Ski Lift Collapses at Norwegian Summer Ski Area

When Folgefonna was open for skiing, crews would drive snow into the lower area where the lake formed, working to preserve the summer snowpack. The bankruptcy halted that work.

The ski area sits on the edge of Folgefonna National Park. Folgefonna is Norway’s third-largest mainland glacier.

In early August, Folgefonni Glacier Team—a local glacier guiding service—announced that it could no longer bring clients on a route beneath the lift as its condition deteriorated. 

“The melting continues also this year with high speed!” Folgefonni Glacier Team wrote. “Until the ski lift is removedfrom the glacier we need to hike around it over mountains and rock.”

The future of the Folgefonna ski area now appears uncertain. 

According to NRK, a new ski lift was estimated to cost between 30 and 40 million kroner, or about $3.5 million. And theNorwegian news outlet already reported in 2022 that skiing on the Folgefonna glacier was in jeopardy as the glacier receded.

Climate change is impacting glaciers and summer ski areas worldwide.

Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia, announced in March that its skiing and snowboarding summer camp programs on the Horstman Glacier had been put on indefinite hiatus. The resort pointed to glacial melt as the cause.

A study published in Nature in February 2025 found that glacial recession has accelerated over the past few decades, notching a record of 604 billion tons of ice lost globally in 2023.

Still, summer skiing persists.

Timberline Lodge, Oregon, remained open well into August this year, offering North America’s longest lift-served ski season. Copper Mountain, Colorado, also hosted a summer hike park with preserved snow.