Environment and Green Issues News

Now in its fourth year, the Big Spring Clean became even bigger with new resort Glenshee introduced to the mountain clean-up operation. The initiative forms part of the Ski Club's Respect the Mountain campaign that has been running since 2004. Over 80 litter-picking volunteers showed up at the Scottish resorts of CairnGorm Mountain, Nevis Range and Glenshee and worked hard to clear the rubbish that lingered after an epic winter season.

44 sacks of rubbish were collected across all three resorts by skiers, walkers and dedicated litter pickers. All sorts of unusual items were found amongst the general litter and waste including: a pair of boxer shorts at Cairngorm, a mattress and a 'message in a balloon' at Nevis Range. The balloon was from Milngavie Primary School, over 100 miles away.

Kate Thorman from the Ski Club of Great Britain, who organised and coordinated the event said: "The Big Spring Clean has yet again proved to be a success. We had decent weather, a good turnout of people, and most importantly plenty of litter was collected across all three resorts. There was a real feeling from the local community that they were glad people had come along to do their bit and that they cared about the mountains we all love."

Caroline Stuart-Taylor, Chief Executive of the Ski Club, also commented: "We were thrilled to expand the Big Spring Clean to include Glenshee this year. The operation continues to raise awareness about the damaging effects of dropping litter in a mountain environment. We hope to make a clean sweep of all five Scottish ski areas in the future."

No more butts!

A staggering amount of cigarette butts were also found amongst the Big Spring Clean's haul of litter. The Ski Club of Great Britain hopes their recent launch of a new eco-friendly pocket ashtray will reduce the number of cigarettes dropped by skiers and snowboarders. It's the first ever pocket ashtray to be made from recycled, recyclable and biodegradable materials providing an eco-friendly alternative to the millions of plastic pocket ashtrays that end-up in landfill sites every year.

Ashtrays can be ordered in packs of five from the Ski Club online shop for free with a contribution of £2.50 to cover postage and packaging.

For more information visit www.respectthemountain.com

The Ski Club of Great Britain are inviting funding applications for research or projects to protect the mountains and support sustainable snowsports.

As part of the Club’s ongoing commitment to the mountain environment, a new Respect the Mountain Fund has been launched to help finance research studies or projects that will have a direct and visible impact in mountain environments or snowsports.

The club is currently inviting preliminary proposals for both specific projects and research studies that are likely to lead onto future projects. Suitable submissions will then be looked into in more depth before grants of £1500-7500 are made.

Possible areas of study could include responsible tourism, environmental awareness, sustainable or renewable local energy sources, sustainable snowsports, pollution, travel to and within mountain areas, habitat, wildlife, plant life, topography, hydrogeology, snow cover and biodiversity.

Since 2004 the Ski Club’s Environmental Policy and Respect the Mountain campaign have helped the Club, our members and the wider snowsports community take positive steps towards protecting the mountain environment and the long-term future of snowsports.

The 2010/11 season saw the launch of our new range of organic cotton Respect the Mountain clothing and Respect the Mountain eco-ashtray whilst this weekend the Big Spring Clean, our annual resort clean up, returns to Scotland for a fourth year.

All profits from Respect the Mountain clothing and wristbands, as well as a 50p environmental levy from each annual membership to the Ski Club, go towards the Respect the Mountain campaign which has donated to a number of projects.

To apply a completed submission form should be emailed (as an attachment) to Richard Bird, Chairman of the Ski Club of Great Britain Environmental Working Group, at skiclubfund@gmail.com by Tuesday 28 June. Enquires can also be emailed to the same address.

The end of the glacier at Argentière in the Chamonix Valley has been given a protective summer coat in a bid to slow down thawing as a result of climate change.

Working with the Mayor of Chamonix, and the Prefecture of Haute Savoie, the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc lift operator is spending 3,000 Euros on a small 750 square metre tarpaulin to cover a sector at the Grand Montets.

“This technique of ice covering has already proven itself on Swiss glacier and is required to keep a maximum volume of ice on the mountain while limiting the action of sunlight reflection.” Said a statement from the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc.

The lift company has advised those hiking or mountaineering in the area that it’s dangerous to walk on the tarpaulin and that they should use marked routes around it.

The tarpaulin will be removed in mid-October before the first major snowfall on winter 2011-12 is forecast.

