TL;DR
Saas-Fee is closing its glacier to summer skiing from Monday, August 10 - the second major Swiss resort to shut in under two weeks after Zermatt suspended operations on August 1. Persistent heat and warm nights that won't let the glacier refreeze are behind the call, per Saastal Bergbahnen. That leaves Italy's Stelvio as the only glacier ski area open in the Alps. Reopening could come as early as August 17, though nothing's confirmed - and racing teams are already looking south instead.
Saas-Fee is shutting its glacier to summer skiing from Monday, August 10, becoming the second major Swiss resort to close in under two weeks as the heat wave gripping the Alps refuses to let up.
Sunday, August 9 will be the last day of skiing before the closure takes effect. Saastal Bergbahnen hasn't given a date for reopening.
Conditions have shifted too far
Despite intensive maintenance work on the slopes, Saastal Bergbahnen says persistently high temperatures and a lack of overnight cooling have changed the snow and glacier so much that safe operation is no longer possible. The company says guest and staff safety comes first, and that the current conditions simply don't meet the quality and safety standards required to keep running.
It's not a small closure, either. Swiss newspaper Blick reported that as many as 600 athletes had been training at Saas-Fee in the days leading up to the shutdown, packed onto a glacier that had already shrunk from its usual 40 kilometres of open terrain to fewer than 10.
The second Swiss resort in ten days
Zermatt suspended its own summer skiing on the Theodul Glacier on August 1, after severe glacial melt destabilised the lift infrastructure there. With Saas-Fee following suit, two of Switzerland's most popular summer ski destinations are now closed at the same time - leaving Italy's Stelvio as the only glacier ski area still operating anywhere in the Alps.
Racing teams are running out of room
Tourists aren't the only ones affected. Competitive skiing loses another training base with Saas-Fee's closure, and the squeeze is getting tighter across the board. Some Swiss-Ski groups can still train at Zermatt, though under compromised conditions - snowmobiles are standing in for the ski lifts on some days. It's a harder situation for a number of foreign federations, several of which are already relocating training to the Southern Hemisphere for its winter conditions. Switzerland's own technical team is expected to follow in the coming weeks.
No firm date for reopening
Saastal Bergbahnen says it's monitoring the situation closely and will only reopen once staff and guest safety can be guaranteed. An update will follow once conditions allow skiing to resume - for now, there's no fixed timeline, though some reporting has pointed to August 17 as an earliest possible date under favourable conditions.
About the author
Michael Fulton
Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.
