Why European glacier skiing is shutting early in summer 2026

Zermatt suspended public summer skiing on the Theodul Glacier on 1 August after persistent heat, repeated thunderstorms and poor overnight cooling left the resort unable to maintain suitable conditions.

The closure followed curtailed summer operations at Hintertux in Austria and Tignes in France. When Zermatt made its announcement, Saas-Fee in Switzerland and Passo Stelvio in Italy were the other Alpine glacier areas still offering skiing, with reduced uplift at Saas-Fee and further warm weather affecting both resorts.

Zermatt had 13km of slopes open during the week before the suspension. The resort says the closure is temporary, with conditions being checked daily, but it has not given a reopening date.

“The persistently high temperatures, the lack of a night-time cool-down, repeated thunderstorms and the changed snow and glacier conditions mean that it is currently no longer possible to provide safe, high-quality skiing for guests,” Zermatt Bergbahnen said.

The suspension applies to public skiing rather than every activity on the glacier. A limited number of Swiss-Ski teams can continue using prepared training slopes under an agreement signed with the resort in 2025. Maintenance of the pistes and transport facilities is also continuing.

“The safety of guests and staff is always our top priority,” Zermatt Bergbahnen chief executive Martin Hug said in the resort’s announcement. “If these conditions are no longer met, operations will be responsibly adapted to the natural circumstances.”

The decision leaves little conventional summer skiing available in the Alps during the main holiday period. It also shows how difficult year-round operation has become, even at Zermatt, whose glacier terrain reaches almost 4,000 metres and supports one of Europe’s largest summer training areas.

Hintertux, which had operated alongside Zermatt as a year-round ski area, announced at the start of 2026 that its pistes would close between July and September. Its summer shutdown began during the weekend before Zermatt’s announcement, although the Austrian resort still expects a ski season of about 10 months.

Tignes opened the Grande Motte glacier on 20 June but ended skiing earlier than intended because of warm conditions. Its published 2026 window ran until 15 July, subject to conditions, on pistes close to 3,000 metres.

At Saas-Fee, only two of four glacier drag lifts were operating when Zermatt closed. Passo Stelvio had received light snow at altitude, but another warm week left the duration of its operation uncertain. Anyone planning to ski either area needs to check the current lift report rather than rely on the advertised summer calendar.

Why the glaciers ran out of snow so early

Summer glacier skiing depends on two connected processes. Winter snow must remain deep enough to protect the underlying ice, while temperatures need to fall below freezing overnight so the surface can firm up for grooming and morning skiing.

That is why summer areas commonly open at about 7am and close around midday. Even in a normal season, strong sun rapidly softens the surface. Without a proper overnight freeze, grooming machines work on wet snow, crevasses become harder to manage and the ski surface can deteriorate before lifts open.

The Alps entered summer 2026 with a reduced reserve. Measurements from Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland, known as GLAMOS, found winter snow depths on Swiss glaciers were 25% below the 2010–2020 average.

The survey covered 25 glaciers. Most regions recorded deficits of between 15% and 40%, while the Engadin in southeastern Switzerland was 40% below the reference period. The Pers and Murtèl glaciers recorded their lowest winter balances in the measurement series.

Dry weather lasted until the middle of February, and snowfall during February and March recovered only part of the deficit. April brought no major snowfall event, while melting started early on lower glacier tongues.

Fresh snow acts as a reflective cover over glacier ice. Once that white layer disappears, the darker ice below absorbs more solar energy and melts faster. The June heat therefore reached glaciers that already had less protection than usual.

Western Europe then recorded its hottest June on record. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the region’s average temperature was 20.74°C, which was 3.06°C above the 1991–2020 June average. June 2026 was also the second-warmest June recorded globally.

The heat followed an intense spell in May, with another heatwave developing in early July. The World Meteorological Organization recorded 39°C in Basel, a Swiss record for June, while Barcelona’s Fabra Observatory reached 40.5°C on 8 July.

During the June heatwave, the daytime freezing level in the Alps rose above 4,500 metres. That put almost every Alpine glacier into temperatures capable of producing melt during the day. More damaging for ski operations, high temperatures continued through the night.

Matthias Huss, head of GLAMOS, said the duration of the heat mattered more than any single peak. “One heatwave alone is not a big problem for glaciers,” he said during the June event. “The problem is rather that we have very high temperatures that last for a very long time.”

Switzerland reached its 2026 “Glacier Loss Day” on 29 June. This is the point when the winter snow reserve has been exhausted across the country’s glaciers and further runoff represents a net loss of glacier mass.

The date normally falls around the middle of August. This year it arrived nearly seven weeks earlier and was the second-earliest recorded in more than two decades of observations. Only 2022 was earlier, on 26 June.

Swiss glaciers lost about 6% of their mass during 2022, the worst annual loss recorded in the country. A study published this year found that their total volume fell by 38% between 2000 and 2024.

The immediate effect for skiing is the loss of a workable snow surface. The longer-term effect is a smaller glacier, with less high-altitude terrain available for future seasons. At Tignes, lift operator Altta’s chief executive Clément Colin has said the Grande Motte glacier could be almost completely melted within 10 years if the present trend continues.

Conditions are also affecting people who are not using ski pistes. In Chamonix, the local mountain safety association reported widening crevasses, collapsing ice features and softened snow bridges during the June heat. It said overnight refreezing was “almost non-existent” as high as 4,000 metres.

These problems can make lift installations and marked pistes more difficult to maintain. Outside controlled ski areas, a snow bridge that previously supported a climber can weaken or collapse, while exposed ice makes glacier travel more technical. Chamonix’s high-mountain rescue service also had to reduce helicopter loads because hot, thin air limits aircraft performance.

Zermatt’s remaining training access reflects the importance of glacier skiing to ski racing. National teams use the Theodul Glacier for short, controlled sessions, including speed training at altitudes where suitable summer terrain is now scarce in Europe.

Olympic team champion Tanguy Nef said the sessions could be completed in one or two hours, allowing athletes to recover quickly. “But afterwards, it’s hard to see the glacier darker and less accessible,” he told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

Swiss coach Matteo Joris said teams would have to change their preparation if Alpine glaciers continue closing during July and August. “We don’t have the summers of a few years ago,” he said. “We must adapt. If the glaciers close in July and August, we’ll go straight to the southern hemisphere.”

The pressure on summer skiing predates this season. Les 2 Alpes moved its 2023 glacier season forward to May and June, while Austria’s Mölltal glacier closed in late May that year after failing to offer summer skiing in 2022. Resorts have been concentrating operations earlier in the season rather than trying to maintain pistes through the hottest weeks.

Zermatt has recovered from a heat-related suspension before. Public summer skiing stopped on 29 July 2022, then resumed on 20 September after lower temperatures and fresh snowfall restored workable conditions. Its 2026 operation will remain suspended until the resort decides the glacier can again support safe public skiing.