Summer Ski Season Approaches
21st May 2025
Last modified on May 22nd, 2025
Resorts in the Alps, Scandinavia, South America, Australia and New Zealand are preparing to open in the next few weeks for skiing and snowboarding in the summer months. UPDATED
The past week has seen warm and sunny weather in the Alps with the freezing level at around 2,500m.
There have been the occasional light snow showers at altitude.
“Some quite significant snowfall is expected above about 2,000m on the glaciers over the next few days as temperatures drop and a front moves through, with the freezing point dropping below 1,000m overnight,” said Snow Forecast.
“Snow showers will peter out towards the end of the week, with sunny conditions and warmer temperatures returning by the end of the weekend.”
The resort of Passo Stelvio in Italy is set to open for summer skiing from May 31st.
Passo Stelvio can only open after the access road, the Stelvio Pass, has been cleared of the winter season’s snow.
The Stelvio Pass is scheduled to open this Friday, May 23 at 1:00 p.m.
The ski area has released details of its opening plans.
There will be 20 kms (12.4miles) of ski slopes with skiing starting at 2,750m.
It goes up to up to 3,450m on Mount Cristallo.
Summer skiing in Passo Stelvio. Image credit: Outdoor Studio
There is terrain for beginners through to experts and special tracks for ski mountaineering.
The area also sees many elite and World Cup athletes on the slopes for summer training.
There is expected to be many this summer with the 2026 Winter Olympics set for Milan-Cortina in Italy next season.
Italian racer Sofia Goggia training on the Stelvio Glacier. Image credit: Enrico Pozzi.
- Stelvio Pass – Trincerone cable car and Trincerone – Livrio cable car: open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Pajer ski lift and Cristallo ski lift: operating from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- Geister 1 and 2 ski lifts will also reopen on May 31, after being closed for the last two seasons
Summer skiing in Passo Stelvio. Image credit: Outdoor Studio
For full details and updates, visit: www.bormio.eu/en.
Two glacier areas in Austria remain open:
- Hintertux – year round.
- Moltal – shuts in June
In Switzerland Zermatt is open year round if the conditions allow, with skiing on its glacier area that it shares with Cervinia in Italy
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 over the next couple of weeks.
Galdhopiggen Summer Ski Centre is already open with Stryn set to follow shortly.
Fonna was due to start its season last weekend but it has delayed its opening.
It has now set June 10th as the new opening day but there is no agreement in place for a new operator after the existing business ran into difficulties.
There is concern that it may not open at all this summer.
In France Les 2 Alpes has the longest season of any French resort and is currently open.
It 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
In the summer 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.
In South America Ski Portillo in Chile has announced its opening day – June 21st.
It hopes to stay open until September 27th, conditions and weather permitting.
It has recently seen more snowfall.
In New Zealand Mt Hutt on the south island has recently seen 1m of fresh snow and is set to open on May 31st.
Three News was taken up for an exclusive look earlier this month and senior reporter, Juliet Speedy, even got a run in.
If you want to keep up to date with summer skiing across the globe then do check back…
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