I wanted to provide a more comprehensive review of summer skiing because I didn't think previous reviews answered the questions I had before doing it.

For context, I am an upper intermediate skier that has skied all over the Alps, Pyrenees, Japan, Canada and Scotland, but I went with my 4 year old son who can only manage basic turns.

I was attracted to L2A because it claimed to have the biggest skiable glacier in France (if not Europe). I was also attracted because the glacier runs are blue. We considered Tignes, but the glacier is mostly red runs; no good for a learning 4 year old. Tignes is also further into the Alps, so a good 1 hour further from the UK.

Despite watching videos I didn’t know what to expect from summer skiing.

Cons:
There had been a heatwave with 3 weeks of sea level temperatures in France of 35-40c. So the skiing was not as good as it was at the same time in 2014. Therefore, the main drag lift at the base of the glacier required skill to ride over ice and some crossing of mini “streams”.
Returning to the base meant scraping across a wide area of ice, and this necessitated some difficult skiing with my 4 year old between my legs.
The conditions meant that other glaciers were either shut or restricted meaning that L2A had attracted even more skiers and particularly ski teams practicing for the winter. These teams are highly skilled (many teenagers with regional ski teams during summer hols) that are very fast and not very courteous. Big queues (10 min waits for 10 minute runs) made worse by some queue jumping.
Don’t believe the pictures of skiing with your top off. Whilst it might have been warm enough, you would need to have full cover and gloves + helmet for icy conditions.
Basically not the same as a winter ski. Top to the bottom of the glacier might take 15 mins. Perhaps even quicker if the conditions were better.
At 3,000m + you quickly get out of breath.
Bit of a faff to get there, with 20 mins in cablecar (albeit just 1 direct from town).
Expensive liftpass in comparison to winter skiing. i.e. EUR30 for an area that is ¼ of the winter mountain.

Pros:
It's July, it's snow. There is a huge feeling of liberation!
The views are incredible.
The glacier area is big: 17 lifts, 11 runs with a drop and acreage bigger than Aviemore/Cairngorm, in Scotland mountains, when its fully open mid winter.
Everything is there, including a big restaurant/café/bar with a terrace.
Staff friendly.
Snow park and rails for those who like that kind of thing. Could spend all day on them.
We had 25c-30c in the resort (at 1700m) so I don’t think the conditions could be worse for the glacier, yet it was still skiable.

General:
Before booking, I was slightly concerned to book a place out of the centre of town as we wanted to minimise walking with skis mid-summer through the town centre to the main cable car; Jandri Express. I needn’t have worried as there was always plenty of free parking available close to the lift, and it was a 90 second drive to the hotel.

This is why I enjoyed L2A in general, everything was made as easy as possible. Even the ski hire was 1/3rd the winter price. Why would they do that? Who cares, brilliant!

Please also check out the other activities available in summer in L2A, my young sons loved the bouncy castle area and the summer toboggan in particular. Whilst the heatwave deteriorated the skiing, it was still plenty of fun. It's difficult to describe the weird pleasure of skiing in the morning and sunbathing at the hotel pool in the afternoon. Where else is that possible in the world?

Visited July 2015