 Poster: A snowHead
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This post appeared on one of on the Weather Outlook Thread and it got me wondering how many there are still and how many there were in the heyday of Summer skiing in the 70’s and 80s .
Post by @whitegold below
France had a huge 13 summer ski resorts between the 1950s and 2010s.
Tignes
Val d'Isere
Les 2 Alpes
La Grave
La Plagne
Alpe d'Huez
Les Arcs
Serve Chevalier (CdG)
Val Thorens
Chamonix
Bramans
Maupas
Luchonnais
I obviously have heard of most but some I haven’t . I can’t remember one at Les Arcs presumably a drag on the Aiguille Rouge Glacier , but do remember the small area in La Plagne and the two small ones in Val T .
Would love to see some archive pics .
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Rob Mackley, Les Deux Alpes and La Grave still open in the summer, LG just for race training.
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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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Bramans seems to top out at 1800m so how the heck did that ever open in the summer?
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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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@rjs, les 2 alpes didn't open this summer, it stayed open in the spring for clubs and training
Tignes opened for 3 weeks at the very start of summer. Same for Val d'Isere
Effectively there is no longer summer skiing in France. Or Autumn skiing for that matter.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Fri 8-11-24 9:32; edited 1 time in total
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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.
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@under a new name, There are drag lifts above the gondola, get the gondola back down.
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@kitenski, Just taken a look , looks like there was an old glacier on the Colle del Sommeiller above which had some form of road access .
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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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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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@Whitegold, great link to the Sommelier photo story. Makes me realise just how much lift served skiing has been lost in Europe over the last 50 years.
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@Whitegold, Cheers, Can still see the road on Google Earth, but the glacier seems to be mostly gone. Incredible story.
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You know it makes sense.
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Pitztal Glacier Austria
No time to translate
But a few days ago there was a massive rockslide..(sudden)
There are now calls for no more lifts on Glacier areas as the Rock is unstable
You can read some stuff over herr on German Forum
https://www.alpinforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=651&start=2225
and a bit more over here
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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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Great thread, and some fantastic links. Memories of years gone by- I went summer skiing at Tignes in August in the late 80s. Decent amount of terrain, but incredibly slushy by 10am.
I can also recall about 15yrs ago that it was possible to ski from the top of the Grands Montets cable car (3250m) back to Lognan (1950m) in early July, when the cable car opened for the summer sightseeing season.
One wizened local ski instructor in Argentiere, told us that there used to be summer skiing at Le Tour, from 1900-2200m where the snowfield frequently lingered into July. Apparently they even held some summer races there.
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Poster: A snowHead
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The exit ramp of the chair on the feature photo is evil (particularly, for boarders)!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@PJ Maza. Love the the article on the failed Sainte Foy Ruitor ski resort , I had heard that it was once the plan but never seen anything written till today .
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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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Reading further summer ski in Les Arcs happened for about a few weeks until abandoned.
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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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Engelberg also used to have summer skiing up until around 2005/6, but like so many others it was decided that the wear and tear on the glacier was too risky, so they switched to Oct-May instead, with a two-week break mid November.
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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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Didn’t know that there was originally a plan to develop Val d’isere further up the valley from le Fornet at the St George’s bridge, up at 2050m. The proposal was for 40,000 beds (!) and a tunnel through to Italy no doubt accessing Turin which would only be 2 hours away. The slopes on the north side of the Col Pers look steep and long and would no doubt have greatly extended the piste skiing at Val d’isere. Probably a good thing that it didn’t go ahead.
Interesting too to read about the 150 lifts that were proposed in 1969 to the east of Val Thorens right across the glacial area!
The Sommelier skiing story (above Bardonecchia) was an impressive effort, essentially building the highest road in the Alps, then a fifty person overnight hut, (with dancing!) and setting up a bus service to access three summer skiing lifts.
Lots of parallels with Scottish skiing efforts around the same time and even the English clubs during the 60s, 70s and 80s! It is amazing what an individual with vision and drive backed by a supportive team can achieve with minimum resources. No doubt an awful lot of happy memories there.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@JDL65, thanks - that looks like an amazing ride, one for the summer cycling list.
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| snowdave wrote: |
| @JDL65, thanks - that looks like an amazing ride, one for the summer cycling list. |
I wish it was properly tarmaced as I'm not a dark sider! 
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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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@Rob Mackley, End of June 2010 and 2011 we ran summer trips to Tignes and we had loads of comments in a Planet Ski article that said we were lying about the dates as there couldn't possibly be snow in June 
Some cool photos https://www.insideoutskiing.com/gallery/summer-ski-plus
Sadly had to bin the trip in 2012 as the resort had published opening dates, we took bookings and subsequently Tignes changed dates and we had to refund flights. Couldn't make it work after that..
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Happy memories of summer skiing including the 2011 Inside Out Trip. We are in the pictures from skimottaret. Our first family ski trip abroad was Easter 1988 and we were so hooked that we called in at Tignes that summer on our way to the south of France. My database tells me we have had 8 summer trips to Tignes, 3 LDA, 1 Alpe d'Huez, 1 Verbier, 1 Saas Fee and 1 Whistler. Both sons competed in skiing/boarding so they did summer training for many years. My list is just family trips, sons also trained in Australia and S America (but that doesn't count as its their winter).
In 1995 they both trained moguls in Tignes with the Scottish Freestyle Team off the side of the Vanoise lift. There was enough snow in July to make a full mogul course so probably about 2 metres deep. The last time I was up there in summer it was completely bare rock!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Just looked at all the pictures from Inside Out July 2011. It shows one of my happiest moments when I got to the top of the Val d'Isere via ferrata having said I was too scared to try it!
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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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@skimottaret, Fantastic pics and memories for you , I’m loving this thread .
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@mogulski, I chickened out on the Via Ferrata , you guys did brilliantly the White water rafting was a highlight as well on those trips
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You know it makes sense.
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In 2022 I rode up the Col d'Iserean in early July and the glacier was tiny. I was truly shocked having known that it used to have some summer skiing.
This year, almost to the day, I rode up again, and the glacier was open and the snow banks just over the top were 2m high.
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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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Folks were summerskiing on that Sommeiller glacier 45 years ago.
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FAQ
must be an interesting home run 
.
