Tourism

Ski season 2024/2025: opening dates and ski pass prices

Everything must be ready for the Immaculate Conception bridge. Ski passes increase in price: what this means for tourists and the ski industry

by Enrico Netti

28 November 2024

4' min read

Key points

Intern tour
Savings Subscriptions

4' min read

The landscape is whitewashed and for over a week there has been a ritual that is being repeated from Monviso to the Dolomites: at last the weather conditions allow the cannons to produce uninterrupted snow, which is then treated with snowcats to prepare the slopes for the descents of ski enthusiasts. The cableways have been checked while the majority of the seasonal staff are now entering service to familiarise themselves with the procedures, equipment and machinery.

Everything must be ready for the Immaculate Conception bridge when, as is tradition, the 2024/2025 ski season kicks off. From 5 or 6 December progressively all the slopes will be open with renewed and upgraded lifts to minimise queues. Because no one likes wasting time in queues and the ski lift operators want to create the best conditions for hours of fun on the snow by securing a business worth a total of 24 billion a year.

The plant map

Increases on tour

According to the findings of Altroconsumo, the increases in daily ski passes, for example, range from +4.5% in Bardonecchia - which goes from the previous 44 euros to the current 46 euros - to +16% in Courmayeur-Mont Blanc: to ski in the exclusive resort in Valle d'Aosta this year you will spend a good 65 euros, compared to 56 euros last year. This is followed by Carezza/Val di Fassa with an increase of 14.8%, with the daily ski pass going from 61 to 70 euro, and several ski resorts registering increases in ticket prices of 11.4%, including Sella Nevea and Tarvisio in Friuli, and Vialattea in Piedmont. Trentino Alto Adige is the region where ski lifts cost the most, no less than 70 euro per day. But it is in Friuli Venezia Giulia where the highest price increases are recorded (+11% on average), followed by Trentino Alto Adige (+8.5%).

Saving subscriptions

Ski pass prices are seeing moderate increases this year, more or less in line with inflation, but dynamic pricing mechanisms and discounted online ticket sales make comparisons a little more difficult. According to surveys by Altroconsumo, the average price of the daily pass is growing by 4.1% and the 5-day weekly pass sees a +3.8% increase. In Lombardy, for example, there is a new Ski'n Lombardia card that allows skiing in all ski resorts with PayPerUse. You can ski freely throughout the region by activating the season pass online, without queuing, and only paying for the actual time on skis until the cost of the season pass is reached. The network consists of 900 kilometres of slopes and 300 lifts in the 27 ski resorts in Lombardy.

In Pila, Valle d'Aosta, the 2024/2025 winter season is just around the corner, with opening scheduled for 6 December 2024, snow conditions permitting. There will be the inauguration of the second section of the new Couis gondola lift, a state-of-the-art facility that will replace the two-seater chairlift of the 1980s. In just 5'10" minutes, seated in the comfortable 10-seater gondola, it will be possible to reach the top of Couis 1 at 2700 metres, without queues and waiting times. At 2,700 metres, at the top of Couis, a new panoramic hut, the 'Stella del Couis', will be built, offering a breathtaking view of the most majestic peaks of the Alps, including Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa, the Grivola and Gran Paradiso. The refuge is scheduled to open next year, in December 2025, and will also be accessible to non-skiers.

In Cortina d'Ampezzo, after the opening of Col Gallina on Saturday 30 November, it will be the turn of the Faloria area, to be followed on 4 December by Tofana Freccia nel Cielo, on 5 December by Tofana Ista and 5 Torri, and then Auronzo, Misurina and San Vito. Thus begins a long ski season that will end on 4 May 2025. Among the novelties of the Pearl of the Dolomites is the centenary of the cable car that connected the town centre to the Belvedere di Pocol, Cortina's first cable car dating back to 1924. An event that inaugurated a new era for the entire resort.

In addition, on 14 December there will be the Snowboard World Cup, an opportunity to see the best world champions of this sport compete in the parallel giant slalom. As usual, the Tondi slope of Faloria will host the race track. This will be followed by the Snowboard Cross World Cup stage, on 15 February 2025 on the San Zan slope in Socrepes. On 18 and 19 January 2025 Cortina will host two women's speed races, part of the official World Cup races. On the Olympia of the Tofane the best athletes on the planet will compete in the Downhill and the Super G. From the 2024-25 winter season, the 'Junior' discount of 30% on the price of daily and multi-day ski passes will be extended to all those under 18 years of age. There is time until 24 December to purchase the season ski pass, both Dolomiti Superski and for the Cortina ski area, now in advance sale. The 5% discount also continues for purchases of day or multi-day ski passes via the My Dolomiti Card.