High-elevation ski areas in France and Austria, largely shuttered due to the pandemic, plan to reopen for a summer ski season.

Random border checks will be imposed to stop French holidaymakers going to ski in neighboring Switzerland, Prime Minister Jean Castex has said.

Blue skies over the Matterhorn drew skiers and snowboarders to Zermatt on Saturday, as well as police to break up crowds, as Switzerland’s modest coronavirus restrictions allowed near-normal operations while other Alpine resorts keep their lifts shut.

With the main peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe behind us, several resorts are busy building new lifts and improving others ready for winter.

A downhill ski race that would be the longest in the World Cup is being planned to join the men's circuit on a course connecting Switzerland and Italy near the Matterhorn mountain.

Skiers are suing Austrian resort Ischgl for exposing them to the virus.

UPDATED Sunday, March 15, 2020 - All North American ski mountains operated by Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company will close Sunday for at least a week as the coronavirus spreads through North America.

If skiing and riding in the summer is on your bucket list, make it happen this year with options from California to the Southern Hemisphere to the European Alps.

Switzerland Tourism, in partnership with ©Kinson Entertainment, is offering entrants from the U.S. and Canada an opportunity to audition online to be the host of the one-hour TV special, “The Grand Tour of Switzerland,” set to air nationwide next fall. The winner also will receive a $10,000 hosting fee. 

Switzerland in the summer gives just about everyone something in which they’re interested in seeing or doing. Here are some samples:

Just a few weeks before Sochi, it appears American Ted Ligety is back in form. Ligety won the super combined Audi FIS World Cup (one downhill run, two slalom runs) at Wengen, Switzerland Friday.

Is this year for that ski trip to Switzerland? Then consider Zermatt located in Swiss Valais and dominated by the Matterhorn. 

Once the snow is gone, the Alps remain magnificent. The Guardian newspaper in the UK has 10 picks for you to try this summer. Here are travel writer Sean Thomas’s choices and comments.

Lindsey Vonn from Vail, Colo. is back on the top step of the podium winning her 58th career Audi FIS World Cup downhill in Cortina dAmpezzo, Italy. American Leanne Smith was third.