Hiking in ski resorts after the season ends

A snowHead

I know that this might seem like a strange question, especially as most of the members of this forum, me included, are currently getting ready for snow based frivolity. But, anyhow, here goes.

I am looking to book a holiday, after the ski season, walking in or around the mountains. I've never ventured outside of the U.K. for this type of break so would welcome any advice or suggestions about potential destinations. Accommodation recommendations are also welcomed.

Thanks in advance, and have a great winter ladies and gents.

A snowHead

The possibilities are endless - and wonderful. However, immediately after the ski season ends is not generally a good time. Typically there is still a great deal of snow about and where it's melting the ground is blackened and heavy. I'd say wait until June or - at higher altitudes later - to get the optimum mix of flowers, which are one of the joys of summer in the Alps.

I have an apartment in the French Alps so I spend a lot of time there in late spring, summer and autumn but if I were starting with a blank sheet looking for a walking holiday I'd go to the Dolomites with Colletts. https://www.colletts.co.uk/dolomites/

There are loads of threads and posts on Snowheads about summer walking.

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@Pezza26, TMB 😀

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I do a lot of hiking here in the Summer but also in Spring and Autumn too. I also went a bit further afield this summer with hikes in the Chartreuse and the Vercors. My first this Spring was early May and the latest last week. I did hike up the mountain one day in February too when thé lifts weren't running.

One thing to bear in mind is that the altitude can make it very difficult for some people. It depends how it affects each individual. It can be tough I regularly do 20km+ with 1200m+ of vertical and a maximum altitude of 2400m+.

At the top of Pic St Michel in the Vercors

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Wow @Claude B what a stunning view.

I echo your point about not underestimating the physical challenge. When we did our first summer holiday in the Alps, we chose as our first walk what was a easy blue run that we had skied down many times in the winter. It turned out to be a 400m vertical climb in not much more than that horizontally😳. Throw in the challenge of the altitude on top and let's say we were a bit enervated after what was only the first 30 mins of a 4 hour hike.

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It really struck me when my girlfriend who lives nearer sea level came here for the first time. She's very fit and 20 or even 30km at lower altitude is easy but we went on a hike here up to 2100m. It affected her very badly.

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pam w , Claude B & Wrekingirl thank you for the early replies. I understand the differences and the risks of walking at altitude but thank you for making sure that I wasn't getting myself into something I hadn't thought through properly.

pam w Thanks for the tip on the timings, I did realise that but my question was badly worded.

After all it is free

@Pezza26,
I'd have thought most resorts will be able to do walking and have cheap out of season accommodation. However one thing is not to underestimate the effect of ski mechanisation both lifts and pistes on the visual impact. It can be interesting to see but probably not how most people want to walk every day.
Having a car to get away helps. If not check what the local transport infrastructure is like.
From a personal view I have fairly recently had wonderful walking holidays based in Serre Che and St Gervais. We have often used the tourist office to secure accommodation.

I would choose July or August. Most ski resorts, the restaurants, bars and shops shut in the off season of may-june and sept-nov however they open again in July/August for the French break. Some of the ski hire shops become mountain bike hire shops and some resorts open a ski lift or two to put mountain bikes on.

Echo what Pam said about lots of snow and sludge around in the early summer. I go to Val Thorens in June most years to renovate apartment, and there is still lots of snow on what are the higher pistes. It's hard to sleep due to the sound of rushing water. The best thing is walking round the village at night where there is not 1 light visible. The sky view is awesome.

The best alpine summer times i've had have been lower down Anecy and Lac du Bourget. Warm, rolling walks and easy access to the mountains.

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@Pezza26, we could write whole books on this - in fact many people have. Though I love skiing I sometimes think I prefer the Alps in the summer.

@pam w, sums it up precisely. There are lots of variables - what do you actually want from "hiking" - are these long days in the high mountains or a ramble though flower filled meadows? Do you need guides? (they are availble in ski resorts that have now expanded into the summe rtrade), do you want to follow a guide book route? How confident are you with map reading, footpaths are very well marked in the Alps, much better than the UK, but you may want to leave the marked path sometimes). Do you have the correct equipment? Do you want to go for high level, multi day walks? How fit are you?

Personally I would go to the Dolomites and then visit a suitable bookshop in the town and spend a good period browsing the guidebooks and maps. A trip to the local climbing shop may be necessary for equipment you may not have or have forgotten. I would go any time from early July to early September but not mid August when all the campsites, hotels and huts will be full.

Some of the previous posters have pointed out the lifts and litter from skiing makes the resorts rather unattractive in summer, VTT bikes also make walking around the resort itself less than pleasant.

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PS,

Do not worry too much about the guidebooks being in a language you do not understand. Google Goggles will scan a page, OCR it, and translate it to something resembling English, further study of web sites will give the translation of the specialist moutaineering terms such as "grand gendarme" on a ridge - it will not arrest you. It was "sanduhr" in German that caused me the most thought.

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If you can afford it, with the Swiss Franc being as expensive as it is at the moment, do have a look at the Jungfrau region.
The mountain railways take you to some great places to set out from and the views are some of the best in the Alps.
We have visited in May and in August. Still some snow lying in May at altitude, but the lower meadows were full of flowers.
Also, your never far from somewhere selling cake!
http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/tourism/experiences/hiking-nature/

You know it makes sense.

