Responsible Ski Etiquette

As far as eco-holidaying goes, skiing doesn’t exactly spring to mind as the way forward. However, as popularity continues to grow for this adrenaline fuelled sport we found some pointers to show you how you can reduce your environmental impact if you do decide to take a ski holiday.

Train Up – Taking the train instead of flying can cut your carbon dioxide emissions to around a third. Check out these websites for more information about using the train to travel to various European destinations - www.raileurope.com and www.eurostar.com/ski (this one is specifically for the French Alps).

Check Green Credentials – We have printed some information about this in a previous blog, however there are also good guide books (Where to Ski and Snowboard) that can be good at identifying greener resorts. If you are travelling to the states they have a Sustainable Slopes campaign that various resorts are signed up to, so look out for those that are.

Study the piste map – Whilst you may not think that the piste you chose will have an environmental impact you’d be wrong. Those adrenaline fuelled slops that go straight from the top of the mountain to the bottom have the potential to be an ecological disaster, due to runoff and erosion. So, if you want ot be a responsible skier take longer S-bend shaped slopes that keep runoff from going straight downhill.

Keep yourself to yourself on the chairlift – Don’t be tempted to entertain yourself by smoking, calling friends or check your map. This may seem like a stupid idea but resorts that carry out end-of-season clean-up find all kinds of dropped litter under chairlift paths, so we think better to do all that at the top or the bottom when you have less chance of losing things.

Make enquiries – ask your ski firm what its environmental policy is and if it doesn’t have one, ask why.

We are yet to find a Travelroots ski holiday, but why not check out our guidelines for how to conduct other forms of responsible travel by clicking here.