November Ski World Cup Calendar: Levi Slaloms, Gurgl, Killington, and Where to Ski While You Wait

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What is the November World Cup calendar?

The Alpine Ski World Cup season started at Solden on 24 and 25 October, with Paula Moltzan winning the women's giant slalom on Saturday and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen winning the men's giant slalom on Sunday. Now there is a gap, and the next races are not until mid November. That gap is normal for early season skiing, because the tour moves from a glacier in Austria to Lapland in Finland, and the snow, the travel, and the training all take time. It is also a useful gap for fans, because it gives you two weeks to plan which November races to watch, which resorts to visit, and which skiers to follow.

The November calendar, in date order, is below. It uses the FIS calendar published in PlanetSKI's calendar unveiling and the dates used in earlier Of The Pitch posts on this season. Exact run times for Levi, Gurgl and Killington are not claimed here, because the official order of play for those races is not published yet at write time, and start times for World Cup slaloms vary by venue and by television schedule. Dates and venues are confirmed. Times will be confirmed in the order of play in the week of each race, and this site will update them then.

| Date | Venue | Race | Why it matters | | Saturday 14 November | Levi, Finland | Women's slalom, Levi Black | First women's slalom of the season, without Shiffrin | | Sunday 15 November | Levi, Finland | Men's slalom, Levi Black | Braathen defends his Levi slalom win, new men's chief race director's first race | | Saturday 21 November | Gurgl, Austria | Women's slalom | Second women's slalom, still without Shiffrin | | Sunday 22 November | Gurgl, Austria | Men's slalom | Second men's slalom, Odermatt and Braathen rematch | | Saturday 28 November | Killington, United States | Women's giant slalom, Superstar trail | Shiffrin's home race, giant slalom focus | | Sunday 29 November | Killington, United States | Women's slalom, Superstar trail | Shiffrin's first slalom of the season, 111th win chase |

After Killington, the North American block continues into December, with speed races at Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain, Tremblant and other venues, according to the season calendar used in the original Of The Pitch research. The World Championships are in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in February 2027, and the World Cup Finals are in Sun Valley, Idaho, in March 2027. November is therefore the start of the season, not the peak, but it is where the slalom globes start to take shape, and where the overall standings start to separate the skiers who are racing every weekend from the skiers who are picking their races.

Who wins at Levi without Shiffrin?

The women's slalom at Levi on Saturday 14 November will be the first women's slalom of the season, and it will be raced without Mikaela Shiffrin, the greatest alpine ski racer of all time, with 110 World Cup wins, including 73 slalom wins. Shiffrin announced on 6 October 2026, in a video on her YouTube channel, that she is calling this season "The Exploration Season", with more focus on giant slalom and super-G, and a reduced slalom schedule that begins at the Stifel Killington Cup. She does not plan to travel to Levi or Gurgl for the early season slaloms, according to that announcement, which was summarised in the Mynewsdesk announcement document for her 2026-27 season.

That decision changes the women's slalom completely. Last season, Shiffrin won nine of ten slaloms, according to earlier Of The Pitch reporting on her exploration season, and she is the skier every other slalom racer measures herself against. Without her, the favourite, on the evidence of last season and of Solden, is Camille Rast, who was the only non-Shiffrin slalom winner last season, according to the Levi preview published by Of The Pitch on 29 October. Rast is the skier who proved she can win a slalom when Shiffrin is not there, or when Shiffrin has an off day, and Levi is her chance to prove it again, on the Levi Black slope, where the winner traditionally receives a reindeer as a prize.

The other contenders at Levi are the skiers who were already close at Solden and in last season's overall standings. Emma Aicher, who finished second overall last season with 1,323 points, behind Shiffrin's 1,410 points, is the exception to the selective schedule trend, because she races all four disciplines, according to Le Temps reporting used in earlier Of The Pitch posts. Aicher finished third in the women's giant slalom at Solden, behind Moltzan and Lara Colturi, and she will be a contender in Levi, even though slalom is not her strongest discipline. Petra Vlhova, who returned at Solden after 1,008 days away, finishing 23rd in the giant slalom, is another name to watch, because she has won five Levi slaloms in her career in earlier seasons, and because her return to racing, after knee surgery, is one of the stories of this season.

Moltzan, the Solden winner, is also a name to watch at Levi, even though she is better known as a giant slalom and all round skier than as a pure slalom specialist. Moltzan won her first World Cup race at Solden, by 0.01 seconds over Colturi, after finishing fifth after Run 1, and she did it at age 32, after being dropped from the US Ski Team 10 years ago. That kind of breakthrough changes a skier's confidence, and Levi, with its short, technical slalom course, is a different test from Solden's long giant slalom course, but Moltzan's form is the best in the women's team right now.

Who wins the men's slalom at Levi?

The men's slalom at Levi on Sunday 15 November is the first men's slalom of the season, and it is also the first race for the new men's chief race director, Markus Plancker, who took over on 1 November, succeeding Markus Waldner. Plancker was previously assistant race director for men's speed since 2022, and his first assignment is Levi, according to FIS reporting used in earlier Of The Pitch posts. That is a symbolic start, because Levi is where the slalom season starts, and where the men's slalom globe race starts, after a giant slalom season opener where Braathen beat Odermatt.

Braathen defends his Levi slalom win from last season, and he comes into Levi as the men's giant slalom winner at Solden, with a combined time of 1:44.72, beating Loic Meillard by 0.48 seconds and Marco Odermatt by 0.49 seconds. Braathen won last season's Levi slalom, and he won the men's giant slalom globe last season, taking it from Odermatt, so he is the skier in form, and the skier who has already proved he can win on the Levi Black slope. Odermatt, who finished third at Solden, with the fastest Run 2, is chasing a sixth straight overall title, which would make him only the second man to win six overall titles, after Marcel Hirscher, who won eight. Odermatt may skip some giant slaloms this season, according to Le Temps reporting, as part of the same selective schedule trend that Shiffrin is following, but slalom is not a race he skips lightly, because overall points in slalom matter for the overall globe.