The Ski Club's annual resort clear up, the Big Spring Clean, returns to Scotland for a fourth year on Sunday 12 June. This year volunteers will not only be tackling the damaging litter left on the slopes by mountains users at CairnGorm Mountain and the Nevis Range but also, new for 2011, at Glenshee.

"As part of our ongoing Respect the Mountain campaign we wanted to increase awareness of the environmental issues faced by resorts at the end of the season" explains the Ski Club's Emma Bebb.

"Extending the Big Spring Clean to Glenshee is a positive step to spread that message even further and the clear up operation really does help the resorts tackle the problem of winter waste".

Last year 122 helpers turned out to gather up litter at CairnGorm and the Nevis Range with a total of 60 bags of rubbish collected. The Ski Club works with the resorts to ensure volunteers cover areas most frequented by winter users and ensure they safely cover both marked paths and areas off the beaten track.

Big Spring Clean volunteers will meet at 10am on Sunday 12 June at the bottom of the gondola at Nevis Range, at the Ranger Base (Coire Cas) at CairnGorm or at the Base Cafe at Glenshee. Gloves and bags are provided and there will be tea and cakes for everyone who brings back a bag of litter.

www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/respectthemountain/

Taos Ski Valley in the US has opted to lower the impact of 100 percent of its energy usage through carbon offsets from Renewable Choice Energy, one of the US’s leading providers of energy and environmental solutions for businesses and consumers.

Taos Ski Valley also purchased new snow-cats and snowmobiles that are significantly more fuel-efficient and quiet than traditional machines. This will help reduce the Valley’s carbon footprint even more, while cutting down on noise pollution in the mountain ecosystem.

“We make these decisions because it’s our way of life here,” said Adriana Blake, Administrative Manager. “When you live in an environment as beautiful as Taos Ski Valley, you can’t help but understand how important it is to reduce energy usage and do your part in cutting carbon emissions.”

Along with the five million kilowatt hours of energy offsets and the cleaner, more fuel-efficient snow machines, Taos Ski Valley also has a significant recycling program in place for residents and tourists.

It has reduced its consumption of water bottles by encouraging skiers and snowboarders to bring their own reusable water bottles. This season, in an effort to continue to reduce plastic waste, the Valley will be selling water in recyclable cardboard boxes, similar to juice boxes.

“I can’t think of anything more important than saving the natural landscape that is our home,” added Blake. “I hope that our skiing and snowboarding visitors this year will rally behind these eco-friendly measures and help us keep Taos Ski Valley green.”

The S.A.T.A (ski lift company) which runs the lifts and maintains the pistes at Alpe d’Huez has earned three separate levels of certification for its service management.

The company is now certified in terms of quality (ISO 9001), as well as in environmental management (ISO 14001) and security (OHSAS 18001).

“This triple certification will enable a fully integrated management system to better satisfy its clientele whilst continually bringing about improvements. It will alsoreinforce and up-date safety/security for clientele and personnel and recognize sources of pollution with the aim of effectively dealing with it.” said a resort spokesperson.

Alpe d’Huez is now planning a complete review of its operations to highlight issues in different projects. Different types of works are taken into consideration in order to forecast security measures and environmental issues. For example waste treatment must be managed, in particular for chemical products, so procedures need to be set up to deal with any potential pollution issues (engine failure with oil leaks, chemical products).

Impact studies concerning each potential new project will be done systematically for each project and there will be reductions in the number of new ski lift pylons, better integrating them in to the surrounding landscape.

Staff will be trained to have improved eco-awareness/sensitivity and grooming machine drivers will be trained to, “drive ecologically.”

There will also be pilot team of staff on site created to deal with internal environmental matters.

€150,000 is invested each year on selected seed-sowing.

In the resort’s town hall the community is launching a busy programme that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions via a territorial energy plan. Their commitments include measuring the resort’s current carbon footprint in 2010 so that future improvements can be measured against the current level.

www.alpedhuez.com

The Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale is the latest Alpine glacier to attempt to cover its surface with an insulating and reflective ‘blanket’ this summer in a bid to slow its rate of melting.

