbouring valley. The big links over the ridge towards Méribel and the rest of Les Trois Vallées – the full 600km network – weren’t scheduled to open until early December, so this was very much a Val Thorens weekend rather than full-area mode.

With that much terrain and that much hype, Saturday was genuinely busy. Some of the runs funneling back towards town felt quite congested at times and you really did have to keep your head on a swivel. The upside is that Val Thorens has efficient modern lifts, so even on the busiest day queues moved quickly and you were rarely standing still for long.

Still, the scale for November was impressive. On the Saturday alone, 14,344 ski passes were sold, with 8,213 more on Sunday. The lifts recorded around 125,498 rides on Saturday and 70,562 on Sunday. It was the busiest opening weekend the resort has ever had.

Views from the top of the newly-fixed Cime Caron with cloud in the valley

Skiing With a Side of Hype

With fresh snow and a bluebird sky, the pistes were in great shape. I spent most of the morning lapping the higher lifts, making some fun turns on the groomers and ducking just off the side of the pistes to find pockets of powder. It felt like a proper winter day: cold air, light snow, legs burning.

The ski and equipment test was a brilliant bonus.

Down near the resort, a pop-up village of brightly coloured tents had appeared, each one belonging to a different ski or snowboard brand. In total, around 50 brands were there. Over the weekend 1,399 people registered to test gear, and more than 4,240 pieces of kit went out on snow.

I swapped between the Salomon Addikt Pro 76 for fast, edge-to-edge piste skiing and my rental choice, the DPS Wailer 100 for when I sniffed out softer, deeper snow. For anyone into gear, it’s a dream: you can spend a day lapping the same runs, feeling the difference between skis back-to-back, and dial in what you like before you buy.

Around it all, Val Thorens felt buzzy with an air of excitement. By evening, the ski test village transformed into a fun après zone, with DJs and hyped skiers throwing shapes and enjoying their first taste of the new season. While not every hotel, bar or restaurant was open, the majority were with enough places running to give the town a proper atmosphere. I stayed at Hotel and Residence Le Portillo, one of several properties that open specially to catch the opening weekend crowd. It’s a good example of how the resort leans into La Grande Première without yet being at full winter capacity.

November Realities

For all the hype, November is still November, and there are a few realities to respect.

First, the snowpack. We had a huge amount of fresh snow, but the base underneath is still building at this time of year. Val Thorens is a rocky place, and while the pistes were well-covered, the moment you drifted too far off to the sides, you were rolling the dice.

I found that out the painful way. I drifted a little further into side-piste, hit a hidden rock – classic early-season “shark” – and double-ejected. No real harm done, but a reminder that November powder often comes with a tax on your ski bases. If you’re planning to hunt out fresh snow, you'll need local knowledge of exactly where to go to avoid rocks.

Second, the lifts and timing. With Les Trois Vallées links still closed, all the traffic between Val Thorens and Orelle relies on the key connecting lifts. On the Saturday afternoon, I was having such a good time skiing over towards Orelle that I forgot about the clock and dropped into the valley after the connecting lift back to Val Thorens had closed for the day (around 3.45pm – and that closing time applies all season, not just in November).

The sinking feeling was instant. A taxi back from there is about 400 euros and two hours of your life you won’t get back.

I got very lucky. A liftie took pity on me, called a friend in ski patrol, and a few minutes later I was hanging on to the back of a snowmobile, getting hauled back up to the ridge just as the sun was setting. It made for a great story – but it could easily have been a very expensive lesson.

The takeaway: in November, and really at any time of year, you can’t ignore lift closing times, especially if you’re dropping into another valley. Days are shorter, temperatures drop quickly, and the area isn’t running at full mid-season frequency. Set an alarm on your phone if you know you’re prone to “just one more run” syndrome.

Val Thorens Village from the top, at 3,200 m

The Weekend Rhythm

The whole weekend was busy by opening-weekend standards, but Saturday was the peak. The ski test village was buzzing, the DJ had a big crowd, and the home-run pistes into town were at their most hectic, with that classic opening-day mix of very good skiers and very rusty ones all sharing the same snow.

Sunday was still lively, with plenty of people out enjoying the snow and the test village. It just felt a little less intense than Saturday, particularly on the home slopes.

Snowfall ramped up again on Sunday night, and by Monday the resort felt completely different. Visibility was lower, the ski test village had wrapped up, and the crowds had thinned right out as most people headed home. It was almost like having the slopes to ourselves. I skied long stretches without seeing many other skiers, while getting to enjoy the fresh powder.

It was a lovely contrast: full-on opening party energy at the weekend, then chilled recovery mode as soon as the workweek began.

So… Is Skiing in November Worth It?

After a weekend like that, the answer – for me – is a resounding yes. With a few important caveats.

If you’re a once-a-year skier planning a big family trip, November probably isn’t the safest bet. You’re better off waiting until later in the season, when the full area is open, the snowpack is deeper, and every hotel, bar and restaurant is running at full speed.

But if you’re a keen skier or snowboarder who can be flexible, November can be brilliant. Pick a high, snow-sure resort like Val Thorens, aim for an opening event like La Grande Première, and you could get:

• Genuine powder and excellent piste conditions
• High-altitude terrain and new lifts already open
• A buzzing, ski-mad crowd of locals and early-season addicts
• The chance to test gear and get your legs back

I went out wondering how much snow there could really be in November. The answer, on this weekend at least, was: a lot. Enough to catch some nice, unexpected powder turns! And despite my brief encounter with a huge rock and my near-miss with a 400-euro taxi, I still went home thinking:

I’d definitely do it again.