International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Summer 2017 Glacier Skiing In The Alps?

[Ventura]

Greetings All-

Guess I'm jonesing for some runs and have a free weekend in Europe. I have the option of spending a weekend either in St. Petersburg Russia or near Innsbruck, Austria. Timing will be mid July, which probably limits my options. Anyone know of any open glacier ski areas this summer? Do I need to make the trip all the way to Zermatt? Zermatt is 6 hours driving to where I need to be on Monday 1pm. Not sure if it will work out, but if anyone has some advice that would be great.

And hello to all my old friends from that forum that went up in smoke. Glad to be here on Pugski!

 

[Cheizz]

Your best option (most open lifts and runs) is the Hintertuxer Glacier (Zillertal). Kaprun-Kitzsteinhorn is also open, but they don't guanrentee service (but will likely be operational in July). Zermatt is - as far as ski runs go - quite limited and nowhere near worth th trip.

 

[James]

There's Les Deux Alpes in France but that's I guess 8 hours from Innsbruck. Saas Fee is the place in Switzerland afaik. You could ski there and go to the Opera in a Roman Coliseum in Verona, Italy.
http://www.arena.it/arena/en/pages/schedule-arena-di-verona.html

I guess you can do the same from Hintertux.

 

[Cheizz]

From the Hintertux, that particular trip (well worth it, by the way) will be much easier and shorter...

 

[James]

Lol, shouldn't this be titled 'Summer skiing near Innsbruck'?

 

[Ventura]

LOL, perhaps Innsbruck but I do have time and flexibility to go elsewhere. Closer is better of course.

Thanks all for the responses, now to work on plans...

 

[Mattadvproject]

Surprised no one has mentioned it, but the Stubai Glacier is super close to Innsbruck. I skied there back in 2005 or 2006, it was fun. I think we just took a bus from town (about 45 minutes) and skied all day and came back by bus. It was really easy. https://www.stubaier-gletscher.com/en/. Hope that helps!

 

[Cheizz]

Stubaier Gletscher is not in operation until October. Otherwise I definately would have mentioned is, since it offers the best (most diverse, most runs) of glacier skiing.

 

[Cheizz]

Here are some pics form my trip to the Hintertux Glacier last weekend (June 30th - July 2nd)...



















Conditions: around 0 C at the top, arond + 6 C at the bottom of the ski runs, +15 C in the valley.

 

[MadPatSki]

This might be a bit late to answer, but I've skied around the Alps Summer glaciers twice (2011 and 2015). I did a write up on my blog (specific TR and general assessment). Here is the summary post.

Late Summer 2011 : Skiing 85.7% of lift running Europe
https://madpatski.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/late-summer-2011-skiing-85-7-of-lift-running-europe/

 

[Dave Brown]

For anyone here but particularly Cheizz and Ventura - I'm tossing up between Hintertux and Zermatt for 3 - 3 1/2 days skiing between 19th and 22nd June this year and am keen to hear recommendations.

I am on a business trip to Moscow before that and looking to take the opportunity for a few days Summer skiing afterwards. Munich for Hintertux is closer for the return flight back to Australia but seems like bus transfer is the only option. Zermatt with return flight out of probably Geneva is a longer flight to Aus but seems to have better train transfers from Zurich and Geneva.

I can't seem to find any definitive information on lift/piste opening times for both resorts - some commentary out there about lifts/pistes being open only to around 1PM at that time of year.

#1 and #2 things I'd be looking for is the lifts/pistes being open the majority of the day and the quality of the snow. It seems like Zermatt and Hintertux both have around 20km of summer pistes but seems like Hintertux has more lifts?

I would consider myself an early intermediate skier, reds and blues hold no fear - done a few blacks but still find these nicely challenging.

Cheizz' Hintertux pics from around the same time last year look pretty compelling....

Thanks in advance!!

Dave

 

[Cheizz]

Runs are open until 1 or 2 PM, that's right. Personally, I think Hintertux offers best diversity in runs (even though about half of the runs on the trail map will probably be closed, conserving the snow for the second half of summer). Moreover, I have a hate-hate relationship with Zermatt (immensely expensive, not practical, dissappointing skiing), so I am not perfectly objective here

By the way, those pics from last year were taken after a 40 cm dump early July (if it hadn't snowed, we wouldn't have gone skiing on the grey ice).

 

[fatbob]

You can get by train easily enough from Munich to the Inn valley (probably Schwaz?) and thereon to Mayrhofen from where you would take a frequent bus to Hintertux ( or even stay in Mayrhofen and take an early bus up every am)

 

[Dave Brown]

Thanks Cheizz & fatbob

Unfortunately it looks like neither is going to be an option as the agent that has booked the group travel for the business trip has got back to me and it is going to cost quite a bit for the flight back to Aus to be changed to originate from GVE, ZRH or MUC. This pushes the whole skiing leg of the trip up to around the AUD2,700 mark and I just can't justify that for three days of early lift closure skiing with questions on the snow quality. I'm better off spending a third of that and taking my chances with an Australian ski resort

 

[AlpsSkidad]

Hintertux is the larger and better Summer ski area of the two in my opinion, however we were in Zermatt just last weekend and the conditions were fantastic. Hintertux definitely better for lift access to the ski area. Zermatt in the Summer I think is a bit of a frustrating challenge from the base on two slow gondolas just to get up to the ski area.