Is it Possible to Ski Without Ruining the Environment?

>From <www.commondreams.org>
Published on Monday, February 6, 2006 by the Independent / UK

Is it Possible to Ski Without Ruining the Environment?

As millions of us prepare to jet off to the slopes, many resorts are finally
taking responsibility for the fragile ecosystems they depend on. But, as
Simon Birch reports, it may be too little too late

With the Turin Winter Olympics kicking off on Friday, the world's media will
be focussing on the events and drama unfolding on the icy slopes of the
Italian Alps. As competitors try to smash as many world records as possible,
off camera the Games' organisers will be hoping that they themselves will
set a new record by staging the most environmentally-aware Winter Games
ever.

At the centre of the environmental programme are plans to offset all the
greenhouse gas emissions generated by the Games. "Climate change and
offsetting carbon dioxide emissions are high priorities for the Turin Winter
Games, especially as winter sports and climate change are closely
interrelated," says Ugo Pretato, head of environmental programmes at the
Games.

So far, environmental groups are cautiously optimistic that the Games'
organisers will achieve their goal. "They will not be the best possible
Games but will be much better than they could have been," says Sergio Savoia
from the WWF's Alpine Programme.

However, no Winter Olympics would ever receive a gold medal for its
environmental policies as, according to Savoia: "Skiing itself will always
have a large environmental impact."

>From the ski tourism-induced traffic pollution and increasing urban sprawl
of hotels and holidays homes in former Alpine villages to the visually
intrusive and habitat-wrecking ski lifts, the ski industry's environmental
record is in all honesty more a contender for the wooden spoon than any
Olympic medal.

Luckily, Europe's ski industry is waking up to its environmental
responsibilities - just in the nick of time. The spectre of global warming,
which has already pretty much seen off the Scottish ski industry, is now
stalking the Alps. Scientists have found that rising temperatures are
already leading to changes in snowfall patterns. "Alpine areas below 1,600m
are now receiving 20 per cent less snow," says Birgit Ottmer from the
Davos-based Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research.
This is bad news for Princes Charles, Wills and Harry, who'll find that
their favourite Swiss ski resort of Klosters, at just 1,300m, will soon be
surrounded by muddy fields in the depth of winter.

The long-term forecast is even bleaker. "Within 50 years all ski resorts
below 1,200m won't have a chance and will go out of business," says Michel
Revaz of the Liechtenstein-based Alpine conservation society Cipra. This
warning is setting off alarm bells right across Europe's lower-altitude ski
resorts, no more so than in Austria where 75 per cent of the ski lifts are
built below 1,000m.

The threat posed by global warming to the European ski industry is now being
felt right across the Alps. "The French ski industry is very worried for the
future as we are having less snow than we used to," admits Jean-Louis
Tuaillon, who oversees the pistes at Tignes, one of the many French resorts
which attract over a third of the one million British skiers and boarders
who head to the Alps every winter.

To try to prevent financial meltdown resorts are increasingly having to rely
on making their own snow. In Switzerland, for example, prior to 1990 the
making of artificial snow was unheard of. Now more than 10 per cent of Swiss
ski areas have to use snow cannons, and over in lower-lying Austria and
Italy more than 40 per cent of ski areas need to make their own snow.
"Practically no ski area can now survive without artificial snow; you'd face
great difficulties if you didn't have it," says Marika Zanoletti of the
Davos Klosters Ski Company.

Apart from being hugely expensive to make, though, artificial snow causes
long-term damage to the vegetation on the slopes on which it is made. Plus,
all resorts now machine-grade their slopes, effectively destroying all the
Alpine vegetation, which can take more than 30 years to recover.

The only option open to resorts apart from snow-making is to build their way
out of trouble by developing facilities as high up mountains as possible to
escape the heat, and to include access to nearby glaciers. Even this
strategy, though, isn't without its problems. As resorts expand their
operations up the mountains, they'll increasingly come into conflict with
wildlife regulations. For many threatened species of plants and animals
these remote mountain tops are literally their last stronghold and are often
protected by national park status.

Already the Austrian ski industry has succeeded in getting the local
authorities in the Tyrol region to lift the ban on ski lifts in a protected
area, thereby opening the door to skiing at 3,500m on the Gepatsch glacier.
Building ski facilities close to a glacier, though, is no guarantee for a
snow-sure future. Since 1850, Europe's glacial area has reduced by almost
half, with the prediction that by the end of the century, most of Europe's
glaciers will have melted away. Last spring the Swiss resort of Andermatt
hit the headlines when it attempted to save its glacier from melting during
the summer by wrapping it in a vast blanket of insulating PVC.

