Has Anyone Skied in July/August??

[josiegroper]

I am looking to ski somewhere every month of the year next year as a reward to me for turning old. I have my local mountain til April, In May and June I am sure I can find a place to ski... but July and August are harder!

I was thinking about Portillo or Valle Nevado in Chile as an incredible experience. Has anyone here skied either place? Did you like it, love it, or were you disappointed?

For Sept/Oct. I was thinking about New Zealand...

November would likely be Canada, or Timberline in Oregon. I have to be thrifty after those 2 big trips! Then December would be back to my home mountain.

Any other suggestions of places to ski during our summer?

 

[RuthB]

July, August, September is our typical season in New Zealand. In the South Island you have skiing along the Southern Alps and in the North skiing on a volcano (which is active, but does not usually disrupt skiing).

The major South Island ski areas usually remain open for the first week of October to catch the Australian school holidays, but it now seems usual to close early October. The North Island season is a bit longer. August is the peak of the season here and depending on what the snowpack is like there can be some great spring skiing. Unfortunately the last two seasons here have been a bit of a disaster, so while you would get to ski in September and October the snow quality and coverage might be a bit dodgy. Although there is always heliskiing.

Having said that spring in the south is lovely so you could get in some great mountain biking, hiking and wine at the same time.

Not wanting to encourage you to overspend, but if you are doing Chile and NZ you could go round the world, pick up Australia and Europe and ski five continents and every month in a year

 

[NZfarmgirl]

Having said that spring in the south is lovely so you could get in some great mountain biking, hiking and wine at the same time.

I agree that down here in the south island would be great to come for spring for other reasons, but October skiing can't really be guaranteed. August is best but you will certainly get some good skiing in September. For example my closest mountains are all closing this weekend - Queenstown and Wanaka. I had a great day at the Remarkables about 2 weeks ago. Coronet peak hasn't had great snow this year but it is fab when the snow is there. Mt Hutt -further north, south island is open for another week as they have a great base.
I would come here without too many firm plans and find out how the snow is when you get here. You won't have trouble finding accommodation and internal flights at that time of year. it's not a long flight up to the north island if the snow down south has gone.
It is very beautiful just now, and there is so much to do other than ski so you would have a great holiday even if you only sneak in a little October skiing.
Don't leave it too late to get here though.
Must do's:
Queenstown and Wanaka - you will have an awesome time here regardless of snow quaity.
Day trip to Milford sound -breathtaking
Drive to Glenorcy -very Lord of the Rings
Arrowtown

I havn't skied in the north myself so check out this site to find out about all the ski field conditions:
https://www.metservice.com/skifields
I have a thread in trip reports about Queenstown/Wanaka skiing this year-lots of pics.

 

[Jenny]

Not wanting to encourage you to overspend, but if you are doing Chile and NZ you could go round the world, pick up Australia and Europe and ski five continents and every month in a year

Now there's some great enabling!

 

[Robyn]

Last year we skied in July at Abasin. Pinto and RachelV also did hike to skiing in August and I think September. This year Abasin closed before our traditional Mother's Day party. It all depends on the season.

I skied in Chile when I lived there but it was when I was 15 years old (so 20 years ago, eek!) but I hope to get back there one day.

 

[altagirl]

I've skied in July at Snowbird. That was still with the lifts running. On a decent year, you can still probably still get some backcountry skiing in in August in Utah if you're willing to hike for a few turns. I know people who have done it - to me it's not worth the effort, since I'd rather be biking at that point.

And I've skied in early October in Austria before, but I think those glaciers are way down lately, so that's probably unlikely.

 

[mustski]

I haven't skied it myself but I know Timberline has summer skiing at the peak because they hold junior race camps in the summer. My son's friend attends ski camp at Timberline every July.

 

[skibum4ever]

You might be able to ski Mammoth in July and certainly in November. A-basin and Loveland in CO generally open in October.

I believe that Timberline in Oregon has glacier skiing in July and August.

South America or NZ do sound like the best options for September.

 

[Lilywhite]

If you want a really different exp, you could try Sweden, it is possible to ski under the midnight sun in june/july and sometimes in to early august Riksgranson is most reliable, see also Lyngen alps in Norway if you fancy the idea of ski touring via a boat. It's the sort of thing i would love to try wallet/health permitting.
Limited summer skiing available on some of the glaciers in Europe too, typically early morning through to lunch.

 

[ski now work later]

What I want to know is what age is "turning old"?

