Norway's Stryn glacier summer ski area says it will open for its 2024 season this Saturday, a week earlier than planned.
The centre, one of three in the country, has warned though that its opening early because very warm spring weather means the snow there is melting "at a record rate" and says that the season will "again be short."
This is a reference to the fact that Stryn has only managed to open for a few weeks in recent years.
Norway's other two small summer ski centres Galdhopiggen and Fonna, have already opened. Galdhopiggen has one of the world's longest summer ski seasons, aiming to stay open through to next November. Fona tends to stay open until early autumn and is currently reporting snow lying more than 13 metres deep.
Elsewhere, America's only summer-only ski area, Beartooth Basin on the Montana/Wyoming border, which has faced similar issue to Stryn in recent years, has said it won't open at all in 2024 due to inadequate snow cover. The Blackcomb Glacier, Canada's only summer ski area, has made the same announcement for the same reason.
However snow depths on Alpine glaciers in Europe are above average in some areas with Passo Stelvio in Italy possibly delaying its planned opening, which was the same as Stryn's original date, June 1st, due to having too much snow to clear in order to open.