Europe is Beautiful and so are its mountains. I've been fortunate enough to be able to visit Switzerland for the Burton European Open in January, but I have never been there for summer riding. It's hard to say what it is all about, as I am used to hearing about the North American and New Zealand spots, but I do know that Switzerland and France are the spots to go when you want to do some summer boarding in Europe.Two places in Switzerland you should know: Saas-Fee opens its glacier July 4th for summer and fall riding, which is known to be the place most teams and pros go for late summer/fall training and Zermatt is open all year round. Both places have a park and halfpipe as well as open runs for those of you who are not into park.
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| Saas Fee Halfpipe |
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| Saas Fee kicker |
Nike 6.0 at Saas Fee
More European glaciers are in France: Les Deux Alps, Tinges, and Val D'isere, where many summer camps are offered and water flows like wine. Les Deux Alps has 2 halfpipes and a terrain park which are easily accessed by a cable car. Tinges has been the host of Winter European X-Games for the past two years and offers beginner parks but no halfpipe. Val D'isere is the easiest glacier to get to with a bus running to the bottom of the glacier lift. All of these glaciers are a great place to spend your summer snowboard vacation or maybe ever training for that matter.
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| Duex Alps |
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| Duex Alps terrain park |
This is kind of embarrassing but here's a video from my first trip to Switzerland for Burton European Open in January 2009:
This info found at
WorldSnowboardGuide.com
