Stop Taking the Piste

Let’s face it, skiing isn’t green. It's mostly white, although less so every year of late. Traveling to a ski resort to be dragged to the top of a mountain on a ski lift, simply so that we can throw ourselves down a mountain again and again, is a pretty frivolous waste of the planet’s resources.

The dichotomy of skiing however is that for many of us it is our love of the natural environment and the mountain’s breath-taking views that draw us there in the first place. So what’s to be done? Do we have to have to pack our skis and boards away and say “well that was fun while it lasted but it’s over now, what’s next?” Well that might be one option but we believe there is another, combating global warming does not mean we all need to go and live in a cave and give up on everything we care about. It’s a question of responsibility.

You can still go skiing and be green, it means you have to do some offsetting and minimize your carbon output for as much of the time as you can, but with a bit of thought it can be done.

Meribel an Active Green Partner

As ski resorts go Meribel is pretty good. For example the entire 3 Valleys’ snow cannons, ski lifts and trail groomers use hydro-electric power which is entirely renewable. Recycling is mandatory in the resort; all radio relays are solar powered; piste cleaning parties are encouraged after the season ends; traffic reduction measures have been implemented. More can and should be done however. Skico of Aspen for example has shown other ski resorts the green way and achieved the ISO 14001 certification in 2004 for its environmental management. Meribel is however a great choice for the European green skier.

Useful Links: Save our Snow - Glacial Warming