More than 90,000 square metres of the glacier, which was still open for skiing last month, has been covered with a thin reflective material, a process already being used my glaciers in Austria such as Pitztal and Stubai, and in Switzerland and on Germany’s Zugspitze which ended summer snow sports a few years ago. In France snowmaking has been tried on the glacier at Val d’Isere, which is one of three glaciers in the country still open for summer snow sports.

Small scale tests of the material used on the Presena glacier have shown that it reduces melt rates by up to 60%, potentially good news for the glacier which a study found lost nearly two-fifths of its mass in one decade alone up to 2003 due to global warming.

In its third year, the Big Spring Clean, a mountain clearing initiate from the Ski Club of Great Britain, has again proved a success with hundreds of volunteers heading to the Scottish mountains to clean up rubbish after an epic winter season.



In the resort of CairnGorm Mountain, where there was still skiing available on mid-summers weekend, many of the skiers, as well as plenty of walkers and dedicated litter pickers came along to pick up over 50 bags of litter. Around 80 people joined in the event on a fine day in the mountain resort.

In Nevis Range there were 46 volunteers who picked up 17 bags of litter, including many unusual items ranging from a New York bus ticket to a tin of sardines.

Katie Gotla from the Ski Club of Great Britain who co-ordinated the event at CairnGorm Mountain said: “Once again we have had a successful day of litter picking and have made a positive contribution towards the mountain and its habitats. As well as clearing the mountain from potentially damaging rubbish, organising the Big Spring Clean is also a fantastic way to raise awareness about the effects of dropping litter.”

Volunteer Jane Davey from Inverness who was clearing litter at CairnGorm said of the day: “I have had so many fantastic days on the mountain this season, the least I can do is give one back.”



The Big Spring Clean is part of the Ski Club of Great Britain’s Respect the Mountain* campaign which has been running since 2004.

Patrick Thorne and family
from Snow 24In its third year, the Ski Club of Great Britain’s ‘Big Spring Clean’ returns to the Scottish ski resorts of Cairngorm Mountain and Nevis Range on Sunday 20 June 2010. Taking place a month later than previous years due to a record breaking Scottish snow season, the event is a chance for mountain users to do their bit by picking up litter left by a season’s worth of visitors.

Last year saw 150 people take part in the event with over 50 bags of rubbish collected from the hillside. The rubbish that was cleared included hundreds of cigarette butts, a ski boot, a plastic sledge, broken ski poles, plastic bottles, cans, a bin lid and a Marathon chocolate bar wrapper dating from 1990, before the snack was re-branded as Snickers.

“We are delighted to be running the Big Spring Clean for the third year as part of our Respect the Mountain* campaign. As well as bringing people to the mountains to do their bit and clear away rubbish left during the ski season, we hope the event can raise awareness about the how damaging dropping litter can be and encourage people to take their waste home with them.” said Caroline Stuart-Taylor, Chief Executive of the Ski Club.


The infamous Marathon wrapperVolunteers are asked to meet at 10am at the bottom of the gondola at Nevis Range or the Ranger Base at Coire Cas on Cairngorm Mountain. Gloves and bags are provided for all litter pickers and for everyone who brings back a bag of litter, tea and cakes will be provided.

For more information on the Big Spring Clean visit www.skiclub.co.uk and for more information on the Respect the Mountain Campaign visit www.respectthemountain.com, supported by SCUK.

Next weekend, on the 29th & 30th of May, people all over Europe will be getting together for the Annual spring cleaning of the mountains. So that everybody can become aware of the impact rubbish has in the mountains, and people’s behaviour concerning their rubbish can be changed.

Although ski areas may seem clean when covered in snow, last year 30 tonnes of rubbish were picked up from the slopes of 55 ski resorts by that 3500 volunteers.

For the past 9 years the French environmental group for ski resorts, Mountain Riders, have been organising and coordinating the spring cleaning to raise awareness on the state of our outdoor playgrounds at the end of the ski season.

This year, Mountain Riders and their European partners: The ski club of Great-Britain, Respect the Mountains in the Netherlands and Summit Foundation in Switzerland are once again calling on everybody to join in with the European spring-cleaning.

In the UK the spring clean takes place at Cairngorm and Nevis Range in Scotland and will be three weeks later than in the Alps because of snow remaining on the slopes with Cairngorm still open for skiing and snowboarding.

