Happy Easter! And with that, we are well and truly heading towards the end of the northern hemisphere’s winter and into spring. And with that comes spring skiing. With warmer weather comes the obligatory goggle-tan, après ski on a patio or terrace in the sunshine, picnics outside and other mountain activities. It’s a great time to have a ski holiday, and there are lots of high altitude resorts or resorts with glaciers offering great spring skiing, find out which resorts we recommend for good spring skiing below.
Zermatt
Zermatt is open a full 365 days a year (366 on a leap year) due to its glacier, so you can not only enjoy spring skiing, but summer skiing too. Much of the skiing is above 2,500m and the peak is at 3,899m, which means that the snow lasts longer and is usually in better condition in the spring than lower resorts. You can also ski into neighbouring Cervinia on the Italian side of the Matterhorn into May, with opening for the first three weekends in May this year.
Tignes
The Grand Motte glacier in Tignes offers spring, summer and autumn skiing opportunities, and the main resort’s winter season runs officially until May 8th. The Grande Motte glacier reaches 3,450m in height, and with most of Tignes’ skiing above 2,000m, you’ll usually be spoilt with excellent snow conditions right through April and into May.
Tignes – http://www.tignesnet.com/photos/
Val Thorens
In a similar vein to Tignes, most of the skiing on offer in Val Thorens is over 2,000m, meaning that the winter season lasts longer and the snow remains in better condition than lower resorts. Val Thorens is actually the highest altitude resort in Europe, and the highest point in the infamous Trois Vallées ski area. This year, you can ski in Val Thorens until May 8th.
Saas Fee
Saas Fee’s main winter season finishes on April 17th this year, but with the glacier, you can actually ski all year round. There is a huge 20km of pistes to explore on the glacier, and you could be skiing up on the glacier in the morning and rafting along the Vispa river in the afternoon.
Ischgl
Ischgl has mainly north facing slopes above 2,000m (except for those leading into the resort itself) and so snow conditions stay good long after spring makes an entrance. You can ski in Ischgl until May 1st and enjoy over 200km of good quality groomed pistes as well as the well-known lively après ski scene, a great way to finish the winter season in style!
Ischgl – http://www.ischgl.com/en
Les Deux Alpes
Whilst the village of Les Deux Alpes itself sits at 1,650m, lifts run up to 3,600m and the resort is open until April 30th this year. The Les Deux Alpes glacier is actually the largest skiable glacier in France which enables year-round skiing. After the official end of the winter season, lifts open again on the glacier from mid-June until the end of August for summer skiing. So you should be guaranteed good snow if you choose Les Deux Alpes for your spring getaway.
There’s still time to book a last minute spring skiing trip this year and make the most of the good spring skiing conditions in lots of high altitude resorts.
Do you have any other recommendations for good snow conditions for spring skiing, let us know?
