The northern hemisphere’s ski season may be over for most resorts, but there are a few dozen glacier ski areas that either stay open year round, or reopen for periods in the summer.
You just need to know where and when!
Austria
Austria has more glacier ski areas open in the warmer months than any other country, with eight to choose from; however, only the Hintertux glacier is open year round and the Dachstein open all summer. Of the remainder, the Kitzsteinhorn will be open to 24 July while the Mölltaler glacier will reopen around 20 June for a 10-month season.
France
France has three glacier ski areas that normally open in summer at Les 2 Alpes, Tignes and Val d’Isère. Traditionally Tignes has had around a two-month summer ski season, the longest, but in 2016 Les 2 Alpes has announced a 10-week summer season from mid-June to the end of August, starting a fortnight before Tignes; 11 runs and a terrain park are open here, served by more than a dozen lifts. Val d’Isère is normally open for a short period through June to early July.
Italy
Sadly, the number of summer ski operations in Italy has kept decreasing. There used to be half a dozen, but with Val Senales now closing in the summer (it usually reopens in mid-September) and Passo Tonale closed for a second season for major infrastructure upgrades, it’s down to Cervinia and Passo Stelvio, the latter open from the end of May on. Cervinia is open weekends in May then every day from 25 June to 4 September. During this period you can ski over the border to Zermatt in Switzerland, quite impressive for summer skiing options.
Switzerland
Europe’s highest lifts up to 3,899m on the Matterhorn glacier paradise above Zermatt are only open in summer, although most of the 20km of slopes are open year round. The nearby resort of Saas-Fee reopens on 16 July.
Scandinavia
Norway has three glacier ski areas, each with one long drag lift that are open through the summer. The Folgefonna glacier is already open, and it’s joined by the Stryn and Galdhoppigen glaciers at the start of June.
In Sweden, the great spring skiing resort of Riksgränsen stays open until Midsummer’s Day weekend in late June; it offers skiing under the midnight sun as there’s 24-hour daylight there.
North America
With all the snow on the west coast of North America this winter (bases had reached 5m by Easter), it looks likely some areas like Squaw Valley and Mammoth will be open through into June. However, the main summer ski area there is Timberline on Mt Hood in Oregon, which has a permanent snowfield that is normally open virtually year round (it closes in September). The other big option is Whistler in BC, Canada, which opens for five-week glacier skiing and boarding from 10 June to 18 July.
Info
Cervinia: cervinia.it
Hintertux: hintertuxergletscher.at
Kitzsteinhorn: kitzsteinhorn.at
Les 2 Alpes: les2alpes.com
Mölltaler: gletscher.co.at
Passo Stelvio: passostelvio.com
Saas-Fee: saasfee.ch
Stryn: strynsommerski.com/
Tignes: tignes.net
Timberline: timberlinelodge.com
Val d’Isère: valdisere.com
Whistler: whistlerblackcomb.com
Zermatt: zermatt.ch
