Rains that have washed out much of the summer in northern Europe are good news at least for one remote ski resort in Norway.

Like most people, I don’t much like thinking about  winter sports after weeks of rains and floods but 30,000 people a season make their way to the summer slope on a glacier at Galdhopiggen, northern Europe’s highest mountain at 2,469 metres.

Per Vole, the head of the resort which has a single lift going up to 2,200 metres, is happy. “We’ve been open almost all summer,” he said. “And more snow is forecast for the weekend.” Rain at lower altitudes often means snow up at Galdhopiggen.

Even so, Galdhopiggen is not immune to a widespread retreat of glaciers widely blamed by scientists on global warming caused by human activities led by burning fossil fuels.

Like many resorts in the Alps, resorts in Norway have had problems with unreliable snows in recent years — some are trying to diversify in summer by keeping lifts going for bikers or hikers.

Vole said that his resort was building new snow cannons to produce 1 to 1.5 million cubic metres of snow a season to prevent skiers ending up on the hard ice of the glacier.

As for me, I’m not planning on visiting his slope any time soon — I’m still hoping for a summer.