Eco-friendly ski resorts

If you opt for environmentally friendly access to the slopes by driving to Flaine from home, a) this is one of the closest resorts to Calais and b) if you’re going SUPER eco and driving to the slopes by electric car, you’ll find recharge points in Flaine Forum. Once you’ve parked up, the resort is built bang on the mountainside, SO close to the slopes that you won’t need wheels to get around – in fact, the whole resort’s completely traffic free which makes the air clear as can be. But that’s just the beginning when it comes to what makes this place so gloriously green (in eco terms of course – weather wise this place gets a whole lot of snow). The surrounding Grand Massif ski area was the first ski area ever to receive Green Globe certification. Everything runs on renewable energy. There’s even an Environmental Observatory that monitors local biodiversity, and once the ski season’s over they crack on with replanting to support local species.

Cars have never been allowed in Avoriaz, which keeps carbon emissions low and the air gorgeously clean. Everything seems to be done with efficiency in mind – from long life lighting to the way rooves are built to retain snow for insulation. The whole resort runs on biofuel, thanks to a dual energy wood heating system backed up by electric. Recycling bins are dotted all over the resort and ski area so you can deal with rubbish responsibly, and snowmobiles are electric powered. There’s even an eco snowpark, the STASH, built from fallen trees.

This is one of the most sustainable resorts on the planet according to Green Destinations – who only allowed one other American town into their latest ‘Top 100’. It holds the Golden Eagle Award too, and we’ll wager the accolades will continue to grow as the carbon emissions plummet. You’ll struggle to find a building without energy efficient lighting or a thorough recycling program and the whole place is committed to using renewable energy. New buildings are setting sky high standards in sustainability, like the Hotel Terra (one of the world’s best eco ski hotels) with its recycled structure, organic mattresses and campaign against plastic bottles.

With the Matterhorn looming over you every day, it’s hard not to muster some serious respect for Mother Nature. Green living’s no new thing here - Zermatt Bergbahnen AG starting fitting solar panels here at the turn of the millennium. The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise restaurant was the first building they used, then the Matterhorn Express station ten years later. In 2018, the 3S valley station joined the party to save an extra 23.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and it looks like the 3S mountain station will be next. Sulphur-free ‘eco speed’ diesel’s used for snow groomers and other vehicles, and when the lift system needs new cables, the old ones are sent to Myanmar and recycled to make bridges for remote communities. Flora and fauna isn’t forgotten, with renaturation projects on land that’s been damaged plus 6 protected forests and 10 wildlife sanctuaries to protect local species. That’s before we get to the village itself, which is deliciously car free – just whizzy electric taxis and buses and good old-fashioned horse drawn sleighs – as well as reachable completely by train for a really low carbon trip.

Car free since 1951 and fast approaching carbon-free status too, this ‘Energy Town’ is totally powered – village, ski lifts and all - by renewable hydroelectric energy. Electric buses and taxis take care of the transport side of things, though a lot of the resort’s accessible à pied. Cleaning the air even further, 250 wood-fired furnaces here have been fitted with particle filters in a campaign to make this the first ‘dust-free’ community in the Alps.

2018 saw Green Globe holder Serre Chev activate a masterplan to run entirely on renewable resources by 2021. It’s spiff­­­ingly set up to achieve its goal, with solar panels powered by the brilliant valley sunshine, wind turbines fuelled by the gusty mountain passes and hydropower from the water that goes into snowmaking. There are also plans to dematerialise ski passes which will save a whole lot of plastic.

Laax is FAR from lax when it comes to looking after the environment. This region set up the Greenstyle Foundation with the aim to be the first ever self-sufficient ski resort and the progress they’ve made’s more than admirable. All energy provided is renewable - sourced from photovoltaics (including solar panels on 5 ski lifts) and pellet heating systems. Any waste heat from ski lifts goes into warming buildings. Recycling’s huge here, from the bins on and off the mountain to creative upcycling - like the way event banners get made into rucksacks (you can bag one in Das Original). Water refill stations are plentiful and reusable coffee cups heavily encouraged. Lot of restaurants have switched to to using local produce – La Stalla exclusively so (try their homemade raclette) while Café NoName displays the carbon footprint of different dishes. Want to support the Greenstyle Foundation’s efforts? Treat yourself to a tipple from the Travelling Bar (which nicely plonks itself in the most scenic spot of the day) - a percentage of their profits goes towards the efforts.

When it comes to Kaprun’s Kitzsteinhorn glacier, ALL ski lifts run on renewable energy and any waste energy cleverly goes towards heating some of the surrounding buildings. Then there’s the snowmaking - pumps used to blast out the white stuff in the winter become turbines in the summer months, producing the power needed for next season’s snowmaking. Not stopping there, solar panels are being fitted onto existing buildings, while new architecture’s planned with efficiency in mind. Projects are also working on recultivating and revegetating the areas between the pistes.

Serial winner of ‘Canada’s Greenest Employer Award’, Whistler have a whole Mountain Planning and Environmental Resource team who work to keep environmental impact minimal. They’ve done a jolly good job thus far – the Fitzsimmons River Hydro Project installed a system under the PEAK 2 PEAK gondola that produces as much energy as Whistler uses. Energy usage is closely monitored, hybrid heating systems have been installed and thousands of lights switched to more efficient alternatives. Everything from cooking grease to broken ski poles gets recycled. They even practice sustainable ski trail design to look after local flora and fauna. Future goals include completely eradicating waste and carbon emissions - as Whistler does with all aspects of resort life, we’ve no doubt it’ll smash those targets and then some.

Nigh on perfect ski area - tick. Worldwide fame - tick. Incredible efforts to be eco-friendly? Tickety tick! All-star Aspen set off on its mission to eradicate emissions in 1997, before most resorts even knew what a carbon footprint was. 2015 saw it become the 3rd city in the states to be totally powered by renewable energy. The US Green Building Council made the mountaintop Sundeck Restaurant one of the first LEED (that’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings in the world, and now the Clubhouse at the Snowmass Club and Sams Smokehouse hold the same certification. There’s also the small matter of the resort having won the Golden Eagle Award for Overall Environmental Excellence a socking Excellence SEVEN TIMES OVER.