I'd disagree with the advice to avoid ski areas for walking. It depends what you want. Personally in resorts that run some cable cars in the summer I've had great holidays hiking around between lifts and huttes. It can be as challenging as you want and many places I've been even grade the walking routes blue, red or black like ski runs. Even resorts that are used by mountain bikers in the summer have some great walking routes and you don't have to get in their way, plus watching their antics can be an added bit of entertainment at times. I've been to Mayrhofen, Zell am See (including a day in Saalbach) and Garmisch, all of which gave an amazing choice of routes using lifts and public transport to get around.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Go in June - cheaper, quieter and not too hot. Book the refuges and walk the Portes du Soleil circuit- it's fab.

July and August can be 35degrees

A snowHead

@Nadenoodlee, Many huts are not open in June, but open in July. I reccomed checking the opeing dates before setting off.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Equally the temperature is usually lower at altitude and walking in the shade of trees if you do as @davidof, suggests and choose a mid altitude resort can be very pleasant even when the air temperature is warm.

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I do not think I have had 35 degrees at altitude, but last summer it was hitting 35 in Bourg st Maurice, so we tried to keep over 2000m for the week. However, it is not unknown for sub zero temperatures as low as 2000m in July and August. I remember walking up to the Entre du Lac lift near La Plagne one summmer in heavy snow.

Having been bought up in England I always have a spare jumper (or these days a belay jacket) and waterproofs with me no matter what the weather looks like when I set off.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Being at mid altitude (say, 1500m in the French alps) means you can go up if it's hot, and down if it's cold.

I agree that both the ski ironmongery and the VTT can be a bit of a pain but whilst the former is unavoidable in a ski resort the latter are not so thick on the ground outside the main holidays. I think late June is about perfect at that latitude, though a lot depends on the spring weather - sometimes there's loads of snow still about, sometimes practically none.

But so much depends on whether you want to do high altitude, long distance, gnarly sort of stuff or potter round with a Beaufort sandwich and an apple, admiring the flowers and the cows with bells on. The latter suits me nicely and 500m is my max daily vertical. wink

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best thing about the alps for summer is that there is an awful lot more of them.
wouldn't necessarily go to a ski resort, when there's so much more, although if you do pick a ski resort as a base, then even then there is still so much more and easy to get to beyond the bounds of the ski area. and lots more refuges, and imho, often serving much better food than in winter.
weather can be anything. I've been sunburned in early June with not a single cloud in the sky, walking exactly the same route that I had to bail out of on the same weekend of the previous year, due to snow and landslides. that was in Malbun, Liechtenstein, but walking up a different hill to those with the ski lifts. (edit: that'd have been at about 1800m, after a gentle stroll up from about 1600m).
in Morzine, i've been mountainbiking (cross country, not stormtroopers in pyjamas doing the hardcore rad stuff) in both early winter gear and also 37C with a water ban, both in the 2nd week of the lifts being open for summer.

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September is best. Warm and sunny. Fewer tourists, but not dead.

Italy Dolomites for scenery, food, via ferrata, and wildlife.

Switzerland for atmosphere and scenery.

Austria for beginner hills.

France for highalpine endurance.

Germany, Sicily, Spain, Albania, Georgia, US, and Canada for something different.

Avoid most major ski stations. They look scarred and fugly in the Summer, particularly in France.

If you are old or fat, you can catch a lift and hike down. You don't always have to hike up.

Turning a corner and coming facetoface with a cow / goat / marmot / bear never gets old.

After all it is free

roffle. there are beginner hills and high alpine endurance all over the alps Wink

coming face to face with a cow... 100% guarantee it will be on the worn strip that is the designated foot path. also 100% guarantee that that is exactly where the fresh wet pats will be too Wink

(same is true for MTB trails). they obviously have cleverer cows in the mountains that sh** on the paths and not on their dinner Wink

oh and it's always fun to zap someone with the electric fence hook thing, when you have to unhook it to cross the fence line Smile

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I prefer to hike up and get a lift down. In summer the free buses for VTTistes can be useful.

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We spend a week each summer pottering about in Austria, much of the time getting a ski lift up and walking around the same contour line and having lunch at one of the mountain huts. Nothing strenuous at all, apart from the time we took the wrong valley off a saddle and had to walk and extra 6km. It's great fun.

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Some great replies, much appreciated, but please keep the comments coming.

Pezza

I've had fantastic walking and climbing in the Wilder Kaiser area, and also from Alpbach.

I would avoid the cliched honey pots and get good local advice rather then queueing up on the 'classics' with the rest of the 'punters'

You know it makes sense.

+1 for September. First two weeks are usually the best. It's easy to dial it up or down depending on how much you want to push yourself. I've hiked mostly in Switzerland. Recommend Klosters/Davos. Easy access from Zurich by train. Wide range of accommodations. Use the lifts to get to altitude and then walk the panorama weg which follows the contour lines around the mountain above timberline. Hike up or down depending on your preference. Use lifts (up or down) when you feel like it. Lifts and buses are free if you are staying locally. I've done this in the Jungfrau area, Zermatt, and Pontresina (Engadine). Engadine and Klosters are my favorites. Can't go too far wrong anywhere in Switzerland.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Zell Am See is great and some week in August they have a summer festival with local parade, fireworks etc. There's nice cafes, you can get the boat on the lake, cycle and go walking up on the mountains.

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Hiking in ski resorts after the season ends

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