 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everyone. I'm an American that moved to UK this year with the hope of ticking off lots of the European resorts I've always dreamed of skiing. As you can imagine that plan didn't work out so well! Sorry to ask what is probably a stupid question but is skiing possible anywhere in Europe during the summer? If so, any recommendations and what should I expect? Right now I'm willing to take pretty much anything!
I'm a pretty solid skier, prefer off-piste and am happy touring if there is nothing good lift served if that makes a difference.
I don't have the time and money to go to the southern hemisphere, but could go to Georgia or central Asia if that is a better option?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Physiojen, most glaciers close at some point over the summer. In Austria only Hintertux stays open throughout. In France none do. Italy has a couple (forget which ones) and in Switzerland Zermatt is open.
My experience is that up until June the skiing can be OK, and most glaciers stay open until then. Beyond that it is usually not worth the effort. In August & September you are skiing on mushed up dirty looking ice!
No idea what the situation will be this year!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Go to Cervinia (Aosta Italy).
Cervinia shares summer skiing area with Zermatt (CH). This is by far the highest summer ski area of Europe, up to 3900m, with almost 1000m height difference between top and bottom. Advantages of Cervinia over Zermatt: lodging and eating cost on the Italian side is about 60% of Swiss. And the cabin ride from village to glacier is less time consuming.
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@Physiojen, I’m probably biased cause I live here but I reckon Switzerland is a good place to visit this summer because things are already pretty normal and will be even more so by 6th June. Zermatt is a nice town too.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Physiojen, I think Riksgränsen in the far north of Sweden will be open for the midsummer weekend this year. Skiing in the midnight sun should probably be on your bucket list. Getting here in the first place might be tricky though.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Look at whether you can go to Stryn Sommerski in Norway. It's only opening on 5 June at the earliest, so if/ when you are allowed to go there and return without quarantining, there's a fair chance there'll be a lot of snow, still.
http://strynsommerski.com/
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I would say that Norway's a great place, and I've boarded both Stryn and another location further south in the summer. The glacier is a bit wuss, is all I'd say. The least interesting summer ski place I've been. Sure, the Swedish ski team trains there and all that providing some lycra interest, but the Tignes and Zermatt glaciers are more interesting to ski on, albeit not much.
It would be interesting to to know where's open and where it's possible to get to, for us ordinary non-politician people.
Riksgränsen sounds interesting.
"Midnight sun" may work better earlier in the year than summer; places I've been in summer the snow's well cooked much earlier in the day.
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@Physiojen,
Have a look on en.Tignes.net & valdisere.com/en for up to date news on summer skiing.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Summer skiing is only worth it if you are doing a course (Snoworks, Warren Smith etc) in my opinion.
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Summer skiing can be a bit underwhelming, especially if it hasn't snowed for a while and you're faced with dirty ice mush. However, I think it can be a nice day out as part of a summer mountain trip if you choose a place with other activities. We did this one July in Saas Fee, and hired kit for a glacier ski day which was fun as we did get fresh snow. The rest of the week we spent hiking, visiting lakes, mountain biking, tree-top adventure park etc.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Summer opening dates for 2 Alpes. French version as English has less info https://ete.les2alpes.com/fr/le-domaine-skiable-en-ete.html
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Le domaine du ski d'été aux 2 Alpes c'est de 7h à 12h30 chaque jour !
Avec ouverture partielle Slalom et Snowpark :
→ SKIEURS PRO : du 6 au 19 juin 2020
→ GRAND PUBLIC : le WE du 6 et 7 juin 2020 & le WE du 13 et 14 juin2020.
Avec ouverture en continu, Pour tous, sur l'ensemble du glacier : à partir du samedi 20 juin 2020.
Fermeture du glacier selon l'enneigement. |
Big glacier here but mainly race training etc. I'll be here all summer but probably won't bother skiing tbh. Unless the 1st weekend is free as was promised.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Scarlet, this! There are better things to do in the mountains in summer, unless it happens to snow and you manage to get there the day after.
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When I went to Stryn at end of May (ages ago), it felt a lot like spring skiing, not summer (we actually never made it to Stryn itself due to avy risk on the road, had to tour on the other mountains around).
Of course, if you can't get there until July, it might be a lot worse.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Perfect summer day, up early and a few hours skiing on the Tignes glacier then down to a lakeside restaurant for a leisurely French lunch followed by a few holes of golf to round the day off 
https://www.tignes.co.uk/summergolf.php
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A few questions: How long would you be able to go for? Would you want to take your own skis/boots, or hire out there?
