Snow patrol: the ski season starts here

The mantra for early-season skiing is go high, go glacial and don't ride your own skis lest those delicately snow-covered rocks act as an angle grinder to their base. Bearing this in mind, it's worth taking a look at Sölden (soelden.com) in Austria. The resort opened its glacier on 3 September and is holding the first leg of the Ski World Cup this weekend. With three skiable peaks rising up to 3,370m, snow is a safe bet: last season saw 1.84m on the upper slopes by December. Ifyouski.com has a week's accommodation in catered chalet Eishaus, including flights departing Gatwick on 16 December, for £529pp based on two sharing. Another famously glaciated resort is Saas-Fee (saas-fee.ch), which sits at 1,800m with high skiing up to 3,500m. Chocolate boxes were invented so Saas-Fee would have somewhere to put its picture – glittering nightlife is best left to neighbouring resort Zermatt while you tackle the T-bars from 17 December. Ski Total (skitotal.com) is offering £150 off per couple on a seven-night stay at Chalet Hotel Ambassador. Half-board accommodation, flights from Southampton and transfers costs £854pp based on two sharing, departing 23 December. French resorts took a hammering last season with a paucity of snow across the board. But Tignes (tignes.net) in the Espace Killy frequently emerges as the place to kick off your season with the 3,455m Grande Motte glacier guaranteeing time on piste and Val Claret at 2,100m making "ski-in" a definite possibility. Inghams (inghams.co.uk) has seven nights at the four-star Hotel le Levanna in Tignes, departing on Friday 16 December, from £759pp on a half-board basis, including flights. In 1999, Mount Baker (mtbaker.us) in the Northern Cascades held the world record for the most snowfall in one season – 29m – and it frequently enjoys deep powder as early as November. Located two hours from Seattle, it's not a large resort, with only nine chairlifts, but if you want rooster tails before Christmas this is the place. There are direct tour operators in Mount Baker, but BA (ba.com) has return flights to Seattle departing 3 December for £527, while lodging at Snowline Condo in Mount Baker for those dates costs £456 (mtbakerlodging.com). Keystone (keystoneresort.com) in Colorado will be throwing open its doors from 4 November, with sophisticated snow-making, a fantastic snowpark and protective tree runs offering great early skiing. The resort lacks the buzz of Breckenridge and Vail (with which it shares the Epic ski pass), but it has a cosier feel and lots of expert terrain. A seven-night Keystone package with Ski Safari (skisafari.com), based on two people sharing and including flights with BA departing 6 December, room-only accommodation at The Inn and transfers comes in at £965pp if you book by 24 October. Ski touring, once the preserve of hardy mountain types, has seen a growing popularity over the past few seasons with its green credentials (no lifts), offers of endless untracked powder and the thrill of a new challenge. Norway has emerged this season as one of the most exciting destinations for touring with the lure of skiing in waist-deep powder against a backdrop of fjords. Strandafjellet (strandafjellet.no), midway between Geiranger and Ålesund, is a good off-piste base and offers amazing skiing on the cusp of Geirangerfjord. The Ski Club of Great Britain (skiclub.co.uk/freshtracks) has a tour this season to the Lyngen Alps above the Arctic Circle, and if you fancy something more, well, Norwegian, then local company Breogfjell (breogfjell.no) has a three-day tour from its cabin base in Sogn. The area houses the biggest glacier in mainland Europe as well as the longest fjord and the most alpine mountains in Norway so you can expect some spectacular skiing. Turkey started being explored last year so it was only a matter of time before attention was turned to the potential of neighbouring Georgia and Armenia. Jagged Globe (jagged-globe.co.uk) has added a 15-day tour to its ski roster which takes in Mount Aragats as well as Georgia's Mount Kazbek. "The potential for Armenia is amazing," says Tom Briggs, managing director of Jagged Globe. "We thought we'd combine it with Georgia which also has some really exciting touring." Georgia's main resort of Gudauri makes up for its slow chairlifts and rustic accommodation with deep snow and acres of rideable terrain. An emerging resort for 2012 is Kopaonik in Serbia which in March hosts the Big Snow Festival (facebook.com/thebigsnowfestival), previously held in Andorra. It only has 62km of piste, but the town is vibrant, its snow record is reliable, much of the accommodation is slopeside and it has a range of runs. But the deal maker is lift pass prices of around half those in western Europe, with food and drink costs a fraction of what you'd pay in the Alps. In 2014 Sochi in Russia hosts the Winter Olympics and already hosts a leg of the Freeride World Tour each year. Consequently there's a temptation to visit the area while it undergoes its transformation from four ski lifts to Olympic mega-resort. Crystal (crystalski.co.uk/ski-resorts/russia-ski-holidays) is offering holidays to Gasprom at the Hotel Polyana with days at Rosa Khutor and Mountain Carousel as well. The off-piste, with a vertical drop of 1,700m, is worth the trip alone.