Summer Skiing France 2014
Summer Skiing France 2014
Published : 20-May-2014 08:48
Les 2 Alpes in Summer
All the ski lifts in France are currently closed with no lift-assisted snowsports available, but four of the country's resorts do plan to re-open for summer skiing and boarding in June and July through to April.
That number actually increased as of last summer, against a trend of ever decreasing summer skiing opportunities over the past 20 years, as Alpe d'Huez decided to reintroduced summer snowsports after around a decade long break.
This year the Alpe d'Huez lifts will be open for skiing and boarding "as long as conditions allow" from 7th of July until 24th August.
However the first glacier in France to reopen in late spring each year is the Pissaillas glacier above Val d'Isere, this will open for summer skiing and boarding from 7th June to 13th July this year.
It's neighbour Tignes has one of Europe's largest summer ski areas and biggest terrain parks, it's open from June 21st to August 3rd 2014, with only three lifts running the first fortnight then the full summer operation with a dozen lifts from July 5th.
Les 2 Alpes has been offering summer skiing for 40 years and has one of the world's most developed areas, attracting 110,000 people each year, including numerous ski clubs and major national and international teams, especially from Italy. It's open from 21st June to 30th August this year.
In the summer there's 700m of vertical between 3,600 and 2,900 metres attracting an average of 1,500 skiers every day in summer (compared to 10,000 in winter). Facilitioes include an 18 hectare terrain park with a half pipe and superpipe with their own lifts and a big airbag.
All four areas operate from around 7am to around 12.30-1pm each day during the summer and offer many other summer sports.
There is no word as yet that other French resorts that operated summer skiing on their glaciers up to a decade ago – including la Plagne, Val Thorens and Chamonix, have any plans to restart that side of their operations.
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