The Italian ski resort of Cervinia has announced that after it opens for autumn skiing in October, it won’t close its ski-slope access again and will instead offer skiing and snowboarding daily, weather permitting, every day, year-round, with no end to its season.
“Dust off your boots, sharpen the edges of your skis or snowboard and get ready for something new and extraordinary, never seen in Italy. In Breuil-Cervinia and in Valtournenche there will no longer be a beginning or an end of the season,” a resort spokesperson said.
Currently Cervinia’s season begins with weekend openings in early Autumn and lasts until early May. It then re-opens after 6-8 weeks in late June for summer skiing until the start of September.
After the coming brief autumn closure though, the resort has no plans to close its ski slope access again next spring.
“After the summer break, the countdown to the never-ending winter will begin: opening in mid-October, skiing until 5 May 2024, reopening the following day, without even reaching the end of a season,” the spokesperson continued.
Currently only Hintertux in the Austrian Tirol and Zermatt in Switzerland aim to stay open every day of the year, although in recent years both have been forced to close for periods due to the pandemic or, as was the case at Zermatt last summer, no snow cover on the glacier due to the climate emergency.
From, mid-spring to mid-Autumn Cervinia’s summer ski area is essentially the same as Zermatt’s, only accessed from the Italian side of the border. The resort says that the completion of the new Matterhorn Crossing which now offers fast gondola access from the Italian side of the border, is the game-changer that means year-round glacier access from Cervinia is now possible.
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