French Glacier Ski Areas Opening This Week

Les 2 Alpes became the first of France's three ski areas - that still offer summer glacier skiing and boarding - to open, last Wednesday, June 16th.

The lists open from 7.15am daily until the 28th August; the resort reports there is currently 2.4m (eight feet) of snow lying on the glacier.

The resort's summer ski area, one of Europe's largest, covers 200 hectares and has eight runs and a large snow park complete with two half pipes and a superpipe located between 2900 and 3600m of altitude.

The other two glacier summer ski areas still operating are neighbours Tignes and Val d'Isere. Alpe d'Huez, La Plagne and Val Thorens have all stopped offering summer snow sports in recent years.

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

so of those 4 which is the best

broom wrote:so of those 4 which is the best

It'll depend hugely on current conditions but I'd probably choose either Les Deux Alpes or Tignes, for summer ski area, over Val d'Isere.

All three have lots to do in the afternoon but 2 Alpes looks good for biking/hiking (not done either there, but the terrain looks ideal). Depends what you want to do, of course, but I think all three are quite well setup for tennis, biking, paragliding, etc.

This is what you can do in Tignes during the summer (from the website Tignes.co.uk). I think the most important thing to note is that you can only ski in the morning, from 7-15 to 13-00, presumably because it goes all slushy after that.

Tignes has great summer skiing; 16 ski lifts and over 20 kilometres (130 hectares) of runs & a vertical drop of over 750 m, gives you plenty to do. For the summer ski season, the Glacier will be open from 19 June until 29 August 2010 & then reopens late in September. A popular hangout is the snowpark, offering 2 half pipes, rails, bumps and jumps of all sizes. Often there is a BBQ, music and you can watch some of the pro's that spend their summers practicing here. There is a multitude of other activities to do, see the activities organised by Evolution 2 below. The Grande Motte glacier ski area will be open every day from 7h15 to 13h00 from 19th June to 29th August 2010. In the afternoon ski lifts are open for mountain biking if you're interested in this activity.

The Glacier opens from 19 June until 29 August 2010

Tignes is like a different town compared to its winter counterpart: the Le Lac nursery slope is covered in tennis courts, a football pitch, basketball, volleyball, beach volleyball, table tennis and table football. Behind which you can see the volleyball nets and an amalgamation of skateboarders, BMXers and roller bladders in the skate park. There is also " Acroland" with it's acro-bungee, trampolines, water slide and of course the spectacle that is 'the water jump' where people on snowboards, ski's and roller blades, are hurling themselves off one of the four jumps and flying straight into the lake. A great place to practice the acrobatics of these sports, also a good place to sit in the sun and watch the madness.

FREE BIKE PARK ACCESS - Click for more information
(scroll down the PDF for information in English)





On the lake itself you can hire sailing boats, windsurfers, canoes, rowing boats and pedalos, for some of which lessons are available. You'll notice Europe's highest golf course on either side of the lake, horse riders and fishermen. As you arrive in Val Claret the scenario can look quite odd with some people in shorts and t-shirts but others in full skiing outfits. You can take the Funicular to the Beautiful Panoramic Restaurant.

This is 2nd hand spam, if you want to advertise on behalf of the resort a link would be sufficient IMHO.

Great information Ally, Thanks 8)

yup good stuff

I give up also.