The first serious snow has already fallen in the higher resorts of the Alps. Tignes has a snow depth of over 200cm up top, plus a good covering on the lower ground and, as we went to press, 110 of its 129 pistes were open.

But don't get too excited - apart from glacier skiing elsewhere in France, Switzerland and Austria, Tignes is the only European resort which is fully functioning. Cervinia, for example, may have 100cm on its upper slopes but no lifts yet operating.

In North America the situation is much better, with a good early start to the season. Heavy snow in late October has brought excellent conditions to Mammoth Mountain and Timberlin, and several American and Canadian resorts opened on November 5.

For most of us however, it is still too early in the year to consider a ski holiday. To be sure of consistently good conditions, you really need to wait until mid-December, and even then you need to go for a high resort to be sure of reasonable snow cover. But get the right resort and the right timing, and you can find some of the best skiing of the year during that early, pre-Christmas week. You'll find the pistes are quiet, and you'll pay some of the lowest prices of the season.

Tactics

The safest bet for skiing in the week or two before Christmas is simply to leave things very late, check the latest snow reports (see below) and go for the resort with the best conditions. It's unheard of for a resort to sell out at that time of year, so you will have no problems getting accommodation. And if you want to be sure of getting there, you could always book flights to Geneva now, and decide on actual resort nearer the time. Or, of course, you could drive. The same is largely true for early and mid-January. Last year there were hundreds of cheap late deals at that time of year.

If you decide to go for a last-minute package however, bear in mind that, of the big, high-volume ski operators, only Crystal (0870 160 6040, crystalski.co.uk) and Thomson (0870 606 1470, thomson-ski.co.uk) have a sizeable pre-Christmas programme this season.

Because both Christmas Day and New Year's Day fall on a Saturday (which is the usual departure day for ski charter flights), and most people prefer not to travel on those days, most operators are staggering their start dates over that period. So the majority of first departures are between December 19 and 23 for one week. (The operators get back to their Saturday rosters after New Year).

Note that many small specialist operators are more flexible and can offer plenty of pre-Christmas dates and resorts - see aito.co.uk for a useful list of contacts.

If you prefer the idea of making more definite arrangements in advance, it's vitally important to choose the right resort - one which is high enough so that you can be as sure as you can be that you will get reasonable snow conditions. Here's our short list of Alpine resorts:

· Espace Killy served by Tignes and Val d'Isere, France. Here the sheer height of both the pistes and the resorts, combined with a favourable micro climate ensures the best possible chances of good December snow. Of the two resorts, Val is much the prettier, while ugly, concrete Tignes has the better access to the pistes.

· Val Thorens, Trois Vallees, France. Another ugly French resort, but, as the highest base in the Trois Vallees it has some of the best snow in this part of the Alps. If conditions turn out to be good generally, then you will also have easy access to one of the most extensive and varied ski areas in the world.

· Zermatt, Switzerland. Car-free Zermatt is arguably the prettiest large resort in the Alps. It is also very high, has an excellent snow record and a huge ski area offering pistes for all standards.

· Obergurgl, Austria. One of the most snow-sure resorts in the Alps, and certainly in Austria. However, while it's a good bet for families and intermediate skiers, the terrain is fairly limited and short of challenging pistes.

Useful sources of snow reports

The Ski Club of Great Britain (skiclub.co.uk) has snowfall data (registration required) for all the main resorts - not just the latest information, but including historical data which goes back 10 years, so you can see which resorts are likely to have the best snow at any particular point in the season. A main advantage of the Ski Club information is that it doesn't just rely on the official figures supplied by the resorts, but has its own reps who also comment on the conditions.

Other useful websites include the BBC Weather site (bbc.co.uk/weather) where the information is supplied by the Ski Club; and skiinfo.com which has a good range of webcams so you can actually see the latest up-to-date conditions.