The Sommeiller Glacier in its heyday. | Image: Torino Storia
20 years ago, the last remnants of one of Europe’s forgotten summer ski areas disappeared from a glacier high on the French-Italian border. The Sommeiller Glacier, above Bardonecchia in Italy’s Piedmont region, once offered an extraordinary proposition: skiing in the middle of summer at around 3,000 meters (9,840 feet). Three surface lifts carried skiers across the glacier, while a mountain refuge welcomed visitors who had driven up from the valley below. Today, the lifts are gone, the refuge has disappeared, and the glacier that once supported the ski area has retreated so much, it is classified as dead.
The story of Sommeiller feels increasingly like a glimpse into the future across the Alps as glacier skiing becomes harder to maintain. Three years ago, Hintertux, Austria, started pausing summer ski operations. This summer, Saas-Fee and Zermatt in Switzerland have both faced interruptions. Folgefonna in Norway has had to shut down because of financial difficulties, but snowmelt caused the T-bar to collapse last summer and skiing on the glacier looks unlikely to resume — although a park below the previous glacier ski area is currently planned. Tignes, France, ended its 2026 summer ski season ahead of schedule because of deteriorating snow conditions. The list of summer ski resorts facing increasingly difficult conditions for summer glacier skiing is steadily increasing.
The fate of the Sommeiller Glacier ski area shows where that trajectory can ultimately lead. In 2006, all lift infrastructure on the glacier was dismantled and the lodge taken down. In 2011, the Sommeiller Glacier, which at its Little Ice Age Maximum was 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), still measured 600 meters (1,970 feet). Today, the glacier is dead — all that remains is a small patch of snow.
The Sommeiller Glacier in its heyday. | Image: Torino Storia
The idea for the glacier ski area on the Sommeiller Glacier was the brainchild of a group of ski instructors, including Edoardo “Edo” Allemand, a Bardonecchia ski instructor, and Piero Bosticco, director of the local ski school. In the early 1960s, the pair envisioned creating a summer ski center on the Sommeiller Glacier, an area that had previously been accessible only by difficult mountain routes. They formed Va.Ro., raised money and constructed a road toward the 3,009-meter (9,872-foot) Colle del Sommeiller — the highest Alpine road in Europe. The ski area opened in 1965, eventually featuring three lifts: Niblè, Ambin and Sommeiller. The highest lift reached approximately 3,200 meters (10,500 feet).
The ski instructors of Sommeiller summer ski area. | Image: Torino Storia
They also built a lodge on the glacier: the Rifugio Ambin, which included a restaurant, bar, shop, accommodation for 62 people at its peak, and facilities for visitors and ski instructors. Cars could drive to the glacier, while a shuttle service transported skiers from Bardonecchia. But operating a ski resort on a moving glacier was never easy. The lifts had to be repeatedly adjusted as the ice shifted, while enormous amounts of snow had to be cleared from the access road and lift infrastructure every year. Nevertheless, the ski area was popular with ski teams from Italy and France.
The terrace of the Rifugio Ambin at the Sommeiller Glacier. | Image: Image: Torino Storia
An avalanche in the winter of 1968-69 destroyed much of the mountain refuge, causing significant damage. The facility was rebuilt and skiing resumed, but by the 1980s, the glacier’s retreat had become impossible to ignore.
The Sommeiller ski area finally closed after the 1984 summer season. The refuge remained in use for another year before the site was abandoned. The Sommeiller Glacier was disappearing. The abandoned infrastructure lingered for years, but Mountain Wilderness, the Italian-founded nonprofit organization for the preservation of mountain areas, started disassembling the old lifts and remaining structures. In the summer of 2006, the last physical remnants of the ski area were removed and the mountain restored to its natural state, ending the chapter of summer skiing at Sommeiller Glacier forever. Much to Mountain Wilderness’ dismay, a bivouac was built in 2022 and opened in 2024, undermining the organization’s effort to restore the mountain to its original state.
Sommeiller is an extreme example, but it is no longer an isolated one. Glacier ski areas around the Alps are being forced to adapt to increasingly difficult summer conditions. Some have reduced their operating periods, others have abandoned lower sections of glacier terrain, and some have disappeared entirely. Resorts have invested heavily in measures designed to preserve snow and ice, including covering vulnerable glacier sections and moving or storing snow where possible. But these measures can only slow the process.
The fundamental problem remains the same: the glaciers are shrinking. The story of Sommeiller is therefore more than a forgotten chapter of ski history. It is a warning sign that summer skiing has never been guaranteed, and that its days are numbered.
PHOTOS
Edoardo “Edo” Allemand transporting skis and other gear up the mountain. | Image: Torino Storia
Cars could drive up the highest European Alpine road to the Sommeiller Glacier. | Image: Torino Storia
The Rifugio ALbin featured a restaurant. | Image: Torino Storia
The Sommeiller Glacier in its heyday. | Image: Torino Storia
The road to the Sommeiller Glacier had to be dug out in summer to allow access to the summer ski area. | Image: Torino Storia
The same road in summer 2026. | Image: @quatrocilindrinduo
A VW minibus making its way up the glacier road past walls of snow. | Image: Torino Storia
The Sommeiller Glacier in 2018. | Image: Torino Storia
The Sommeiller Glacier in 2018. | Image: Torino Storia
What remains of the Sommeiller Glacier in 2026. | Image: @valtergiralondini
A bus service transported guests to the Sommeiller Glacier. | Image: Torino Storia
The Sommeiller Glacier in its heyday. | Image: Torino Storia
The Sommeiller Glacier in its heyday. | Image: Torino Storia
The Sommeiller Glacier in its heyda. | Image: Torino Storia