From ski resorts to Mountain bike tracks, crags and other areas where you can go climbing, this year everybody has got involved in the mountain clean up. So why don’t you meet up with the locals at your local ski-resort or your favourite outdoor playground and help out. With over 140 events taking place in France, Scotland, Switzerland and Belgium, there’s no excuse not to be out there.
For a list of events and participating resorts, go to:

www.mountain-riders.org

In its third year, the Ski Club of Great Britain’s ‘Big Spring Clean’, a Respect the Mountain* initiative, returns to the Scottish ski resorts of Cairngorm Mountain and Nevis Range on 20thJune 2010.

Taking place a month later than previous years due to the deep snow bases at the resorts, the event is a chance for mountain users to do their bit by picking up litter left by a season’s worth of visitors.

Last year saw 150 people take part in the event with over 50 bags of rubbish collected from the hillside. The rubbish that was cleared included hundreds of cigarette butts, a ski boot, a plastic sledge, broken ski poles, plastic bottles, cans, a bin lid and a Marathon chocolate bar wrapper dating from 1990, before the snack was rebranded as Snickers.

“We are delighted to be running the Big Spring Clean for the third year. As well as bringing people to the mountains to do their bit and clear away rubbish left during the ski season, we hope the event can raise awareness about the how damaging dropping litter can be and encourage people to take their waste home with them.” said Caroline Stuart-Taylor, Chief Executive of the Ski Club.

Volunteers are asked to meet at 10am at the bottom of the gondola at Nevis Range or the Ranger Base at Coire Cas on Cairngorm Mountain. Gloves and bags are provided for all litter pickers and for everyone who brings back a bag of litter, tea and cakes will be provided.

For more information on the Big Spring Clean visit skiclub.co.uk and for more information on the Respect the Mountain Campaign visit www.respectthemountain.com

As the Icelandic volcano disruption continues to obstruct flights, leaving thousands of people stranded in and out of Ski resorts over Europe and in fact all over the world… mountainrideshare.com is one method of travel that could help repatriate these mountain enthusiasts to their end destinations.

By buddying up with others who are making their journeys by road, waiting times to get on flights could be reduced, allowing people to get back to their everyday lives or to their ski resort of choice.

Using Mountain Rideshare could potentially save people money on rebooking last minute flights whilst at the same time making friends and travelling in an environmentally friendlier way.

If you’re stuck in or near ski resorts, or need to get to one, it might be worth registering, offering or requesting a ride to speed up your journey!

With Ryanair charging from £40 each way to carry skis this season, it’s now cheaper for holidaymakers to travel with SeaFrance than it is for just their skis to fly! SeaFrance crossings cost from £25 each way for a car and up to five passengers.

SeaFrance operate Dover-Calais ferries and the £25 each way fee for a car and up to five passengers, means that, with a full car, you can cross the Channel for £5 per person each way. The company operates up to 15 daily return crossings.

SeaFrance also allows customers to travel with a roof-box free of charge, giving them even greater comfort and flexibility with luggage.

After the 90-minute crossing on one of SeaFrance’s superferries, the French Alps are less than eight hours away, with plenty of opportunities for a break in the French countryside along the way.

www.seafrance.com

A new website, www.muchbetteradventures.com, has been launched targeting skiers and boarders who care about the environment, but not going to let that get in the way of a good ski or snowboard holiday. The site aims to let them, “float through the powder with a clearer conscience.”

www.muchbetteradventures.com puts users in direct contact (that means no commission) with chalets and lodges handpicked because the site is confident they will deliver a high quality holiday, and also do everything they can to minimise their environmental and social impact. Properties are currently being added but so far you can already carve away guilt-free in Chamonix, La Plagne, Samoens, Meribel and La Clusaz.

Alex and Ed, the founders, are based out in Morzine/Avoriaz this winter, and expect to have plenty more options onboard before the snow melts this spring. They also bring an overview of the greener ski resorts around the world and the resources you need to book a low carbon journey out to them.

Alex and Ed are now working on a muchbetter snow shop, which will bring the skis, boards, clothing and accessories now available to allow skiers and boarders to perform stylishly and sustainably.

The site has also started a full community generated ski/snowboard guide where users are invited to share their favourite powder runs, tree lines and parks with others.

Bolton Valley in Vermont is the second New England ski area to add a wind turbine to supply a chunk of its annual energy.

