{"id":108428,"date":"2026-07-27T08:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T08:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/108428\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T08:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T08:15:09","slug":"fourth-summer-heatwave-set-to-hit-the-alps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/108428\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth Summer Heatwave Set to Hit the Alps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"post-date\"> 26th July 2026<\/p>\n<p>By mid-week another heatwave is forecast with the temperatures in the high 30s and the freezing level approaching 5,000m. Three summer glacier ski areas remain open but conditions are deteriorating. NEW<\/p>\n<p>It was slightly cooler over the weekend in the Alps, but that is set to change by the middle of the week.<\/p>\n<p>Three glacier areas remain open for skiing and snowboarding:<\/p>\n<p>Cervinia\/Zermatt (Italy\/Switzerland)Saas-Fee (Switzerland)Passo Stelvio (Italy)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSnow conditions on the few glaciers currently open for summer skiing are less than ideal, with Hintertux having closed last weekend, a week earlier than its scheduled 26 July finish,\u201d said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month Tignes ended skiing ahead of its planned closing date as the hot weather took its toll.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday and Monday might see a \u201cvery temporary improvement in snow conditions, with the highest glaciers even seeing a little fresh snow from the showers and storms forecast this weekend,\u201d added Fraser.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFundamentally though, the glaciers are in very poor condition for late July, with no guarantee that those scheduled to remain open for the rest of the summer will be able to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here on PlanetSKI we have been reporting on the impact of the hot summer on the mountains in Europe:<\/p>\n<p>The hot weather has affected climbing routes, including the popular ones on the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.<\/p>\n<p>Mountain guides in Zermatt are advising climbers to postpone attempts on the summit of the Matterhorn because of an increased risk of rockfall.<\/p>\n<p>High temperatures and poor winter snowfall have left parts of the mountain unstable.<\/p>\n<p>In Italy guides in Courmayeur have stopped taking clients up Mont Blanc\/Monte Bianco on the classic route via the Miage glacier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the heat we had in June, conditions deteriorated quickly. It\u2019s no longer safe enough to take clients up there,\u201d said the President of the Courmayeur Guides Society, Alex Campedelli.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe glacier is full of crevasses and it\u2019s hard to find the right route.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe decided last week we won\u2019t sell that ascent to clients anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48470\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-48470\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_9111-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Mont Blanc, France. Image \u00a9 PlanetSKI\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-48470\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mont Blanc, France. Image \u00a9 PlanetSKI<\/p>\n<p>It is reported that some guides in Chamonix have stopped taking people up Mont Blanc after two people died on the mountain last Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the Mont Blanc and Matterhorn routes, we simply need to have the humility to stop them for a while,\u201d said Pierre Mathey of the Swiss Association of Mountain Guides (ASGM) to the AFP newsagency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis heatwave is dragging on and we\u2019re seeing significant warming of the ground, snow and ice are melting, and the permafrost is thawing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This causes rockfalls and other hazards.<\/p>\n<p>Related Articles<\/p>\n<p>PlanetSKI: Number 1 for digital ski news<\/p>\n<p>Your digital platform for ski news, resort information, travel, equipment rental, sport, money saving deals and everything connected with snowsports \u2013 web site, social media &amp; more.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-53479\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785140109_861_planetski-logo-300x300-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload alignnone size-full wp-image-53479\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785140109_861_planetski-logo-300x300-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"26th July 2026 By mid-week another heatwave is forecast with the temperatures in the high 30s and the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-108428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116990949998309234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}