Tignes became the first French resort to open for 2012-13 when it re-opened on Saturday (29 Sept 12). Temperatures are currently hovering just below freezing and there's a 20cm snow covering on the Grand Motte glacier which has 20km of piste open.
British tour operator Snoworks will launch their annual All-Terrain courses on the glacier in less than three weeks' time, from October 20th, and run every week until the winter kicks off in December, enabling recreational skiers to enjoy the quiet pre-main-season slopes whilst brushing up on their skills before the winter ski season proper kicks off.
"The autumn is the time to develop skills," said Phil Smith, course director at Snoworks (snoworks.com), who have been pioneering skiing in the autumn for over 15 years, "The glaciers offer limited skiing compared to the winter so it's a great opportunity to get stuck into improving your skiing without having to think about where to go, looking at a piste map or deciding on which restaurant to stop at!"
During the autumn, the glaciers are alive with an international mix of clubs, teams and skiers from all over the world. You'll see skiers from as far afield as Japan, Korea and America along with skiers from all over Europe.
Snoworks Ski Courses cater for a whole cross section of skiers including holiday and recreational skiers, professional racers and ski instructors, ski instructor training for students in their gap year and mature skiers looking for career breaks.
The Snoworks Courses include junior race training for children, all-terrain for skiers with ski everywhere aspirations, learning to really take control on mogul fields and combining race training with developing carving skills with four times Olympic ski racer Emma Carrick Anderson.