Hot Weather Harms Handful of Glacier Ski Areas Still Open in the Alps
22nd May 2026
Last modified on May 26th, 2026
The temperature has shot up after a relatively cool period at altitude in the Alps. There have been good spring conditions after fresh snow earlier in May. UPDATED
High pressure is dominating proceedings with the freezing level at over 4,000m.
It is having an impact on the glacier ski slopes.
“Following a cooler than average first half of May with significant fresh snow at altitude, snow conditions up on the alpine glaciers are currently excellent,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk. ahead of the weekend.
“However, the weather in the Alps is on the change, with high pressure bringing increasingly hot and sunny weather over the next few days.
“This will change snow conditions on the glaciers from relatively wintry (as seen in the last week or two) to more typical of mid-summer, with early hard snow quickly softening as the morning progresses, and plenty of slush by the middle of the day.”
There are currently four ski areas in the Alps still open for glacier skiing:
- Les2Alpes, France
- Zermatt/Cervinia, Switzerland & Italy
- Hintertux, Austria
- Molltal, Austria
Kitzsteinhorn in Austria closed on Sunday 24th May.
The conditions have general been good for May with some decent falls of snow earlier in the month.
Les2Alpes. May 12th 2026. Image c/o Les2Alpes Tourist Office.
Les2Alpes. May 12th 2026. Image c/o Les2Alpes Tourist Office.
Away from the Alps the Swedish resort of Riksgransen that is in the Arctic Circle ended its season at the weekend.
This year it plans to re-open Fridays to Sundays up to Midsummer.
See here for a related PlanetSKI post on where you can go summer skiing this year:
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