Hello--My husband and I were tossing around the idea of a European ski vacation in Dec 2006. Our "home base" would be Innsbruck due to Hilton points. What is the weather/snow like in December? We had heard it may be riskier this early in the season? We are strong intermediate skiers and have skied extensively in CO and UT, but not Europe.
Thanks!

At that time of the year, ski conditions can be "iffy", certainly in the immediate vicinity of Innsbruck.

There are good ski areas within driving range, although, again, the conditions might not be the greatest: Stubaital (Fulpmes, Neustift) to the south; Seefeld i. Tirol to the north, and if all fails, the top of the Zugspite at Garmisch. Seefeld and Garmisch can also be reached by train, as does the Zugspite.

Don't expect perfectly groomed slopes like in Summit County or Vail, Colorado, or Snowbird or Alta, Utah.

Even Colorado or Utah can be iffy between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would say the Alps would be double iffy. If you are going for a nice vacation and skiing is just an activity and not the main focus, go and have fun. If what you want is a SKI VACATION, make it later or higher up in the Alps than Innsbruck.

We might have tons of snow or we might not have any. Last December 12th, we went hiking in the mountains, made a picnic and sat around in our T-shirts. It was warm and no snow. Then it snowed on Christmas and we went sledding on New Year's Eve. However, there wasn't a lot of snow so many places still weren't open for skiing. This was in Switzerland, but the situation was similar in Austria. If you want to be certain you can ski in December, go to Soelden, Austria. They have real nice glacier skiing and wonderful alpine skiing when the snow is here.

I don't know, if there is a valid waether rule for that time of the year. But I had quite often during chrismas a warm weather front moving into the norther alps (meaning rain, melting snow). The resorts try to do their best by using snow-machines, but this is not the same skiing from my point of view.

From Insbruck you can go for glacier skiing totwards Stubai-Tal-glacier, but be aware, that several people will do the same if snow is melting at lower elivations. Be prepared for long waiting times on the glacier in case of warm weather conditions.