Zermatt Glacier Paradise, GEPA pictures

The lifts have stopped. The public cannot ski. Foreign national teams have altered or canceled their plans.

Yet a select group of Swiss-Ski athletes can still train on Zermatt’s Theodul Glacier.

That contrast has turned a valuable national-team agreement into an international talking point. With glacier conditions deteriorating and reliable summer snow becoming harder to find, Switzerland’s exclusive access offers an advantage that extends well beyond convenience.

Zermatt’s lift operator suspended regular summer operations in early August after persistent heat accelerated melting and limited overnight freezing. The conditions exposed rock, reduced snow coverage and raised concerns about the stability of lift towers.

However, Swiss-Ski retained access through its long-term partnership with Zermatt. The agreement guarantees the federation exclusive training terrain through 2034. According to reporting by blue News, the glacier can accommodate a maximum of 15 Swiss-Ski athletes per day under the arrangement.

While the number is limited, the opportunity is significant. Switzerland’s leading racers can continue training close to home while athletes from other nations must find snow elsewhere.

A valuable agreement in an extraordinary summer

Swiss-Ski Alpine Director Hans Flatscher acknowledged the benefit during an interview with the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.

“We are very grateful for this agreement,” Flatscher said. “Being able to train even though the ski resort is closed is a real advantage.”

The agreement always carried value. This summer’s conditions have made it considerably more important.

Zermatt has traditionally attracted national teams from across Europe for preseason training. However, blue News reported that the French team turned around while traveling to Valais after learning it could not train. Austria also canceled a planned camp on the glacier.

Swiss-Ski did not face the same immediate disruption. The federation can maintain a limited training program in Zermatt before its athletes travel to camps in South America and New Zealand.

That flexibility matters. Coaches can preserve training blocks, adjust schedules and avoid making an expensive overseas move simply because one camp becomes unavailable.

It also creates a clear competitive advantage, although not necessarily an improper one. Swiss-Ski negotiated a long-term partnership with a training venue in its own country. The federation is now benefiting from an agreement it secured before this summer’s exceptional closure.

Still, the optics are difficult to ignore: The glacier is closed for regular operations, but one national team retains access while its competitors do not.

Disappearing glaciers change preseason preparation

The situation in Zermatt reflects a broader challenge facing alpine racing.

Italian World Cup star Federica Brignone recently posted video showing exposed rock and large areas with little remaining snow. Her images illustrated how dramatically conditions have changed in the high mountains.

As European glaciers retreat and prolonged summer heat becomes more disruptive, teams must travel farther to find dependable snow. Chile and Argentina remain important training destinations, while New Zealand continues to draw strong international fields.

Those locations can provide excellent conditions, but reaching them requires significantly more time and money than driving to a European glacier.

Federations must cover airfare, equipment freight, lodging, lift access and extended staff travel. Athletes lose time crossing multiple time zones, while coaches face the challenge of transporting everything needed for several weeks of training.

Demand also affects availability and price. When more teams compete for limited training space in the Southern Hemisphere, securing the right terrain becomes harder and more expensive.

Wealthy national programs can absorb those costs more easily. Smaller federations and independently funded athletes have fewer options. Therefore, the loss of European glacier access could widen existing gaps within the sport.

Zermatt offers difficult-to-replace terrain

The Theodul Glacier provides more than convenient access to snow. Its terrain and vertical make it one of the few Northern Hemisphere summer locations capable of supporting meaningful speed training.

Technical athletes can find slalom and giant slalom training at a wider range of venues. Downhill and super-G racers need longer slopes, greater vertical and terrain that allows them to train at speed. Those requirements sharply reduce the number of suitable locations.

For Switzerland, continued access protects an important part of its preparation. For rival nations, Zermatt’s closure removes an option that cannot be replaced easily.

The question is not simply whether Swiss athletes are skiing while others are not. It is whether increasingly scarce training terrain should remain available through exclusive national agreements.

Could FIS become involved?

The unequal access has prompted discussion within the sport about whether the International Ski and Snowboard Federation should intervene.

According to blue News, some within the ski community have raised the possibility of restricting or banning summer glacier training. Such a rule could prevent one federation from gaining exclusive access when deteriorating conditions shut out its competitors.

However, there is no indication that FIS has formally proposed a ban.

Any restriction would also create difficult questions. National teams already operate with vastly different budgets, facilities, staffing levels and access to terrain. Some countries have glaciers. Others have indoor slopes. Several can afford multiple Southern Hemisphere camps, while less-resourced programs cannot.

Banning glacier training would remove one source of inequality without making preseason preparation equal.

It would also take away a resource that remains essential to many athletes. The more urgent challenge may be determining how the sport can adapt as summer snow becomes less dependable and suitable training terrain becomes increasingly scarce.

Indoor skiing offers one alternative

Changing glacier conditions have brought renewed attention to indoor ski centers.

Norway uses the year-round SNØ facility near Oslo, where racers can train and test equipment on a consistent surface without relying on weather or traveling across the world.

Norwegian World Cup racer Eirik Hystad Solberg previously explained the benefit to Ski Racing Media.

“The consistency of the surface is a huge bonus,” Solberg said. “Every run, if you see an improvement—or not—it’s pretty much always you and not the conditions changing.”

Indoor slopes cannot replicate the length, terrain or variation of a mountain. They are particularly limited for speed training. Still, they provide dependable technical training and allow athletes to evaluate equipment changes under repeatable conditions.

Switzerland does not currently have a comparable indoor center, and blue News reported that there are no concrete plans to build one.

For now, Swiss-Ski expects the Theodul Glacier to remain part of its summer program through 2034. Flatscher described 2026 as an extreme season created by the combination of intense heat and limited winter precipitation. He does not expect such conditions to become normal.

That assessment may prove correct. Nevertheless, this summer has revealed how quickly a familiar training venue can become inaccessible—and how valuable exclusive access becomes when it does.

Swiss-Ski’s agreement provides an advantage today. The shrinking glacier beneath it presents a problem the entire sport will eventually have to confront.