End-of-ski-season blues question.

March 29, 2005 6:35 AM

Has anyone ever found a resort with a reasonably large and varied out-of-season ski area? Anywhere in the world that isn't outrageously inaccessible would do...

I've often thought about out-of-season skiing but never actually done it; mainly because I like big ski areas and thrashing through several valleys in a day. I've looked at some of the high, all-year glacier resorts in Europe but the necessarily diminished ski areas always persuaded me not to bother.

posted by Decani to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total)

It depends on what you consider "out-of-season." From a northern hemisphere dweller's standpoint the winters in the southern hemisphere are out-of-season, but also the skiing on Mt. Hood (glacier) in the summer is out-of-season.

I've always wanted to snowboard in Chile in July.
posted by sublivious at 6:58 AM on March 29, 2005

I thought that Whistler was open all year, it being a glacier and all??

Whistler is a big ski area with a requisite supporting town.
posted by spicynuts at 7:10 AM on March 29, 2005

Best answer: To turn this question back around before any answers, which European mountains offer glacier skiing during the summer, and how much area is skiable?

For skiing during our summer, the best bet is to go where it is winter, either in the Andes or in New Zealand. I don't have any personal experience in Southern hemisphere skiing, but am looking into it for this summer...

Portillo, Chile, which is about 2 hours outside of Santiago, is perhaps the ebst known ski resort in South America. Its season runs mid-june into october

Go Ski Argentina and Chile

Powderquest offers guided offf-piste ski tours in the Andes

Here is some Info on New Zealand skiing
posted by andrewraff at 7:20 AM on March 29, 2005

All the northwest glacier skiing areas (i.e. Hood, Baker, and Whistler) have had pretty bad winters, so I wouldn't expect their off season to be very good this year since the winter was like the off season. Now as far as the western resorts are concerned, you could head out to Utah. We've had over 600 inches of snow this season and more on the way. Snowbird often stays open until June or July.
posted by trbrts at 8:05 AM on March 29, 2005

Response by poster: South America looks like a very interesting option, especially Chile. Powderquest looks useful too. Thanks!
posted by Decani at 8:12 AM on March 29, 2005

i skiied new zealand (south island) a couple years ago. It was fun and beautiful. glad i did it. its not as good as the north american west--mainly in terms of snowfall. but heliskiing is more affordable down there.
and they have these ski clubs that are smaller and more independent than resorts, and it was really cool to see.

On the other hand, at times it felt like a waste--here i was on the far side of the earth, doing what is actually better at home.
Nevermind. it was great.
posted by alkupe at 8:28 AM on March 29, 2005

i've always thought skiing may-sept at tiffendells in south africa would be interesting.
posted by RockyChrysler at 2:42 PM on March 29, 2005

if you need general info on chile, email is in my profile (although i've never been skiing here).
posted by andrew cooke at 4:12 PM on March 29, 2005

I've skiied Whistler in June and Blackcomb in July. Whistler usually closes in June, but when it's open late like it was last year, it has to have some of the more challenging late-season skiing around. And you can get stellar deals on tickets if you buy the Edge Card for the coming year.
posted by kaestle at 8:29 PM on November 16, 2005