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When you need your skiing fix in the summer, the high-alpine glaciers of the Alps are always an option. We’re not suggesting planning a summer ski vacation to the Europe (although, stranger things have been done…), but if you’re going to be there anyway, you might as well squeeze in a ski day or two, even if just for the novelty of it.
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There are a handful of ski resorts that open back up for summer glacier skiing—and one that’s a summer-only ski resort (the one in the photo, below)—that offer creamy corn summer turns. Here’s where to find off-season skiing in the Alps.
7 Resorts in the Alps to Glacier Ski in the Summer
Austria
Hintertux
- Summer season: open all year
There’s skiing year-round on the Hintertux Glacier, which offers a steeper pitch than other comparable glaciers in the region. Located at over 10,600 feet, Hintertux stays cool enough to hold snow even in the dog days of summer. Depending on conditions, summer skiers can expect there to be up to 10 lifts open serving 20 kilometers of runs, enough to satiate your appetite for summer turns.
Kaprun Glacier
- Extended spring season: now through June 2
- Summer skiing: opens May 26
Glacier skiing on Kitzsteinhorn will stay open for late-spring skiing through the beginning of June thanks to its high elevation. Part of the Kaprun Glacier, Kitz is one of several ski areas on the glacier. Summer skiing will open off of the Maiskogelbahn on May 18 and off the 3K K-onnection on June 22. It’s pretty typical glacial terrain—open bowls with not much pitch, but the endless views make up for the lack of steep terrain.
France
Les 2 Alpes
- Summer season: April 28 -July 7
Les 2 Alpes offers the closest thing to a full-scale summer ski operation that you’ll find in the Alps. While it’s primarily intended for racers and ski camps, there is a portion of the glacier that’s open to the public. The summer operation features over 200 skiable acres served by two lifts and a funicular.
Tignes
- Summer season: June 22 to July 21
Tignes boasts high elevation and comparatively good snow on the Grand Motte glacier. There’s only about 18 kilometers of terrain open, so think of it as a great way to pass a couple hours, especially considering that access via the high-speed underground funicular makes this the easiest skiing to get to from the base.
Italy
Cervinia/Zermatt
- Summer season: April 27-Oct. 31
Sharing its summer-skiing slopes with Switzerland’s Zermatt, this is the highest-elevation skiing in the region and is also the most snow-sure. The summer summit is at almost 12,800 feet, and skiers can expect about 21 kilometers of pistes with amazing high-alpine views and a tamped-down, but still epically fun, après scene.
Passo Stelvio
- Summer season: June 1-Nov. 3
This underrated little summer-only ski area near Bormio has the longest summer season—but it’s also its only season. Passo Stelvio isn’t open in the winter. The mostly gentle slopes are wide-open and accessed by cable cars from Stelvio Pass.
Switzerland
Zermatt
(see Cervinia, above)
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Saas Fee
- Summer season: July 8-Oct. 31
You have to wait a little longer for Saas Fee’s season to begin this summer, but once it does, it lasts all the way to the end of October, which says something about the snow surety on this glacier. There’s about 20 kilometers of on-piste skiing, mostly intermediate, and the lovely car-free village of Saas-Fee to look forward to at the end of your ski day. Note that there’s little to no beginner terrain available in the summer.