Verbier Doesn't Extend 2015 Ski Season To End Of June

We didn't think this one was an April Fool… But it was.

Verbier announced this morning (April 1st) that following three feet (90cm) of snowfall over the last few days they are to keep the lifts running and slopes open on the Mont Fort glacier up to 28th June.

"The start of the season was difficult, the snow was not what would be desired and the period w frustrating for both skiers that for Téléverbier," a statement from the lift company reads, "The idea is therefore to benefit all fans of the white gold with these excellent conditions for a longer period and reach new customers, since glacier skiing in late spring is only available at a few resorts."

Verbier did previously offer summer skiing in the late Twentieth Century but has not done so for 15 years except for a few 'one-off' weekends in the past few years.

Existing season pass holders will be able to ski for no extra costs, everyone else will have to pay a 'low' 40 Swiss franc daily rate.

The mountain Restaurant des Gentianes will also be open and offer a lunchtime a bbq daily and its terrace will also be equipped with a giant jaccuzzi that can accommodate over 50 people.

The number of centres offering late spring and summer skiing has declined by half over the past two decades and from mid-May to Mid-June …before southern hemisphere ski centres open and when summer glacier areas in France and some other places have not yet re-opened for summer operations... there are, at some points, less than 10 areas open worldwide at any one time.

Since it's April 1, I will check with Televerbier tomorrow :)

Or after noon... If it is an April Fool, please tell them they need to throw in more clues - free skiing for people with blonde hair or something liked that.

Jacuzzi for 50 in the restaurant does not sound terribly Swiss :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Yep just heard from the resort I was fooled, doh! And I thought they had to be funny, think Swiss must do April Fools differently.

Of course! I could potentially buy it if they said 15th of May but 90 cm in the end of a March to stay open till end of June??? Unless they also promised Arctic cold:)

I suppose. But is my memory wrong that they offered glacier skiing in the 1980s and 1990s? Wouldn't it be possible to offer skiing on the glacier if they wanted to open as they once did (in the way Verbier, Hintertux operate 365 days a year), or has it now moved on? That was what i was thinking, but I've got to learn to be less gullible :)

Have you seen the size of the glacier now? I remember there was a T-bar from just above col de Gentianes and so that you could ski the piste and go back up just below Mont-Fort in 2004-2005, but over that summer the glacier receded to the point that T-bars couldn't reach the snow anymore. They opened Mont-Fort for a day in July couple summers ago because they got tons of snow in May and June but skiing was rather "limited" - the first run on ice and the second run in slush for 300 m vertical, there was snow all the way towards Col de Gentianes but no feasible way of bringing people back. OK for a day as an amusement but I doubt many people would come back for the repeat if they opened it the following weekend. Locals would rather be biking, climbing and hiking in summer. And to get people to Mont-Fort they need to run 3 additional lifts. Pointless whichever way you look at it.