Zermatt Suspends Summer Skiing on the Theodul Glacier With Immediate Effect

Zermatt has suspended public summer skiing on the Theodul Glacier with immediate effect, the resort's first such closure since 2022.

Zermatt Bergbahnen pointed to persistent heat, a lack of overnight cooling, and repeated thunderstorms as the reasons safe, high-quality skiing is currently off the table for guests. Selected Swiss-Ski teams can still use the prepared training slopes on a limited basis, though the closure applies to everyone else until conditions improve.

What's actually wrong with the glacier

The snowpack has thinned out more than usual for this point in summer, and glacial movement has picked up enough that crevasse activity is making the training slopes unreliable. Without overnight temperatures dropping low enough to refreeze the surface, each hot day just keeps eating into snow that never gets the chance to firm back up. Zermatt sits in the Swiss canton of Valais, and the Theodul Glacier is one of a shrinking number of spots in the Alps where summer skiing is still possible at all.

CEO Martin Hug framed the decision around safety rather than snow depth alone. "The safety of guests and staff is always our top priority," Hug said. Technical maintenance on the lifts continues regardless, along with prep work on both the guest and training slopes, so operations can restart quickly if conditions turn.

Racing teams still get access, for now

The public closure doesn't extend to elite training. Swiss-Ski's alpine director, Hans Flatscher, credited Zermatt Bergbahnen for keeping some teams on snow despite the conditions. "We are very grateful that at least some of our teams will have the opportunity to complete training sessions in Zermatt in the coming days, despite the challenging conditions," Flatscher said.

Giant slalom racer Justin Murisier gave a blunter read on where things stood heading into the closure, telling Blick that conditions had already fallen well short of what the team needs for winter preparation. Whatever shape the rest of summer training takes, the Swiss team's plans past that point aren't in question - the squad flies to Chile on August 27 as scheduled to continue preparing for the World Cup season.

The bigger picture for summer skiing in the Alps

Zermatt's closure lands only a couple of weeks after Austria's Hintertux Glacier began its own seasonal break, having announced earlier this year that it would stop running lifts between July and September rather than push through the heat. That leaves Italy's Stelvio and Switzerland's Saas-Fee as the last two spots in the Alps still offering lift-served summer skiing, at least for now, and neither is running at full capacity - Saas-Fee has reportedly had only two of its four drag lifts operating through the same heatwave.

Summer skiing on the Theodul Glacier matters well beyond casual visitors. It's long served as a foundation for Alpine ski racing, particularly for young skiers building toward World Cup careers, which is part of why Zermatt Bergbahnen is framing this as temporary rather than a wind-down. There's no firm reopening date. Zermatt Bergbahnen says operations will resume as soon as the glacier and weather cooperate.