Top 5 Summer Skiing Destinations for 2020

📸: Chip Proulx

We were all praying for summer skiing during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and our prayers were answered by the shred gods, as many glaciers opened for some long-awaited summer sessions. So, we decided to put together a list of the top 5 places to go summer skiing.

Unfortunately, some travel restrictions were still in place, that prevented some of us from travelling to these glaciers. However, who said you can’t have a pending destination for a spontaneous summer shred?

You may recognise Fonna’s familiar backdrop from sunset park shoots in popular ski & snowboard films, such as The Collective from Faction. In April they had a 12-metre snow base to take them into the summer ski season on the 1st of May 2020, which tickled everyone’s shred censors during lockdown. They got to work pushing it all into a Scandinavian send sanctuary and it looks like Fonna may become a very popular destination for summer shredding this year.

Open from the 1^st of May 2020.

Kitzsteinhorn has recently started to open their summer snowpark, which appears to offer a fun line of mellow features. The world of Instagram has been highlighting this as a popular destination for a handful of European pros this summer. In some videos on the ‘Gram you could be fooled into thinking that it is still winter over in Austria right now.

There is no question that Windells Summer Ski Camp at Mt. Hood, is the number one summer destination for many freeskiers, it has been and always will be the king of summer skiing. For years Mt. Hood (a potentially active stratovolcano) has been flooding the internet with an eruption of summer ski edits, giving every skier who wasn't there a FOMO overload. Windells has one of the best all-round summer snowparks, alongside skateparks, dry-slopes, trampolines and more off the mountain action. Year after year it sucks up what feels like most of the world’s pro skiers, if you can trust anyone’s judgement, it is those who travel the world skiing for a living.

Les Deux Alpes has one of the largest summer ski areas in Europe, making it a go-to destination for summer skiing for a lot of Europeans and British skiers. The snowpark has everything you need for a good summer shred, with a solid supply of send for your time off the glacier too, including a tidy little skatepark, one of the best bike parks in the Alps, and much more. If you’re looking for the perfect mix of summer and winter, L2A may be the ideal summer destination for you.

Zermatt has grown in popularity in recent years as a summer destination for freeskiers around Europe and beyond, with a breath-taking view of the famous Matterhorn and a world-class snowpark that radiates skatepark vibes. It has been tried and tested by freeski legend Will Wesson, Sämi Ortlieb and more in Zermatt Glacier Days, alongside The Bunch who have been regular visitors in the past. Not only is the skiing top-notch, but Zermatt is also one of the most sustainable holiday resorts in Switzerland, leading the way for eco-friendly practices that every ski resort should be striving towards.