Id prefer Austria, especially Tyrol or Salzburg! They understand English and if you stay in Innsbruck, Italy isnt far away (1-2h). From Nov till June you have plenties of possibilities, a paradise 🙂

The Pyrenees can be fantastic dry, deep pow, but it doesn’t get snow as often as the Alps. Sometimes it doesn’t snow there for months. I think Catalunya is quite frienly to vans and people living in them though.

Switzerland is not an option, they don’t allow wild camping and fines are huge. It’s also a very expensive place to live if you don’t work there.
France would be ok, in my experience people in the mountain regions are much more friendly and open to “tourists” than Paris. They will speak english, and it will be ok for you to find friends or riding partners as ski touring is quite popular in France.

The weather fronts in the Alps typically roll in from either the north/west, or sometimes from the south. If you’re in a spot where you can quickly move to where there is fresh snow you can more than double your powdays.
Places like this are around big tunnels or major mountain passes.

Somewhere in the Aosta valley would work well, the Piëmonte gets hammered with a southern front (retour d’est) but you can be in Chamonix, St. Bernard for a west/north front pretty fast. Keep in mind that you can get to Cham without taking the tunnel as there is a lift on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc too.

I’ve lived near Lago Maggiore (the Italian side) for a while, same deal. Ride in Ticino or Valsesia with southern, or Simplon or Andermatt with northern fronts.
A place I would seriously consider is near Livigno. I’m not sure how easy it would be to camp there, but you can probably find out. Livigno is taxfree so much cheaper than Switzerland or the rest of Italy. You can also move to Austria or Switzerland quite fast. This would be a place I would move to after the winter has properly started though.

Or somewhere around the Reschenpass. You can be in Ortler, Stelvio or Engadin pretty fast, but also in some major mountains in Austria. Or Val Senales, same story.

In general the Northern and western parts of the Alps are better for early season. Places like Haute Savoie or the Arlberg are already getting snow now. Haute Savoie is also the place in France with nicer small villages, and not those huge ski resorts most of France seem to have.

Anyway, probably too much info. Send me an email if you have specific questions as I’m not on this forum a lot. I’ve traveled a lot in Switserland, France and Italy. If you’re stuck somewhere in those countries, I can probably find you that secret spot with pow you need. My email is: info [at} ivareisma [dot] nl

Ivar

Cool, you can expect snow between roughly between Monte Rosa and Tonale there thursday till saturday, above 1000-1500m. It could be enough for the first lines if you pick non rocky terrain.

I’m not sure where you are now, but Aprica, San Bernardino, Bosco Gurin, San Domenico, Macugnaga are all really cool small places to ride if they get anything over 60cm. Lifts will still be closed, so perfect really. That can totally happen this weekend, but after sunday will be warmer already.

Once you make it to val d’aosta, you’ll disover the Monte Rosa region pretty soon. Alagna is pretty well known. Don’t forget to check out La Thuile and Espace San Bernard. These get consistantly more snow than Courmayeur because they catch snow from almost all directions and especially a retour d’est brings massive snow there. The road to La Rossiere will be closed in winter, but you can easily get there from La Thuille ski slopes by hopping over the Col de La Traversette. I remember a place for camper vans as well in La Thuile, we spend a night in the 4×4 there it was very nice. There were a few other campervans there as well in summer, it was not the campsite right near the village but a bit further up the road towards the waterfalls. It’s right here:
google maps
I’m not sure if they keep that road open in winter but if they do it’s the perfect spot to maybe stay for a while.