Ski Season in the Alps Ends. Almost.
4th May 2025
Last modified on May 8th, 2025
All the resorts in the Alps have now closed their main ski areas. A few glacier areas in Austria remain open, with one in Switzerland & another in France. Plans are in place for summer skiing. UPDATED
The resorts that closed last weekend include:
- Austria -Ischgl & Pitztal.
- France – Tignes, Val d’Isere & Val Thorens.
- Switzerland – Engelberg.
- Italy – Val Senales.
- Germany – Zugspitze Glacier.
- Spain – Sierra Nevada.
There are a few Austrian glacier resorts still offering some skiing ahead of their closing:
- Stubai – shuts 11th May.
- Kitzsteinhorn – shuts 18th May.
- Kuenertall – shuts 18th May.
Les2Alpes in France has some limited skiing on its glacier and we have further details of its spring and summer programme lower down this article.
In Sweden Riksgränsen remains open and is set to be the last resort in Scandinavia to close – it is due to shut on May 25th.
Riksgransen, Sweden. Image © PlanetSKI
The Norwegian glacier summer ski areas will start opening for their 2025 seasons in the next couple of weeks and we’ll keep you posted on when they start.
Hintertux in Austria and Zermatt in Switzerland remain open (with access to the Zermatt ski area from the Italian resort of Cevinia) and the two plan to offer skiing across the summer, but much will depend on conditions.
PlanetSKI was in Hintertux in the summer of 2023:
Hintertux in the summer. Image © PlanetSKI
Hintertux in the summer. Image © PlanetSKI
Three French ski areas are open in May, June and July.
Les 2 Alpes has the longest season in France and aims to stay open for over seven months.
After its ‘official’ winter season ended on 5th May, it continues until the 28th May and plans to have 1,000 vertical metres of skiing between 2,600m and 3,600m.
Then for the final six weeks of its season from 29th May to 6th July that terrain will reduce to a 400m vertical at the very top of the slopes on its glacier between 3,600 to 3,200m.
The resort’s summer snowpark is set to be open from 5th May to 6th July.
Summer skiing in Les2Alpes. Image © PlanetSKI
Val d’Isère plans to open for summer skiing on its Pisaillas glacier for four weeks from Saturday June 7th to Sunday July 6th if conditions allow.
Skiing is possible on three runs located between 3,300m and 2,725m altitudes with another four runs reserved for race team training.
Neighbouring Tignes has four weeks of operations planned from 21st June to 20th July.
The Grande Motte glacier has slopes at an altitude of nearly 3,000 m.
Up to 20 km of glacier runs are available between 3,456 m and 2,724 m.
There is also cross-country skiing on the glacier.
Tignes, France. Image c/o Marcia Nash.
Now work is underway across the Alps to clear the high passes of winter snow and re-open roads.
There is still some skiing over in North America where some resorts are extending their season after recent snow.
We have a full and updated report here:
PlanetSKI reporter, Alex Cove, is currently in Alberta in Canada and he’ll be skiing in Sunshine Village near Banff later this week.
The resort still has a few weeks left of its season and it is usually the last Canadian resort to close.
Look out for his update on the season and what conditions are currently like.
Sunshine Village. Image © PlanetSKI.
Sunshine Village, Banff. Image © PlanetSKI.
Then PlanetSKI is turning its attentions to skiing and snowboarding in the southern hemisphere.
Cerro Catedral, Argentina. Image © PlanetSKI
South Island, New Zealand. Image © PlanetSKI
Skiing in Thredbo, Australia. Image © PlanetSKI
Skiing may be pretty much over in the northern hemisphere, but in the southern hemisphere people are looking forward to winter and some snow has already fallen in New Zealand.
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