Then There Was One …Year-Round Outdoor Ski Centre Left

The closure of Austria’s Hintertux glacier for a 6-10 week summer break earlier this week means that the world now only has one year-round outdoor ski area left.

The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise above Zermatt, which for much of the year can also be accessed from Cervinia on the Italian side of the border, is now the only area left that endeavours to open for lift-served snowsports 365 days a year.

Hintertux, which a few years ago during a particularly hot summer after a poor snowfall winter managed to keep operating its highest slopes thanks to a snowmaking system on its glacier, joins the growing list of former year-round ski areas which include fellow Austrian resort Solden, and the French resort of Tignes.

Timberline in Oregon also formerly operated almost year-round, with a brief closure in early-fall. It also closed for the summer last weekend, a month earlier than the recent “usual” after the poor snowfall 25-26 winter in the Western US.

Zermatt opens up Europe’s highest ski lifts, touching 3,899m (12,792 feet) in summer only, but it too hasn’t been immune to summer closure. In summer 2022 it closed its slopes for a period when a  particularly hot summer followed a poor snowfall winters.  

Despite the number of glacier ski areas open year round and those in the northern hemisphere opening for summer skiing at all also falling fast, there are now more places to ski on snow any day of the year if you’re prepared to slide on a short indoor snow slope. The new edition of The World Indoor Snow Centres Guide notes we have recently passed 200 of these centres now open in nearly 40 countries on six continents. That means there are currently more lift-served indoor snow centres open worldwide than conventional outdoor resorts.