Picking a ski destination is a gamble at the best of times — book the wrong week in the wrong resort and you can find yourself staring at brown pistes and closed lifts. A new study by operator Inghams Ski tries to take some of the chance out of it, scoring more than 100 Northern Hemisphere resorts and regions on how dependable their snow actually is.
The "Reliable Ski Score" rates each destination out of 100 using five measures. The biggest weight (35%) goes to mountain running — how much of the lifts and slopes stayed open during the core season — followed by snow adequacy (25%), meaning the share of days with at least 30cm of snow at the base station. Consistency between seasons, protection against the worst-case winter, and average snow depth make up the rest. Data covered seven winter seasons between 2017-18 and 2025-26, excluding the Covid years, and focused on the core window of 5 January to 20 March.
Italy, Austria and France take every spot in the top 10. Leading the pack is Pontedilegno-Tonale in northern Italy with 93.1 points. Sitting between Lombardy's Valle Camonica and Trentino's Val di Sole, the area tops out at 3,016 metres and offers 46 slopes, with more than 44km of skiing around Passo del Tonale at the foot of the Presena glacier. Ponte di Legno's runs wind through pine and spruce forest, and on selected dates skiers can catch the "Alba in Quota" — sunrise skiing with lifts opening before the official start of the day.
Austria's Obertauern, at 1,752 metres in the Salzburg region, is second on 92.9. It packs over 100km of slopes into an unusually long November-to-May season, and the whole resort is ski-in/ski-out, so every hotel opens straight onto the pistes. Cross-country skiers get trails from 6 to 23km, including the Gnadenalm route, nicknamed the "snow basin" for its sheltered setting.
Les Arcs in France rounds out the podium with 92.2. Its peak reaches 3,226 metres and the resort has 200km of runs, with the 2026-27 season running from 12 December to 24 April. As part of the Paradiski area — linked to La Plagne and Peisey-Vallandry by the Vanoise Express cable car — Les Arcs opens up 425km of slopes and 258 runs, suiting freestyle fans and snow-hunters alike.
Further down the ranking, France's Les 3 Vallées (91.1) and Alpe d'Huez (90.5) take fourth and fifth, with Austria's Kitzsteinhorn and Filzmoos, Tignes-Val d'Isère, Espace San Bernardo and Damüls Mellau completing the list.
For anyone booking a ski trip where snow is non-negotiable — a short break, a family week or a one-shot annual holiday — these scores are a useful shortcut toward slopes that stay open. Just remember the study measures the core season: if you're travelling in early December or late April, glacier resorts like Kitzsteinhorn and the Presena become especially worth a look.