The resort has extensive snowmaking and offers night skiing to 10pm every night except Sunday so the extra power, currently valued at $33,000 a year, about 15% of the resort's annual energy bill, will be a major asset for the resort.

"It helps us in terms of our sustainability; it helps us in terms of our cost of power," said resorts spokesman Larry Williams.

The turbine cost about $750,000 and local experts think it may be the first of many at the region's ski areas, which they say are a "natural" location for the turbines with power lines already reaching the hilltops above the slopes and objections to visual impact and development less likely. Indeed this is one of the first new turbines in the state for several years and the resort hopes it will be the first of three, with two larger, more powerful turbines planned. Mr Williams said he hopes the resort will ultimately be 100% wind powered.

Jiminy Peak in nearby Massachusetts was the first to install a turbine, the huge 253ft (84m) high Zephyr 1.5MW wind turbine, provides approximately 33% of the electrical demands of the resort annually. During the winter months, when the wind resource is the strongest, it may provide as much as half of their electrical demand. The turbine generates approximately 4,600,000 kWh each year of which, Jiminy Peak uses about half directly, the rest returned to the grid.

Travel to ski resorts continues to grow as mountain lovers pursue their passions of skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, climbing and hiking.

Hundred of thousands of mountain lovers come from far and wide to experience the rush of speeding down a snow-covered hill or the tranquillity of a peaceful mountain walk.

Unless they reside in the ski resort of choice they need to travel to get there be it by plane, train or automobile.

With the introduction of budget airlines (not so budget these days) it has made it very easy and convenient to travel. However, these same airlines are also an ecological disaster with their contribution to global warming reeking havoc on the beautiful but delicate natural environment we so love.

For the past 13 years I have spent the winter months in Chamonix, France and have seen with my own eyes how breathtaking glaciers have receded dramatically. Every time I return to the valley my heart sinks when I see how these once-massive ice fields are shrinking further and further from our grasp.

There’s no turning back as the damage is well underway and cannot be undone. What we must do, however, is try our best to slow down this sad effect.

Mountain Rideshare is an idea born of my own desire to get to the mountains as efficiently as possible while creating the least amount of irreversible damage on the mountains on which I so depend for my own peace of mind and well-being.

Why use Mountain Rideshare?

Over the winter months I would watch the weather religiously. With the first sight of a storm that might bring significant snowfall I would start the long, complicated process of trying to find space in a vehicle that was driving to the Alps.

With this thought I would trawl the web and look at UK-based forums and websites to see if there were any leads that might get me to the snow in time to get the goods. This was never a successful search.

On many occasions I would call Stuart Brass of Soulsports to see if he knew of anybody that might be driving and would contact anyone that he mentioned. For those with space I’d readily make a contribution towards petrol, motorway and ferry tolls.

I was prepared to carpool with anyone going vaguely close to Chamonix. Even after jumping on a train from wherever I was dropped off it was still more cost effective for me to travel this way rather than a carbon-belching, short-haul flight.

There were a few very positive implications of getting to my destination by sharing a ride and joining a vehicle that was already travelling to the Alps:

• More affordable for me
  
• More affordable for the people with whom I travelled
  
• I made new friends
  
• I got to Chamonix in time to ride the fresh snow
  
• Perhaps most importantly, it was the most environmentally friendly method of getting to the mountains.

By happily avoiding the demeaning, sheep-herding mentality of the airlines I not only reduced my own carbon footprint but that of the people with whom I was travelling as well.

Clearly for those doing the driving and hoping for the same efficiencies and karma points of carpooling, the idea works equally well. Carpooling is a win-win solution for my new friends, the mountains, and me.

Mountain Rideshare is the one-stop website that brings riders and drivers together making financial sense for riders and drivers and saving the planet in the process. Check out www.MountainRideShare.com to learn more.

With a chill in the air sweeping over London, we thought it an appropriate time to focus on an issue that winter sports enthusiasts should have a great interest in. The howies store on Carnaby Street, London, is hosting a Wee Do (in the Scottish sense of the word!) next Tuesday, 17th November. They have Betony Garner coming in to talk about the Ski Club of Great Britain campaign Respect the Mountain. She is passionate about green issues and has been trying to raise awareness about how to minimise the impact of snowsports on the environment for the last four years.

