The Savills Ski Resilience Index ranks 61 global ski resorts using five metrics to measure the quality and reliability of a resort’s conditions and its resilience against climate change. The metrics compare snowfall, reliability, season length, altitude and temperature.

Most resilient resorts

The metrics used to measure resilience, by their nature, do not vary a great deal year on year. A resort’s altitude, for example, does not change. Season length and temperatures do vary, but not significantly. The average temperature across all the resorts has only differed by 0.2 degrees over the past four years.

As a result, the same six resorts have topped the Resilience Index since 2017 and are in a league of their own. The Swiss resorts of Zermatt and Saas Fee have stayed in first and second place respectively, remaining the most resilient due to their high mountain glacier environment.

New entrants

Travel limitations this season may lead some skiers to try to get their fix closer to home. For British skiers, this could mean the Scottish Highlands. But how do ski resorts in Scotland compare? Glenshee and Glencoe are new additions to this year’s index. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they rank as the bottom two resorts overall.

Snowfall variation

Of our five metrics, the largest variation is seen in snowfall. Since 2017, the average annual snowfall has risen year on year, increasing by an average of 78cm from 2016/17 to 2019/20. The Alps have seen average snowfall improve by 95cm since the 2016/17 season, while the 2018/19 season was the highest snowfall for North America during the period we have been recording the data.

The US resorts, on average, have consistently high snowfall, with 677cm in 2019/20, followed by Canada. In the Alps, France records the highest snowfall on average, driven by resorts such as Tignes, which had 719cm for 2019/20, the highest since we’ve been recording the data.

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