The other men's slalom contenders are the skiers who were in the top 10 at Solden, even though Solden was a giant slalom, not a slalom. Meillard, who finished second at Solden, is a strong slalom skier, and he will be a contender at Levi. The American team, with River Radamus, who finished fourth at Solden from 15th after Run 1, is also a team to watch, because Radamus's giant slalom form suggests he is in good shape for the early season, and because the US team has depth in slalom that it did not have a few years ago.

What happens at Gurgl and Killington?

Gurgl, in Austria, hosts the second slalom weekend, on 21 and 22 November, with the women's slalom on Saturday and the men's slalom on Sunday. Gurgl is a high altitude resort in the Otztal Valley, not far from Solden, and it is a venue that rewards skiers who can handle a steep, technical slalom course at altitude. Shiffrin is also skipping Gurgl, according to her exploration season announcement, so the women's slalom at Gurgl will again be raced without her, and the favourite will again be Rast, Aicher, or another skier who steps up at Levi and carries that form to Gurgl.

Killington, in Vermont, in the United States, hosts the next weekend, on 28 and 29 November, with a women's giant slalom on Saturday and a women's slalom on Sunday, on the Superstar trail. Killington is Shiffrin's home race, in the sense that she honed her skills nearby at Burke Mountain Academy as a teenager, and it is where she is scheduled to race her first slalom of the season, on Sunday 29 November. That is why Killington will be the biggest skiing story of November, even bigger than Levi or Gurgl, according to the weekend openings post published by Of The Pitch on 31 October. Shiffrin has 110 World Cup wins, and she is chasing win number 111, which would extend her own record, and she will do it in front of a home crowd, on a trail she knows well, against a field that will have already raced two slaloms without her.

Killington is also important for North American fans, because it is the first World Cup race in the United States this season, and it is followed by speed races at Beaver Creek and other North American venues in December. If you are planning a trip to watch a World Cup race in person, Killington is the easiest November race to attend from the East Coast of the United States, and Levi is the easiest November race to attend from Europe, because Kittila Airport is 15 minutes from Levi, with direct winter flights from many European cities, according to Levi's own event information.

Where can you ski right now, while you wait for Levi?

There is no World Cup race this weekend, and that gap is the perfect time to answer the question skiers are actually asking at the start of November: where can I ski right now? The answer, updated from the weekend openings post on 31 October, is that the first non-glacier resorts opened last weekend in the Alps, the glacier resorts are already open with limited terrain, North America has its first resorts open in Colorado, and Canada opened Lake Louise on Sunday 1 November.

Solden has the most terrain open in the world right now, at 30 kilometres of groomed runs, according to SnowBrains reporting used on 31 October. That is because Solden hosted the World Cup opener on the Rettenbach glacier, with 60,000 cubic metres of snow stockpiled from the spring, and because Solden's glacier terrain is extensive enough to offer a real ski day, not just a single run. Hintertux is the other Austrian glacier with extensive terrain, and Zermatt and Cervinia, which share a ski area across the Swiss and Italian border, have some of the best conditions after 30 centimetres fell in recent storms, with Zermatt reporting 100 centimetres of snow on its upper slopes in the Snow-Forecast roundup on 29 October.

In Switzerland, Murren opened last weekend, with the Riggli chairlift and the Engetal slope, for weekends only for the first three weekends, before continuous winter operations commence on 21 November. In Italy, Sulden was listed by PlanetSKI on 31 October as opening last weekend, but an earlier SnowBrains report flagged a postponement to 7 November, so check the resort's own page before travelling to Sulden specifically, because the two reports conflict on the exact weekend. The Molltal glacier in Austria postponed its opening due to insufficient snow, which is a reminder that glacier does not always mean guaranteed.

In North America, Arapahoe Basin in Colorado opened on 28 October, Keystone in Colorado is also open, and Lake Louise in Canada opened on Sunday 1 November, according to PlanetSKI on 31 October. Mammoth Mountain in California plans to open on 13 November, Killington in Vermont is projected for early to mid November, and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia plans to open on 20 or 21 November, with sources differing by one day. Those dates are planned openings, not guarantees, and they depend on snowmaking temperatures and natural snow, just like the European dates above.

If you are travelling this week, check three things before you leave. First, check the resort's own lift and run status, not just a news report, because Sulden shows how quickly an opening date can change. Second, check the snow depth at altitude, not at the village, because early season skiing is almost always at altitude, and village snow is not a reliable guide. Third, check whether your pass or ticket is valid for early season weekends only, because Murren's weekend only pattern means a weekday trip this week would not work, even if the resort is technically open.

Related live posts: Where You Can Ski This Weekend: Murren and Sulden Open, Solden Leads and the Alps Stay Dry, and A New Boss Takes Over Mens Skiing on Sunday: Plancker, Levi and the Stars Picking Their Races.

Sources: FIS Alpine Ski World Cup calendar 2026-27, via PlanetSKI, World Cup Alpine Ski Calendar Unveiled, 19 September 2026; Mikaela Shiffrin 2026-27 Season Announcement, Mynewsdesk, 6 October 2026; PlanetSKI, First Non-Glacier Resorts Open This Weekend in the Alps, updated 31 October 2026; Snow-Forecast, Europe Weekly Snow Roundup 338, 29 October 2026; SnowBrains, Solden terrain and Sulden opening reports, October 2026; Levi.fi, World Cup Levi events, November 2026.