Summer Activities - European Resorts with Summer Skiing

A list of European resorts that offer glacier or high alititude skiing in the summer months.

Austria

Austrian ski resorts offering summer skiing

Name	Details
Hinterux Official Website: www.hintertux.at	Austria's largest summer ski area is found above the Tyrolean village of Hinterux, in the Tuxertal valley. A gondola from the village provides access up to the glacier, which features over 20 lifts and has access to 15km of pistes even in the height of summer (this rises to 50km in spring and autumn, and up to 200km in mid-winter). A top altitude of 3250m can be reached from the highest lift.
Kaunertaler Official Website: www.kaunertaler-gletscher.at	One of the lesser known summer ski areas amongst British skiers, the Kaunertaler Valley's summer ski area was developed on the glacier below the peak of WeiBseespitze back in 1980. You can drive right up the 29 bends of the famous Kaunertaler Glacier Road from the village of Feichten to the car park at a height of 2750m and then take one of the 9 different lifts into the glaciated ski area. Located in the Tyrol in western Austria, the nearest resorts to the glacier are Fendels, Serfaus and Fiss, all approximately an hour away from Innsbruck.
Molltaler Gletscher / Flattach Official Website: www.skifidelity.at/moelltaler-gletscher_en/	The most southerly of the Alps glacial ski areas is the Molltal glacier, with the village of Flattach located at the foot of it. A gondola and an underground cable car allow access to the glacier's slopes, taking you upto a height of 3120m. The resort advertises that there are approximately 50 km of groomed runs, but it's worth noting that only a small proportion of these are actually on the glacier. The majority are in surroundingh The glacier also has a terrain park and a half pipe. The resort claims to guarantee skiing from October to May, although depending on how cold the winter and spring has been this can actually extend right into July and sometimes August.

France

French ski resorts offering summer skiing

Name	Details
Tignes Official Website: www.tignes.net	The Grand Motte glacier is the place to head for skiing in the summer months. Found at an altitude of 3000m it's reduced in size dramatically in the last 25 years but, apart from a few weeks closure, it's open all year round.

Italy

Italian ski resorts offering summer skiing

Name

Details

Passo Stelvio

Official Website:
www.passostelvio.com

The Passo Stelvio summer ski area is actually named after the famous road that stands adjacent to the ski area. At an altitude of 2757m the Stelvio Pass is the 2nd highest mountain pass in the Alps (just 13m below the Col de l'Iseran) and it connects the resorts of Alta Valtellina and Alto Adige.

During the winter the pass is closed because of the weather, so it's opening heralds the coming of the area's summer ski season, which normally runs from the end of May to the start of November.

There are about 20km of blue and red pistes available, extending from the top altitude of 3450m at Punta degli Spiriti to the Stelvio Glacier, Livrio area and the 2760m summer ski base down near the pass. 2 cable cars and 6 lifts serve the pistes.

As you'd expect, it attracts many of Italy's professional skiers for summer training whilst there are also some pretty good summer options for nordic skiing, with 3 tracks available, 12km in total, the longest being the 7km Pista Scorluzzo and the most demanding being the Pista Fondo Cristallo on the Stelvio glacier. And for snowboarders there's a snowpark.

One of Italy's most famous ski resorts, Bormio, is nearby and not a bad option if you're looking for somewhere bigger to stay with more summer activities.

Passo Tonale

Official Website:
www.passotonale.it

Passo del Tonale is a ski resort situated next to the Tonale Pass, a road seperating the mountains of Adamello-Presanella and the Ortler Alps. A popular destination in winter it also gives access to the summer skiing area up on the Presena Glacier.

It's worth noting that the summer ski options are not as extensive as some of it's Alpine counterparts and there are just 3 pistes available:
A 1km black run called Presena Sinistra from the Presena 3016m top station down to the chairlift at 2738m.
The 1km Presena Destra red also goes from 3016m down to 2738m.
And finally, the longest run, a 1.7km red called Presena Paradiso, goes from 2738m down to the gondola station at 2585m.
There's also a snowpark at 3000m called Snowmotion.

The glacier is served by 4 lifts:
The Paradiso gondola goes from Passo Tonale up to Paradiso Pass at 2585m.
The Paradiso-Presena chairlift goes from Paradiso Pass upto 2738m.
The top of Presena at 3016m is served by 2 lifts, Presena Destra and Presena Sinistra.

The summer ski season is not as long as some of the other larger European glaciers, running from the start of May to the end of June. However, the winter ski season usually starts in early October around the Ghiacciao Presena area and lasts well into April.

Interestingly, if you visit in winter their are special ski trails prepared where you can see the remains of cannons and artillery used from the First World War, as the area was witness to heavy fighting between Austria and Italy.

Switzerland

Swiss ski resorts offering summer skiing

Name

Details

Zermatt

Official Website:
www.zermatt.ch

Thanks to the incredible Klein Matterhorn cable car, Zermatt has access to Europe's largest and highest summer ski area. Featuring 20km of pistes (the longest being 7km) and 7 lifts accessing the area, the Theodul Glacier area is open every day from May to November, after which many of the lifts further down the valley start to open. The Klein Matterhorn cable car, one of the most dramatic in the world, takes you up to a height of 3820m (an elevator called the Gipfel-lift can take you up to a viewing platform at 3883m) and entry to the pistes is via a tunnel through the mountain. From there you can take a number of different pistes, such as number 85 - the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, right down to Trockener Steg at 2939m. It's worth noting that from July to September some of the lifts at Trockener Steg sometime close because of lack of snow. Vice versa, it's not uncommon for the runs down to the next main station at Furgg (2432m) to be open in early November and well into May. The area also has one of the best freestyle parks in the Alps - The Gravity Snowboard Park. With all this skiing and boarding and, of course, the view of THAT mountain (the Matterhorn for those unfamiliar with Zermatt), it's not hard to see why this is one of Europe's most popular summer ski destinations.

Keywords : summer skiing in europe : alpine mountain glacial ski snow resorts and areas