 

[MaineSkiLady]

The Palmer snowfields at Timberline, Mt Hood, are crazy-busy with all kinds of training groups and camps, deep into August - and not just for kids. Freestyle camps such as Windell’s and High Cascade have their own dedicated regions (and are quite competitive with one another!) all summer, the last session ending around the 2nd week of August. Race training is ongoing all summer.

There are open skiing “lanes” throughout this period as well. A friend of ours was just out there this past June (late), as was my son. My son has been there in mid-July, also early August.

In 2011, I believe Mammoth went right through 4th of July.
You have lots of early>mid-summer options that don’t require “shift of hemisphere.”
https://www.timberlinelodge.com/play/skiing-snowboarding

 

[Jilly]

Whistler has summer skiing too. Race camps are held in the morning and you can ski the afternoon. July only from what I remember.

 

[Robyn]

The Palmer snowfields at Timberline, Mt Hood, are crazy-busy with all kinds of training groups and camps, deep into August - and not just for kids. Freestyle camps such as Windell’s and High Cascade have their own dedicated regions (and are quite competitive with one another!) all summer, the last session ending around the 2nd week of August. Race training is ongoing all summer.

There are open skiing “lanes” throughout this period as well. A friend of ours was just out there this past June (late), as was my son. My son has been there in mid-July, also early August.

In 2011, I believe Mammoth went right through 4th of July.
You have lots of early>mid-summer options that don’t require “shift of hemisphere.”
https://www.timberlinelodge.com/play/skiing-snowboarding

Funny MSL - the receptionist at my office is the mother of the owner of Windell's. Shares the last name even. Our snowboard team went there this year and I showed her FB photos from their time there.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

^^ Small world, indeed. I heard that it was so "winter" up there earlier this summer season that Palmer didn't even open until the 2nd week in July or so. Snowpack was deep enough to utilize Magic Mile until that hot spell.

It does vary from year to year, but last year was a big one.
This certainly is a more affordable July option for OP than South America!

 

[josiegroper]

Thanks for all the great responses!!

I knew of Timberline as there is a guy from Oregon actively pursuing me who is a ski instructor at Mt. Hood Meadows. I'm just not that into him and have figured it was a place to go if finances and all else fails. I am eager to ski somewhere though every month for the year.

I"ll be 50 next year for those inquiring minds...

It sounds like Chile and New Zealand have the same seasons and I was hoping NZ would be a little later so I could do both trips... Although I really would like to do a very long trip to NZ and see both islands. I have a strong desire to go cave tubing there... no bungy jumping though!! I picked Chile just due to the abundance of snow during our summer. I could probably do that trip for around $3K including everything... and that would be staying in their cheapest shack of a room, but it would include skiing and 4 meals a day (oink!) flights, transport from the airport to the mountain, etc...

I have looked into many European places, but most don't last well into the summer. Or there is little to no guarantee I'll find snow once I arrive! The Norway or Sweden idea sounds like something to look more into...

Thanks again... if you have any more ideas I'll gladly accept them!!

 

[marzNC]

Take a look at this from a week ago . . . October glacier skiing in Europe. Video by a father who lives in The Netherlands. Family started skiing in 2009.

Pitztaler Glacier, 20 and 21 October 2012

 

[snow addict]

I would love to go to Chile one day, but other than going to a different hemisphere where it's winter, skiing during summer doesn't have much appeal to me. I just can't face putting ski boots on when it's flip flop weather in the valley. We went to Zermatt couple years back in July to celebrate a friend's birthday, but none of us could be bothered to get up early in the morning for a couple hours of skiing, so we were just hanging out there and hiked. And October/November are very busy months for me, both at work and at home as I am preparing to be absent on weekends from December till May.

 

[braveskimom]

While I would love to spend the summer in Chile, the only July skiing I've done is at Timberline. Just a few hours over a couple of mornings (kids were in ski camp). Since I was with another mom whose kids were also in camp, we were hovering around the camp. Ted Ligety came by and invited us to run the gates! Then the camp director asked us if we'd like to join in for the rest of the day's training! Great memories. As for August, check out this story about year-round skiing in Scotland from the Ski Club of Scotland (I hope this is okay to post a link....the picture alone is worth a lot!). https://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.aspx?storyID=8617

What do you think? Does this count as skiing or not?

 

[snow addict]

Of course it does - she has skis on

 

[Christy]

Ted Ligety came by and invited us to run the gates!

Wow!!

Josiegroper another July option for you, and one that might be closer than some of the others, is Crystal Mt. WA. Of course it's snow dependent and it's only a few lifts they keep open.