Europe Weekly Roundup #247

Zermatt Cut Off by Floods as Alpine Skiing Faces Summer Storms

• Several European ski centers faced closures and delays due to severe weather, with Tignes in France postponing its summer skiing season.
• Zermatt in Switzerland experienced temporary closures due to flood damage, but the Matterhorn Glacier area remains operational.
• Sweden’s Riksgransen briefly reopened for midsummer skiing, while Norway's Fonna and Galdhoppigen glacier centers continue to offer skiing under sunny conditions.

EUROPE INTRO

Seven centers are currently open across five European countries. Sweden’s Riksgransen re-opened last week for some summer solstice skiing. Severe storms in the Alps on Friday led Tignes in France, which had been due to open for its summer skiing season last Saturday, to delay a week. The year-round glacier ski area at Zermatt was closed as the famous ski town was cut off for a time by flood damage to road and rail routes. The weather also led to temporary closures of some of the five already-open glacier summer ski areas in Austria, France, Italy, and Switzerland. No areas are expected to end their season or new ones join those already open (other than Tignes) over the coming week.

THE ALPS REPORT

There are five glaciers currently open in the Alps, with no change from a week ago. Tignes in France had been due to commence about a month of summer skiing last weekend but decided not to due to torrential rain, strong winds, and low visibility, which continued this week. Conditions are now improving, and some of the precipitation is reported to have fallen as snow on the glacier. Its revised summer ski opening date is now this coming Saturday, the 29th. Tignes reported snow still lying four meters deep after it peaked with the deepest snow in the Alps in mid-spring at just under 6 meters (20 feet). Its neighbor Val d'Isere remains open with 4km (2.5 miles) of slopes, and Les 2 Alpes, another option, does not have a huge amount of terrain open either. The Hintertux glacier in Austria is now the only Austrian center open, posting the most terrain available anywhere in the northern hemisphere right now, with 23km (14.5 miles). The Matterhorn Glacier area, accessible from Zermatt in Switzerland and Cervinia in Italy year-round, is also operational, although it had a few closed days due to bad weather in the last week, with Zermatt cut off for 24 hours on Friday and Saturday by violent storms. The resort also warned everyone to stay indoors at the height of the storms on Friday evening. Finally, Passo Stelvio in Italy is open and currently popular with race teams training, and fresh snowfall to low elevations occurred at the start of the week. There’s about 5km (3 miles) of slopes open there.

THE ALPS FORECAST

It currently looks like the unsettled weather should die out through the remainder of this week, with more sunshine and much warmer weather. The freezing point will move above 4,000m altitude, and afternoon temperatures on glaciers could potentially reach double digits above freezing.

SCANDINAVIA REPORT

There was excitement in Sweden last week as Riksgransen, the world's most northerly ski resort, re-opened a month after its season ended for a few days of midsummer skiing, including its trademark skiing under the midnight sun. That's over now, so we are back to the two Norwegian glacier centers: Fonna and Galdhoppigen, both with about 4km (2.5 miles) of slopes on offer. Fonna is reporting the deepest snow in the world at present. There was some sleet and rain over the weekend, but the first half of this week has been largely sunny.

SCANDINAVIA FORECAST

Sunny with rather warm temperatures for the rest of the week, with lows around +3-4°C overnight but reaching +8-9°C on higher slopes in the afternoon and even warmer at the bases. The best conditions are definitely early in the day.