Respect the Mountain was a campaign launched by the Ski Club of Great Britain in 2004 with the aim of safeguarding the mountains for future generations to enjoy. SCUK is a partner of the campaign. Its basis is raising awareness and educating skiers, snowboarders, resorts and the whole snowsports industry on how they can do their bit to minimise their impact on the environment. The talk will investigate how the mountains have changed, how humans have impacted them and what we can do as skiers and snowboarders to help.

For more information about the campaign go to: www.respectthemountain.com

More information about the event.

If you would like a free ticket to this event, please email (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) or call them (0207 287 2345) to reserve a space. As always at these events they have free organic beers and juice available. Doors open at 7.15pm.

Spaces are limited so get in touch quickly.

Vail is already the largest ski area buyer of green energy credits in North America and now the company believes it is the largest ski area recycling program in the world, recycling or reusing more than 70 percent of the material on the mountain including cardboard, aluminium, glass and even chairlifts and mechanical parts.

In addition the leading ski resort operator, which runs Beaver Creek, Breckenriddge, Keystone and Vail in Colorado and Heavenly in California, is continuing its efforts to offset and reduce energy usage.

Water efficient toilets and restrooms conserve almost two million gallons of water annually compared to the company's previous usage and installing compact fluorescent bulbs has already saved the company more than $25,000.

Combined, the resort's energy conservation efforts save more than two million kilowatt hours of electricity, which is equal to the electricity used by 187 US homes in one year.

"These efforts, along with company-wide initiatives such as Appetite for Life, Use Less, Do More, demonstrate a commitment to continuing to act good stewards of the environment." Said a Vail statement.

www.snow.com

For those of you interested in green stuff, you might be interested in checking out the trailer for the Breathe Documentary put together by UK snowboard stalwart Drew Stevenson, Rene Eckart with a bit of help from ravis Rice, Absinthe Films and Method TV.

A new independent website has launched with the aim of encouraging more people to travel by train to ski resorts. snowcarbon explains exactly how to book rail journeys, how to get the best fares, and which resorts are easiest to reach by train.

The site which was founded by two respected national travel journalists, fills a vital gap. Until the launch of snowcarbon, there was no single source of information about rail travel to ski resorts.

With a clean, simple design, the site features 30 resorts across Europe, from Andorra to Austria, plus France, Italy and Switzerland, all of which can be conveniently, quickly and cheaply reached by train.

snowcarbon also features independent resort reviews written by leading ski journalists, as well as a sophisticated Resort Finder and unique email alerts that send users an email reminder on the day the lowest fares are available for their journey.

The site aims to encourage skiers and snowboarders to abandon increasingly stressful and expensive journeys by air in favour of the train. The environmental benefits are huge: the carbon footprint of a trip by plane to a ski resort is typically 10 times greater than the equivalent rail journey.

If more skiers chose the train, the environmental benefits would be significant. According to the Agence De l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie (a French government agency), 73% of a typical ski resort’s carbon footprint is made up by the journeys of tourists take to get there.

The rail journeys detailed are comfortable and stress-free. Couples, groups and families will love the space and freedom on board, and children under four travel for free on all UK and European trains. With vistas of lakes and mountains, the scenery is spectacular and by travelling overnight in a couchette, you can get two extra days on the slopes.

Many resorts have mainline railway stations – including St Moritz in Switzerland, St Anton in Austria and Chamonix in France – so the transfer from train to ski accommodation takes only a few minutes. Some resorts can be reached directly from London without a change of train, including Tignes, Meribel and Courchevel.

Surveys suggest that skiers and snowboarders are keen to take the train, but don’t have the necessary information or encouragement. A survey in 2005 by the Ski Club of Great Britain found that 68% of its members would prefer to travel to resorts by train.

A comparison of a door-to-door journey between London and Sauze d'Oulx, Italy, booked 5 weeks in advance, found the flight took 10 hours, rail travel 11 hours, 30 minutes. The flight costs £217 (including train to Gatwick, minibus transfer to resort, luggage charges), the train £178 (including private taxi transfer to resort, Metro fare in Paris). The carbon footprint for the flight was 96.8kg CO2, train 11.1kg CO2 (Car would be 227.1kg CO2 per car, by Eurotunnel).

