Saas-Fee
… 🧊 Glacier area 🛹 Top snow park 9/10
Photo: Paolo Gamba from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Summer skiing suspended, reopening on 3 October
Saastal Bergbahnen ended summer skiing on the Fee glacier on 9 August 2026. The reason was sustained high temperatures: despite extensive preparation, pistes and glacier infrastructure no longer met the quality and safety standards. Update of 27 September 2026: skiing resumes on 3 October, but only on the two upper drag lifts Allalin 2 and Allalin 3, between roughly 3,300 and 3,600 metres. The two lower lifts stay shut for now because glacier conditions do not allow them.
As of 10 August 2026. Always check the current situation with the resort.Saas-Fee lies in Valais and is a mid-sized ski area: 100 kilometres of piste served by 22 lifts.
The area runs from 1800 to 3500 metres above sea level, giving around 1,700 metres of vertical. That takes the terrain above the 3,000-metre mark, which markedly improves snow reliability on the upper slopes.
Saas-Fee is one of the few areas in the Alps with skiing in summer: the season runs mid-July – April, carried by the glacier.
The snow park is among the best in Europe, an adult day pass costs CHF 87.
Of note: Glacier summer season under way (since mid-July), a training mecca
Pistes by difficulty
- Leicht (blau)39 km39%
- Mittel (rot)57 km57%
- Schwer (schwarz)4 km4%
Distribution calculated from OpenStreetMap and applied to the 100 official kilometres of piste. An approximation, not a figure from the lift company.
Snow report
Not currentThis reading is 47 days old and is not being updated automatically at the moment. Current figures are available from the SLF and from the resort itself.
Source: SLF / WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research. A single measuring station, not the resort’s official piste report.
Piste map, map & webcams
Interactive piste map
Every piste and lift colour-coded by difficulty, zoomable, built on OpenStreetMap. Community-maintained data; where it differs, the official piste map next to it is authoritative.
Open on OpenSkiMap →Official piste map
The lift company’s drawn piste map, plus lift status and tickets.
saas-fee.ch →Webcams
Live images from the mountain on the resort’s official site, usually several locations.
View webcams →Piste maps and webcam images belong to the lift companies and are protected by copyright. That is why we link directly to the original instead of copying it.
Getting there by public transport
Destination stop: Saas-Fee Chalbermatten. Fastest connection on a Saturday morning in the currently published timetable, from the open Swiss timetable interface, retrieved 10 August 2026. A guide value, not a timetable: the real journey time depends on when you leave and what you connect to, and winter-only bus services are not yet included.
Frequently asked about Saas-Fee
How high is Saas-Fee?
The ski area runs from 1,800 to 3,500 metres above sea level, a vertical range of 1,700 metres. For snow reliability the lower figure matters more: that is where the snow disappears first, and where a mild December is felt before it is felt at the top.
How many kilometres of piste does Saas-Fee have?
100 kilometres on 22 lifts, according to the operator. There is no binding standard for measuring piste kilometres, so the figure is comparable between resorts only to a point. The lift count says at least as much about how big a place feels.
What does a day pass at Saas-Fee cost?
CHF 87 for an adult day pass at the standard rate, as of summer 2026. Booked early it is often less; on a peak Saturday it is not.
When does Saas-Fee open?
The usual season window is mid-July – April. For winter 2026/27 the resort has announced 3 October 2026 as its starting date (Gletscher, zunächst die beiden oberen Skilifte). Every announced date depends on enough snow and cold.
How do I get to Saas-Fee by train?
The destination stop is Saas-Fee Chalbermatten. From Zürich HB the fastest connection on a Saturday morning takes 3 h 17, changing 1 time; from Bern 2 h 12. A guide value, not a timetable.
Does Saas-Fee have a glacier?
Yes. Glacier terrain makes the early season more reliable, because the snow layer is supported from below by ice. The summers since 2022 have shown that this is no longer a guarantee either: several Alpine glacier areas have given up summer skiing altogether.
Is there a snowpark at Saas-Fee?
Yes, and a good one: we rate it 9 out of 10. That rating is our own assessment, based on the size and number of features, how regularly the park is shaped, and whether it runs all season. It does not come from the lift company.
Saas-Fee in the magazine
Too warm to make snow: the cold window has slipped five days
Five days ago the first usable snowmaking nights fell on 4 to 6 October; now they fall on the 9th and 10th. Over sixteen days, 95 of 3,840 hours are cold enough, and seven of ten areas get not one centimetre of snow. The figures, and what they mean for the season start.
Six glaciers have a date. Zermatt does not
Val Senales has been running since 19 September, Pitztal follows on the 26th, Hintertux in late September, Stubai and Sölden in October. Kaunertal has called its start off, and the Theodul glacier above Zermatt has nothing announced. Every date with its source and status.
The Stelvio reopens on Friday, on the warmest day in a fortnight
S.I.F.A.S. resumes skiing on 4 September, from 06:30 to 12:00, citing fallen temperatures. At 3,200 metres that day carries a high of 14.9 degrees. How both can be true, and why our own assessment four days ago was wrong. Plus the confirmed season start on the Val Senales glacier: 19 September.
When can the glaciers reopen? What was enough in 2022, and what is missing now
Zermatt will reopen as soon as natural conditions allow. We worked out what that meant in concrete terms in 2022: four consecutive days below freezing. The forecast to mid-September contains not one such day.
Where this resort stands
In our rankings of all Swiss ski areas:
- Number 2 among the highest resorts
- Number 2 by weighted altitude, our snow-reliability measure
- Number 3 among the snowparks
Saas-Fee is one of 24 ski areas in the canton of Valais, and it is quickest reached from Bern by train, in 2 h 12.
Nearby ski areas
Distances are straight-line, not driving time. In the Alps a ridge between two valleys can turn 12 km into a two-hour drive.
Key figures
- Region
- Valais
- Season
- mid-July – April
- Kilometres of piste
- 100 km
- Elevation
- 1800 to 3500 m (1,700 m of vertical)
- Lifts
- 22
- Adult day pass
- around CHF 87 (guide value)
- Summer skiing
- yes
- Glacier
- yes
- Snow park
- rated 9/10
- Coordinates
- 46.109, 7.929
- Official website
- saas-fee.ch
All values are guide figures still being verified. For day-to-day information, use the resort’s official website.