Where to Ski And Snowboard -

Glacier watch: 20 June

20th June 2010, by Wendy King

Not quite that sunny in France at the moment ...

While we’ve been basking in glorious June sunshine, the weather in the Alps has been somewhat more changeable – floods reported in southern France, 50cm new snow for the upper Stubai glacier …

France

So, it is with fresh snowfall that France’s main summer ski areas have resumed snow sports this week. First up: Les Deux Alpes, which has had most lifts open since Wednesday. Tignes reopened the Grand Motte slopes this weekend, with 5-10cm fresh snow. The cooler weather brought a dusting of new snow to Tovière (2705m) and a little lower on Sunday 20 June. It has been rather murky up there on Sunday, but the forecast is for brighter conditions for the next few days.

Les Deux Alpes has also been rather chilly, with snow above 2600m and rain showers below. But they’ve been operating nine lifts over the weekend.

If you fancy a week away, with slopes by day and party by night … the Snow Elctro Fest comes to the resort from 24 July for a week. The festival focus will be freestyle events at the terrain park, but there will be other activities available plus DJs and parties. Packages are available from two days, which include accommodation, lift passes, two parties and drinks – starting at 127 euros based on two people sharing an apartment.

Austria

We were very surprised to see a report of 20-50cm fresh snow cover on the Stubai glacier this week. There is no skiing available there at present, though.

The Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun (135cm) has received 20cm fresh snow in the past few days, with reasonable conditions available down to the Alpincentre – the snow is a bit wet and heavy though.

The Dachstein glacier near Schladming has also seen some summer action recently. But terrain is limited to a couple of slopes at present.

The best bet for decent skiing and boarding is still the Hintertux glacier. It was looking a bit grey and miserable up there on Sunday, but the resort is reporting 25km slopes open.

Switzerland

The only resort open at present is Zermatt. It has been a bit drier and brighter there during the past few days, with no fresh snow reported since 6 June. But 8km slopes are open (two main runs and nine lifts). Saas Fee is not scheduled to reopen for summer skiing until 3 July.

Italy

There probably isn’t much interest in heading to Italy for summer skiing, but if you are passing through … the glacier at Val Senales is open, despite heavy snow loss in a recent spell of mild weather. Cover remains fine enough to operate six lifts. And Cervinia is set to join Zermatt for summer skiing from 26 June.

---

Back to features