Ski Resort Opening Dates for Sauze d’Oulx & the Via Lattea Winter 25/26 – December Updates

We’ve been waiting since the end of summer for the Via Lattea ski season to begin and we’re buzzing to share with you that we’ve been skiing every weekend since the 29th November.

Every year, you’ll see somewhere online that Sauze d’Oulx’s lifts aren’t open, snow conditions aren’t any good and you need to cancel your ski holiday ASAP. We live out here year round, and we’ve heard it all before and we want to assure you that it’s not all that bad. In fact, conditions are pretty good although the Via Lattea is dragging its feet opening up the whole area before the Christmas holiday week.

Montgenèvre was the first resort to open on 29th November and conditions on the piste were great. There was even a bit of untracked off-piste at the start of the day under the lifts and off the top of the Godrans lift. On the downside, only the left side of the resort was open.

On the 6th of December we moved over to Sauze d’Oulx where there were only a couple of lifts open, but again, the early season snow felt great.

So if you want to know what it’s really like in the Via Lattea at the moment and are looking for a Sauze d’Oulx snow report from people on the ground, you’ve come to the right place.

As of 6th December (and when we went snowboarding on Saturday 13th December) Sauze d’Oulx hadn’t opened much up, unfortuately.

Only the Sportinia Chairlift and the Rocce Nere lift were open, along with the magic carpet on the beginner, bunny slope.

That meant that, in reality, only a couple of runs were open. Red 11 from the top of Rocce Nere and Blue 13 that then changes into Blue 12.

On the plus side, the wide, cruisy top section of Red 11 run was in great condition and completely empty. And that steep section dropping into Sportinia that often turns into a mogul field on a normal day in the season was fresh and well-groomed.

Blue 13 was pisted (except for one 30m section that the snowcats had, for some unknown reason, churned up) and was a little patchy. But again, there was barely another skier on the mountain, so it was great for nervous skiers.

The beginner area was fine, too.

Another annoying part about skiing & snowboarding this early in the season? It was lift download only. The lower pistes were still closed.

On the plus side, conditions are pretty good.

The Sauze d’Oulx bowl area is known for not being covered by snow canons, but from our viewpoint at the top of Rocce Nere ski lift, the coverage was looking pretty good. On piste, the snow was awesome and we didn’t have any complaints (other than the fact they could definitely have opened up more).

Yes, it’s annoying the Sauze d’Oulx always takes the slow and steady approach to getting the resort open, but with colder weather moving back in and snow due tonight and tomorrow, by the time tourists start arriving from Sunday 21st December there should be plenty more open for Christmas week.

Montgenèvre had a great mix of real and artificial snow as early as 29th November and they’re doing a great job pumping artificial snow and preparing the pistes. Again, they’re due a dump tonight, so don’t worry about a lack of snow over Christmas. As long as you’re not desperate to cover every single km of the Via Lattea, there’ll be enough to have a pretty decent ski trip.