Personally, I'd echo the sentiment that there's a huge amount to do in The Alps in summer, without resorting to skiing, which may not be that great compared to a long Weekend in the winter season. Going over to ski for a few days in the quiet non-school-hol period in winter would be much more enjoyable, I'd say. If you mountain-bike, hike, rock-climb or paraglide, then you'd probably get much more out of doing them*.
You could combine the two i.e. go out with an option to ski if it's convenient and conditions are good. The only resort I've been to in summer is Zermatt, where there were plenty of people who were obviously skiing. But I suspect they were locals or Valaisians who could do a day trip without a lot of hassle.
[*Like many resorts, the 4 Vallées is trying hard to attract people over the summer. So they're repeating their free lift pass for pedestrians and 50% discount for MTB riders again. See http://www.verbier.ch/en/activities-fun/summer-fall/verbier-infinite-playground-pass/vip-pass.htm?respp=9. You can get to Verbier easily by train from GVA, so no hire car needed. But you might want to tour a bit, obviously. Many other resorts are doing something similar, so in some ways, this summer is a good time to visit.]
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Looks like snow at Stelvio and pistie beasties in action. Snowing in Hintertux.
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Hintertux is great!
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If you're a diehard skier Physiojen, you will love summer skiing. Mrs MA and I are and do! And the glacier ski areas could well be more extensive than you might imagine.
In summer, in my view, there's just nothing to beat being up on a deserted glacier by 07.30 /08.00 (in the case of Tignes, where we have been a lot) on a glorious summer morning - and blasting down 2000 ft (or more) of vertical on a perfectly groomed run. That's with no summer camps or race training - just normal skiing. (Haven't done either so can't comment on them...)
Tignes is great for access to the glacier - about 7 mins by high speed funicular.
We have experienced good snow right through July (including a few mornings of fresh tracks!), although early to mid July is generally best. Having said that, we've also managed to enjoy skiing very thin snow cover - down to the glacial ice, with running rivers of meltwater(!) - in scorching summers.
There's just something fantastic about practising the sport we all love high up on a glacier in summer. As you can be skiing total mush by 10.30, it leaves the rest of the day free for hiking, biking, water sports (on the lake in Tignes), golf or tennis - or just relaxing in the mountains.
What's not to like??
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I second that, mountainaddict!
Though it's very different to winter skiing, it is indeed a very special experience to stand at the top of a glacier on a sunny, crisp and frosty summer morning at 7.30 or 8am.
I would definitely recommend giving it a go.
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| Themasterpiece wrote: |
| Summer skiing is only worth it if you are doing a course (Snoworks, Warren Smith etc) in my opinion. |
I have just booked for the course with Warren Smith for July 26th in Cervinia!
Damn, ski in the summer gonna be a unique experience for me 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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In fact, according to them, most of the course will be in the Swiss side
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| Claude B wrote: |
Summer opening dates for 2 Alpes. French version as English has less info https://ete.les2alpes.com/fr/le-domaine-skiable-en-ete.html
| Quote: |
Le domaine du ski d'été aux 2 Alpes c'est de 7h à 12h30 chaque jour !
Avec ouverture partielle Slalom et Snowpark :
→ SKIEURS PRO : du 6 au 19 juin 2020
→ GRAND PUBLIC : le WE du 6 et 7 juin 2020 & le WE du 13 et 14 juin2020.
Avec ouverture en continu, Pour tous, sur l'ensemble du glacier : à partir du samedi 20 juin 2020.
Fermeture du glacier selon l'enneigement. |
Big glacier here but mainly race training etc. I'll be here all summer but probably won't bother skiing tbh. Unless the 1st weekend is free as was promised. |
It is not clear whether they will open to the public at all. The website NOW says only with a ski instructor from 27th June. I would write LDA off for skiing this summer unless you are local.
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You know it makes sense.
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@davidof, they keep changing things  I'm not too worried about skiing myself tbh.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Claude B wrote: |
| @davidof, they keep changing things I'm not too worried about skiing myself tbh. |
It doesn't seem well thought out. How do they check you are only using the park?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Seems LDA open to 'general public' from 27 June.
I'm hoping to try Saas Fee in July after the quarantine is lifted
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Seem to have quite a well thought out plan here. Priority very much given to those training. Seems there is some provision for punters from 8am each day.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Claude B wrote: |
Seem to have quite a well thought out plan here. Priority very much given to those training. Seems there is some provision for punters from 8am each day.
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Will you be giving it a go then Claude?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hintertux pictures on Instagram show current conditions / snow cover similar to last couple of years at the end of May.
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FAQ
