This single most impactful thing you can do to minimise the carbon footprint of your ski trip is to travel by train, coach or carshare instead of flying. 

The AlpineExpress Pass incentives train travel to Morzine Avoriaz by offering a wide range of discounts in resort for those who have travelled there by train. Show your train ticket to Montagne Verte in this form to get your personalised PDF certificate that gets you discounts on your lift pass, ski rental, ski lessons and more. Find out more about this initiative here.

For those of you near London, Eurostar have brought back the Ski train from St Pancras to the heart of the Alps, with stops in Chambéry, Albertville, Moûtiers, Aime-La-Plagne, Landry and Bourg-Saint-Maurice. 

This graphic shows the results of a study for the french government by La Clusaz and Tignes ski resorts. It was translated for the UK ski market by Protect Our Winters UK (POW). The full French study is available here.

The COVID-19 Pandemic gave us a glimpse into a radically slowed world: flights grounded, commutes halted and tourism paused. And yet, global carbon emissions only fell by around 4-7% in 2020, a temporary dip which had neglible measurable impact on the rising concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere, even if this was the biggest annual emissions drop in recorded history. 

This highlights that individual behavioural changes alone - even on a global scale - aren't enough to stop climate change. Some will argue, therefore, that their actions don't matter. If shutting the whole world down in a pandemic doesn't make a difference then what does it matter if I fly every other month and eat beef every day? 

Because fighting climate change is not measured in a binary pass/fail outcome - the impact is played out on a spectrum. A solution does not need to be perfect in order for it to be helpful. 

We can all help as individuals by slowing the rate of change to help buy time as we aim for systemic transformation. Every fraction of a degree counts, and therefore every tool in the toolbox is valid - even if it doesn't fix the problem on it's own.

As a ski instructor, I see first hand the effects of climate change and in the short period of 15 years that I have been spending much of my time in the snow, I have already seen a clear and obvious change: The seasons are generally shorter, the snow line is generally higher and the amount of glacial retreat is shocking. In Chamonix for example, when finishing the Vallée Blanche, the distance between the sign posts of where the glacier level was in previous years is huge: the Mer de Glace glacier is receeding about 30 metres per year. That's almost half a kilometer since I became an instructor!

The climate crisis is scary and the stakes are existential - but collapse is not inevitable and there is much to be optimistic about. Renewable energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels in most of the world and scientific progress is accelerating. Solar and wind are the cheapest sources of new electricity generation in the majority of the world's energy markets, and battery storage costs have fallen by more than 80% in the past decade. Breakthroughs in clean tech, from carbon removal to low emission steel and green hydrogen, are emerging faster than most experts predicted, offering real hope for decarbonisation in the forseeable future. 

With all that in mind, I see doomerism and habitual pessimism as a big part of the problem - a narrative which discourages action and dissuades responsibility. A sad, negative mindset is less effective than empowered optimism. We don't need people to complain about the problem - we are far past the point of arguing about whether climate change is real or if is caused by human activity. Now we need to imagine a brighter future, to focus on solutions and to fight for every fraction of a degree with every option we have in the toolbox. 

Now I have got that rant off my chest - welcome to my webpage offering tangible actions and solutions that my audience of skiers and snowboarders can participate in. This is an ongoing project which I will continue building upon, and I welcome any feedback via [email protected]. 

Thanks, George