Keeping It Cool

Hiking, swimming, and hitting the ski slopes—all on the same vacation? On a summertime visit to Austria’s Tyrol region, Thomas Rogers discovers that the Alps are full of surprises

- Thomas Rogers

WHEN MY CHAIRLIFT reached the top of Austria's Hintertux Glacier, I could see across a seemingly endless landscape of jagged, snowcapped peaks that stretched into Italy-a sight so wintery and serene it almost made me forget it was the middle of July and that much of Europe was suffering through a heat wave. Below me, skiers and snowboarders carved down the slopes of Olperer Mountain, a sight as absurd as it was thrilling.

Hintertux (hintertuxergletscher.at) is one of only two ski areas in Europe to be open year-round (the other is Zermatt, in Switzerland). This is possible because of its location on top of a high-altitude glacier that, in some places, measures nearly 400 feet thick. Although just a fraction of its trails are open in summer, they were enough for me, a once-frequent skier who hadn't taken to the slopes in more than a decade.

As my limbs awkwardly relearned how to navigate on skis, I cautiously weaved past families and groups of bickering teenagers practicing on their snowboards. "This is one of the strangest things I've ever done," Ketil, my Norwegian boyfriend and an experienced skier, said as he pulled up to me. I concurred: "Half of Europe is dying of heat right now, and we're in winter jackets."

Our visit to Hintertux was the culmination of a weeklong trip through Tyrol, a region in western Austria characterized by alternately craggy and pastoral landscapes. The area has long been known as a winter destination, but with climate change limiting the traditional ski season, it has recently drawn increased attention for the range of its warm-weather activities.