Following up on the post from August 8th (The Death of Summer Skiing), as reported over the weekend by weathertoski, the last operating ski area in the Alps, Passo Stelvio in Italy, closed on Saturday, August 15th. There are no summer skiing options left in the Alps.
They suggest this may be the first time there's no (lift served) summer skiing operations in the Alps. It's likely that applies to the Northern Hemisphere. Mt. Gassan (Japan) appears to have closed in early July. Timberline on Mt. Hood appears to have closed on July 19. I believe late operating resorts in Norway are also closed.
2026. The year that summer skiing died.
Heartbreaker for sure. However all is not lost as my buddy is skiing pow today in Chile. And it is almost in the same timezone as Utah!
ReplyDeleteIt’s been 15+ years, but I remember riding the tram up to Passo Stelvio in late September or early October and watching many national teams training both Nordic and alpine. I remember being struck by the engineering challenges of having even surface lifts on a shifting glacier. So sad to see it deteriorated so soon.
ReplyDeleteEagle Glacier in AK is operating but no public access. APU nordic run operation for elite XC athletes. 2x daily grooming of a 5k loop all summer.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I was unaware of that facility. I should amend my post to "lift served and outdoors." I suspect there's also some indoor if not outdoor Nordic skiing options running in Scandanavia and there's also Big Snow in New Jersey.
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