Snowcarbon also offers practical advice on how to change trains in Paris. Precise Metro changes or private taxis that meet you on the platform can be pre-booked using a simple email form. There’s a guide to how to get the lowest fares from London to European ski resorts (from £99 return). The site also has a guide to UK tour operators that feature rail-inclusive packages and that offer non-flight discounts as well as information and links for booking accommodation independently.

www.snowcarbon.co.uk

It was “The start of the end of skiing in the Alps” two seasons ago when in the middle of one of Europe’s worst ski seasons for snowfall the small French resort of Abondance announced it would not be running its lifts.

The Associated Press agency seized on the news and it appeared in newspapers all around the world as evidence that skiing in the Alps was coming to its end.

The problem with the story was that Abondance’s decision was not really related to climate change, but more to do with economics – a problem faced by thousands of small ski areas around the world in the past decade. It’s a very similar scenario to other business sectors, the decline of small local shops as customers favour supermarkets being the obvious parallel.

Their lifts, often built in the 1960s or 70s, are getting elderly, their costs for staffing, power, insurance are all escalating, the trend is for skiers and boarders to head to the big glossy resorts favoured by tour operators and newspaper reviewers. In short, the future’s not looking bright and huge bills for maintenance and possible replacement appear unavoidable as a major government inspection looms.

Hundreds of small ski areas had already decided to call it a day, largely unnoticed, before Abondance, and this season, as every season, dozens more will decide not to open.

Abondance, happily, will no longer be closed. Alas climate change is still with us, but none-the-less Abondance re-opens this winter, thanks to its purchase by an American investor, who already works in the ski lift industry so can help there. He apparently wanted to get a toe in to the European market and sees Abondance as a good bet.

Andy Pag (34 London), the eco-adventurer who drove a chocolate powered lorry to Timbuktu using waste cocoa butter and organised the Grease to Greece Rally where teams had to scavenge chip-fat to power their vehicles across Europe, is now setting off to drive around the world [where he will presumably go to some countries that have snow] on an eco-expedition that can best be described as … Rubbish!

Pag has recycled a scrap yard school bus and turned it into a state of the art eco-home using a mix of reclaimed trash and cutting edge green technology. Not only is the 20 year old “Biotruck” made from rubbish, but it’s been modified so it can run on rubbish too, specifically used cooking oil thrown away by restaurants and caterers.

“By 2050 the experts say we’ll each have to be emitting less than 2 tonnes of CO2 per year to avoid the worst effects of manmade climate change.” says Pag, “In the UK we currently emit around 10-13tonnes. I’m curious to see what people in other countries are doing about their footprint, and to see if it’s possible to travel around the world emitting less than 2 tonnes myself, by using energy-from-waste and other technology.”

The first fill up comes from Uptown Oils in London who produce fuel from locally collected used cooing oil. When full, the Biotruck has a range of around 5000miles (8000km), but Pag intends to keep the tank topped up during the 12 month journey from chip shops and burger bars along the route through Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and the Americas, with the help of an on board Zuwa collection pump, Greenfuel tanks and an Oilybits filtering system.

The expedition’s CO2 is being monitored by consultants Terra-Ambiente, and onboard the Biotruck, every effort has been made to avoid fossil fuels. Cooking is on a woodgas stove, washing is with water heated bythe sun, lighting is by ultra low energy LED bulbs from the Good Energy Shop, sleeping is on an Abaca organic mattress, and the call of nature is answered on a Separett waterless composting toilet.

To get the most of every drop of fuel, Pag has fitted EcoVolt solar panels on the roof which power a Magdrive hydrogen generator, supplementing fuel with Hydrogen gas so that on sunny days the Biotruck will cover more miles per gallon. Total Vehicle Technology have serviced the engine and installed a Clean Diesel Technology Particulate Filter which reduces the exhaust emissions to that of a vehicle 1/10th its age.

“I’ve no idea how easy it will be to find used cooking oil in places like Iran, India or Brazil but it’s going to be fun finding out. Driving around the world is a massive challenge, and trying to do it using sustainable fuels, with a tight carbon budget makes this the toughest expedition I’ve ever attempted.” confessed Pag a former engineer and journalist who has been organising overland expeditions for 14 years.

www.biotruckexpedition.org

Whistler is set to open a new hydro electric system that will generate enough renewable energy to match the entire resort’s power news.

