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Europe’s Autumn Glacier Ski Season Starts Saturday

Published : 18-Sep-2023 08:10

Alpine glaciers will begin opening this weekend for the start of their 23-24 ski seasons.

The Pitztal glacier in the Austrian Tirol has confirmed it will open this weekend.

Its announcement comes as temperatures fall and snow is forecast for glaciers this week after the first fortnight of September saw some very warm temperatures after a late August snowfall, leading to Italy's Passo Stelvio, which had closed briefly but reopened due to that summer snowfall, deciding to close for a second time this summer.

Three more Austrian glaciers – the Kitzsteinhorn, Solden and Kaunertal are aiming to open before the end of September.

In the first half of October three more glaciers, the Titlis above Engelberg in Switzerland and two more Austrian centres, Molltal and Stubai, are also planning to open.

Three glaciers are currently open already having been open through the summer heat, Switzerland's Saas fee and Zermatt and Austria's Hintertux. Italy's Passo Stelvio also plans to reopen as conditions improve and Cervinia will begin year-round access to the glacier area it shares with Zermatt.

Centres not opening this autumn though include Austria's Dachstein, where the ski lifts are being removed and Val Senales in Italy where the access cable car is being upgraded until December.

There'll also be no glacier skiing in France with Tignes apparently giving up on autumn operations and not opening until the end of November. Les 2 Alpes may be the first to open there with a fortnight of operations planned from the last week of October if conditions are good.

In Scandinavia, Norway's Galdhopiggen glacier is open and Finland's Ruka and Levi plan to open runs at the start of October using snow stored from last season and spread back out on the slopes.

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