The out-of-office is switched off, the tan is already on its way out, and the group chat that's been silent since the last lift in April has started twitching. Screenshots of flight prices. A cabin-luggage debate nobody asked for. And one mate asking, far too casually: so… where are we thinking this winter? 🍂
We're just back from our own summer break, and like half the mountain world we've come home with one eye on the calendar. If that's you too — welcome back. The good news is you haven't returned to nothing.
Because winter isn't hypothetical in August, it's just somewhere else. It's mid-season in the southern hemisphere right now: Las Leñas in Argentina is sitting on a 230cm upper base, and Mt Hutt in New Zealand has all five lifts spinning. Someone, at this exact moment, is having the best powder day of their year.
Closer to home, the countdown clock has officially started. Tignes and Val Thorens have both named their winter 2027 Winter season opening day. Both opening on 21st Novermber. See the official notifications Tignes & Val Thorens, with the link across to Val d'Isère following a week later. We did the maths from today's date. It's exactly 100 days. 🥳🎉❄️
Tignes and Val Thorens both open on 21 November. That's 100 days from today. Not that we're counting.
— RSS Team
The Kit Is Getting Interesting
The other sure sign of the turn: the 2026/27 gear previews have landed, and for once there's real news in them.
On the ski side, Salomon has rebuilt its cult freeride binding as the Shift 2, swapping plastic parts for metal and stretching it to a 16 DIN - exactly what the freeride crowd has been asking for. Atomic's brand-new Nexus boot pairs easy rear entry with proper overlap performance, and BOA dials continue their steady march across boot cuffs everywhere you look. 🎿
Riders get the bigger shake-up. Union's new Direct Connect system ditches the mounting disc entirely and bolts the binding straight to the board — less stack under your feet, more board feel. Head's new EX bindings come with straps that pop open on their own, and Nidecker keeps sharpening its step-in Supermatic. Fumbling with ratchets in a freezing wind at the top of the lift is slowly becoming optional. Personally here at RSS HQ, we're excited to explore Jones' 26/27 range too - we rode their FASE bindings last year and loved the feel of the ride. 🏂
None of it will make anyone ski like the World Cup field. All of it is a magnificent excuse to spend September in gear shops.
The Best Part of the Wait
Between now and first lifts sits our honest favourite stretch of the year: planning season. The piste maps come out. Everyone suddenly has strong opinions about transfer times. Someone suggests somewhere nobody can afford, and someone else defends the same resort they've defended every year since 2019.
Ready Steady Slope will help you solve that. Sixteen real resorts in one deck — Tignes and Val Thorens, both included — 2–6 players, 20–30 minutes a round. Pick your resort, gear up, bomb the piste, outsmart your mates. Your favourite winter resorts in card form, and it plays just as well on a warm August evening as it does in a chalet.
New to the game? The rules take five minutes — how to play has you covered before the kettle's boiled.
100 days. See you on the snow. ❄️🎿🏂🃏
– RSS Team