“This is going to be a monumental winter season for Whistler Blackcomb. Excitement is mounting for the 2010 Winter Games and we are thrilled to showcase our world-class mountains and PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola to the world,” says Stuart Rempel, Senior VP of Marketing and Sales, Whistler Blackcomb.
The Fitzsimmons Creek Renewable Energy Project will produce 33 gigawatt hours of green electricity per year - the equivalent amount of energy required to power the ski resort’s winter and summer operations including all 38 lifts, 17 restaurants, 270 snowguns and countless other buildings and services.

The Fitzsimmons Creek area is an ideal location for a successful Run-of-River project. The creek has an abundance of water, the necessary vertical drop, it is not a major fish-bearing stream, and the creek water is not used recreationally within the project area.

This summer, crews installed and buried 3.5km of pipeline, which will carry the water from the intake at Fitzsimmons Creek all the way to the powerhouse, near the Whistler Sliding Centre.
This September, project crews are doing concrete work on the intake structure, backfilling, grading and seeding for re-growth over the buried pipeline, and erecting the powerhouse. The 450m-long transmission line will also be installed and buried this month. Commissioning and commercial operation date is expected to occur later this fall with the anticipation that the Run-of-River project will be producing power by Christmas.

“The Fitzsimmons Project represents a very meaningful step for us in doing what we can to address climate change inside our own operating footprint,” says Arthur DeJong, Mountain Planning and Environmental Resource Manager, Whistler Blackcomb.

“I look forward to the day this winter when we begin to generate power out of the Fitzsimmons Project. It has been a long and challenging road, and we’ve made great gains, but this project is still only one of many steps that we need to make to become truly sustainable.”

The Mountain Riders environmental group has issued a report on its annual spring cleaning activities across French and now British ski areas and note that 3,500 volunteers turned out to clean up the slopes of 55 participating ski resorts collecting in total 30 tonnes of waste from the ski slopes, 56% of it recyclable, 57% of it left by tourists.

“Once again, volunteers responded to our annual call to keep our mountains clean and showed up in force for the annual spring-cleaning sessions organised in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Vosges, the Massif Central and also in the UK with the Ski Club of Great-Britain. Many thanks go not only to these volunteers, but also to those who organised these positive actions.” said Stewart Sheppard of Mountain Riders.

The number of volunteers was up by 1000 on last winter which Mountain Riders believe is clear proof that raising awareness is key in getting people involved.

The amount of waste collected was nearly doubles last years total of 17 tonnes with rubbish collectors still finding large amounts of older pieces of rubbish in and around the resorts and on the slopes.

As always, this year’s spring clean yielded an interesting combination of rubbish, including cans, plastic wrappers, single-use products, bottles, paper, batteries, metal and cables, PET bottles and the ever-present cigarette butts.

The sheer quantity of cigarette butts received special mention in the report with up to 30 000 cigarette butts can be found under just one chairlift.

The idea of Mountain Riders’ campaign is both to clean up the slopes and raise awareness of the harm littering does with the aim of ensuring that leaving rubbish on the slopes becomes a thing of the past.

“It is vital for everybody to bring their own rubbish back down from the mountains then take their rubbish to the closest sorting bins.” Said Mr Sheppard.

“To take things further, we can all try to choose products supplied in packaging that can be easily re-used or recycled and where possible products that have little or no packaging at all.”

www.mountain-riders.org

Vail’s efforts to be more environmentally friendly are on-going, with the famous Colorado resort continuing to develop, test, and implement programs designed to reduce its impact on climate change.

A new initiative this summer has seen Vail harnessing the resort’s 300 days of sunshine annually. The environmental team has been installed 42 200-watt solar panels on the roof of Bailey's restaurant at Adventure Ridge over the summer, creating an 8.4 kilowatt system that will produce enough energy to power the entire building and the excess electricity will light other facilities at Eagle's Nest.

This project is the latest among a number of ongoing initiatives which are intended to reduce and/or offset energy use at the resort.

Vail believes it has the largest ski area recycling program in the world, recycling or reusing more than 70 percent of the material on the mountain including cardboard, aluminium, glass and even chairlifts and mechanical parts.

Water efficient faucets and restrooms conserve almost two million gallons of water annually and compact fluorescent bulbs have already saved more than $25,000. Combined, the resort’s energy conservation efforts means the resort uses two million kilowatt hours of electricity less than it would have.