Alarmingly, two years ago the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche
Research was commissioned by two Swiss ski resorts to investigate the
melting of the Alpine permafrost, that frozen portion of the ground that
binds the Alpine slopes together. The evidence that melting was indeed
happening was so shocking that the resorts forbade the centre from
disclosing it for fear of scaring away their tourists.

In the face of this avalanche of dire warnings, the good news is that
despite the fact that climate change has more to do with humanity's global
activities than the impact of skiers and boarders whizzing down the slopes,
an increasing number of ski resorts, tour operators and other members of the
winter sports industry are looking at ways to minimise the impact of skiing
on the mountain environment.

The Respect the Mountain campaign was launched last year by the Ski Club of
Great Britain in response to the looming climate change crisis now facing
the industry. A key feature of the campaign is the Ski Club's pioneering
on-line guide to the environmental record of more than 200 ski resorts
worldwide.

Information is provided on a wide range of environmental issues including a
resort's policy on recycling, renewable energy and climate-change. "By
providing skiers and boarders with an environmental guide, we hope to drive
up standards by highlighting the resorts that are doing a lot to preserve
the environment, as well as those that aren't doing much," says the Ski
Club's chief executive Caroline Stuart-Taylor. "We hope that this guide will
educate skiers, boarders and the snowsports industry."

A similiar initiative aimed at raising environmental awareness within the
North American winter sports industry was launched in the United States in
2002. Run jointly by the National Ski Areas Association and the Natural
Resources Defense Council, Keep Winter Cool is supported by more than 300
ski resorts across the US. "Global warming is a key environmental issue and
a bottom line issue for the $3bn ski industry and its employees," says NSAA
president Michael Berry.

Leading the US ski industry in environmental innovation is the Aspen Ski
Company. For the past six years it has been implementing environmental
policies on its slopes and has so far scooped up more than 30 awards for its
efforts. "The fight against climate change is the single biggest organising
principle behind everything that we do in all our environmental programmes,"
says Auden Schendler, director of environmental affairs at the Aspen Ski
Company, which sources five per cent of its energy from wind power and runs
its piste-bashers on bio-diesel. "If we don't address climate change issues
then we're screwed."

Back in the UK, Betony Garner from Ski Club believes that there's little
doubt that climate change is a reality. "Skiers and boarders are some of the
first people to see the impact of climate change. Unless we do something
now, the mountains that we love may not be the same for our grandchildren."
10 ways to be a greener skier

* Take the train. Flying to your resort is environmental madness as the
plane's CO2 emissions will directly threaten the future of your favourite
resort. www.raileurope.co.uk/skitrains/

* Slash your own CO2 emissions. When you're not on the slopes help reduce
global warming by making simple lifestyle changes such as switching to a
renewable electricity company and improving the energy efficiency of your
house. www.good-energy.co.uk; www.est.org.uk

* Choose an environmentally aware resort. By supporting resorts that take
their environmental responsibilities seriously, you're sending out a
powerful message to the winter sports industry. www.respectthemountain.com;
www.skiareacitizens.com

* Use local public transport. Help cut local pollution and congestion in
Alpine valleys by not hiring a car. Resorts often offer tourists free rides
on local buses and trains.

* Keep litter off the slopes. At high altitude orange peel can take up to
two years to break down and cigarette butts up to five. Use recycling
facilities. If there aren't any, ask why not.

* Offset your carbon emissions. If you choose to fly then reduce the
environmental damage by offsetting the CO2 emissions. www.climatecare.org

* Consider another winter sport. Ski touring, cross country skiing and
snow-shoeing are all great winter activities which crucially have minimal
environmental impact. www.responsibletravel.com

* Encourage environmental responsibility within the winter sports industry.
Ask your tour operator if they have a written environmental policy; if they
don't, ask why not.

* Respect the mountain habitat and wildlife. Off-piste skiing and boarding
can cause massive disturbance to local wildlife. Find out the best places to
go to minimise impact.

* Choose a small resort. Larger resorts such as those in the Trois Valles in
France have the financial clout to build higher into ecologically sensitive
areas. Smaller resorts such as Bad Ragaz in Switzerland cannot afford to
expand up the mountain.

© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited