summer skiing

chaletslovakia wrote:
Tino_11:

I think you are overestimating what summer glacier activity is all about.
They are not vey big.
They are pretty featureless unless there is a park there.
Normally there are no chairlifts installed because a glacier is a moving mass of ice and hence there is no chance of installing the engineering required. Drag lifts are a lot easier to install.

The conditions are ice in the morning turning to utter slush by about 11am...

They are okay for a day or two as part of a summer holiday. But you'll probably be a bit let down expecting days of good riding / skiing.

Maybe you havent taken a closer look at Hintertux, Dan.....

chaletslovakia wrote:
Tino_11:

I think you are overestimating what summer glacier activity is all about.
They are not vey big.
They are pretty featureless unless there is a park there.
Normally there are no chairlifts installed because a glacier is a moving mass of ice and hence there is no chance of installing the engineering required. Drag lifts are a lot easier to install.

The conditions are ice in the morning turning to utter slush by about 11am...

They are okay for a day or two as part of a summer holiday. But you'll probably be a bit let down expecting days of good riding / skiing.

that's correct in every single way. I'd only add that they're useful for technical training of course, teams, instructors etc. Probably all fine if, as you say, there's a park and you're into that sort of thing.

Well, I'm back and I can share my experiences (and some piccies) to help settle the debate.

First of all I had a fantastic time. There was 78km of piste open on the Hintertux Glacier (it will not stay like that all summer of course) the weather was good, with cloud at the top and blazing sunshine at the bottom. I needed not to use a single drag lift during the three days I was there, only cable cars and chair lifts.

To the conditions, well you are on a glacier in spring, so you can't expect fields of fluffy powder or the piste to stay in the same condition all day. At 8.30am it is hard, groomed and bloody fast, by 3pm you can be skiing/boarding a 6km field of 3ft moguls, but hell if you can't deal with these conditions you should probably think twice about being on a glacier in the first place. I like the fact that no two runs on the same piste were the same, it challenges you and teaches you how to handle a variety of conditions. All that being said, between 9.30 and 11.30 it was absolutley fabulous!!!

Busier than I expected, late vactaion for a lot of Eastern Europeans it seemed, but still great Apres-Ski, the facilites are good enough not to be too crowded at lifts and cable cars, a little too busy on the piste in late morning, but if you are there just after 8am it looks like this......




I really was pleasantly surprised to have it so good in May, would heartily recommend it to anyone, with the proviso that if you are not confident a glacier is possibly not the best place to find it, but I've only been at this game for 18 months and I loved every minute of it...... I even got some ad-hoc rock-climbing in (came off on the flat and couldn't be arse to wak to the lift, seemed easier to climb a 25ft steep angle and board down the other side) :)



So here are some photo's and you can make up your own mind...sorry about the quality, they were taken onm my phone (was travelling light!)








The album can be seen here....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26386569@N08/


tino

Hmmm, pictures don't seem to work, but the link to the gallery is working :)

tino_11 wrote:Well, I'm back and I can share my experiences (and some piccies) to help settle the debate.

err.. you do realise it's not actually the summer right now? :D

ise wrote:err.. you do realise it's not actually the summer right now? :D

Try the third paragraph again ise, might pay to get them eyes tested before you go out the hill again :)

tino_11 wrote:

ise wrote:err.. you do realise it's not actually the summer right now? :D

Try the third paragraph again ise, might pay to get them eyes tested before you go out the hill again :)

the point being you're not going to settling any debate about summer skiing as you opened with, you've not been )

ISE, you are very aggressive with your posts, and it seems to me that you think you are always right, too. Give the kid a chance. I wouldnt call May winter, would you?
Anyway, looks like Tino had a great time, and is trying to suggest that skiing OUT OF SEASON ie on a glacier where there is snow most of the year round, is a good idea providing you are prepared for it not to be like a pretty little resort with great conditions all day long.

I was thinking about going to Hintertux either mid June or early July to celebrate mine or my mates 40th. Is it worth it for a couple of days SUMMER skiing?