The Death of Summer Skiing

Summer skiing used to be a thing in the climate system of the 20th century.  In North America, there used to be skiing on the Palmer Snowfield of Mt. Hood deep into summer.  When I lived in Seattle, we skied there on Labor Day weekend in early September calling it the "Opening Day of Ski Season" since the next winter was coming.  There also used to be skiing deep into July on the Horstman Glacier at Blackcomb in Whistler.  

In the Alps, summer skiing became a thing in the 1970s and by 1985 there were 32 operating glacier skiing resorts.  These didn't necessarily operate all summer, but they did offer warm-season skiing.  As recently as a few years ago there were resorts that operated year round or very late in the summer [Hintertux (Austria), Zermatt (Switzerland), Saas Fee (Switzerland), Passo Stelvio (Italy)] or into portions of July and/or August [Kitzsteinhorn (Austria), Mölltal (Austria), Les 2 Alpes (France), Tignes (France), Val d'Isere (France) and Cervina (Italy)].

But things have changed.  The 2020s have been rough for summer skiing and 2026 has been awful: 

• There is no longer summer skiing on the Horstman Glacier as Blackcomb pulled the plug on that a couple of years ago.
• Timberline closed July 19 due to low snowpack.
• Hintertux closed on July 26.
• Zermatt suspended summer skiing due to "persistently high temperatures, the lack of a night-time cool-down, repeated thunderstorms" on July 31.  
• Saas Fee will suspend summer skiing on 10 August.

It appears that the only ski area that could be operating this year in the Northern Hemisphere after 10 August is Passo Stelvio in Italy.  I've never skied there, but their web cam image from Friday August 7th didn't pique my interest with a near-complete loss of seasonal snow and little in sight but glacier ice and grit.

Although economics and demand can affect resort operations, in recent years the changing climate has increasingly resulted in poor snow conditions, heat waves, high-altitude rainfall, and other factors that have reduced glacial coverage, the persistence of seasonal snowfall, and summer skiing conditions.  

Although there is variability from year to year, the long-term trend is not summer skiing's friend.