Levi hosts the first slaloms of the season on 14 and 15 November. On Thursday it was raining there. The resort’s webcams show a single strip of man-made snow on a hillside that is still brown.
A week of readings
Ski25 has been following the resort through its official webcams since 17 October. Little changes. A strip of man-made snow covers one of the lower runs, groomed and in use. Around it lie grass and bare earth. The lake at the foot of the slopes has not frozen.
The display at the Levi North chairlift station gives an idea of the temperature higher up. It read −1 °C on 18 October, +3 °C on the 19th, +6 °C on the 20th and 0 °C late on Thursday morning, 22 October. These are snapshots, not a series. That morning, rain was falling at the bottom of the slopes under a low sky, driven by a steady wind.
The Levi North chairlift is running. Skiers, often in small groups, make the most of the white strip. Cross-country skiers have been out since 17 October on a narrow trail that runs alongside the golf course.
A reserve dating from 2016
Levi is not without resources. After the 2015 races were cancelled, the resort began keeping snow from one winter to the next, starting in spring 2016. The stock spends the summer under insulation and is spread out in the autumn. Automated snow guns complete the system. In 2025, it was this stored snow that allowed the races to be held.
Even north of the Arctic Circle, then, the November opener is a close-run thing. It has become a fight every autumn, and a headache for the FIS calendar.
What comes next
The decisive moment will be the FIS snow control. Its date has not yet been set. In 2025, it took place on 6 November, nine days before the first race.
Until then, Levi needs cold weather to make snow. Ski25 will keep checking the webcams until the control.