The Environmental impact of the ski industry: What do you think?

Ryno

Ryno

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I'm curious as to the general NS consensus on how 'green' they think their sport is. Does the ski industry have any effects on the local natural environments they are located near? Is skiing better then most sports? Worse?

Lemme hear your thoughts
 
I don't really feel like it is addressed as much as it should be, which sucks, but hopefully that will changed over the next half-decade or so
 
I feel like no one has the correct knowledge to answer with a good argument to this topic.

That being said, IMO, skiing could be cleaner, i mean we use power, generated by various different sources, to take us up a hill and ski down a mountain. I feel like the mountain itself isn't effected that much as long as the resort is ethical. I'm not sure what would be a good sport to compare it to, but say snowmobiling. Sure you're not using power like a ski lift, but you're ripping around wildlife burning fuel and giving off pollution.

As for ski equipment production I really have no idea how "clean" that is.
 
I want to get a really big truck to haul around the two stroke I want to get, then drive up to the hill, accelerating really quickly, and generally driving fast, so I can race around on my two stroke, and ski about 1/3 of the time.

But really I do.
 
Skiing has an incredibly large impact on the environment. It is ironic, because so much of what we do is improved by and depends on a healthy environment.

As mentioned above fuel and energy uses are huge for ski resorts. The chair lifts, facilities, grooming, snowmaking, everything takes lots of energy. Furthermore, ski resorts are built in sensitive environments, many of which are the same environments people are trying to protect most heavily. Large amounts of people in the mountains is obviously bad for wildlife.

Commuting to ski areas is a huge impact. Not only from emissions, but from deposits left on roads that are washed into streams, and the roads that we use to access ski areas fragment large areas of natural environment.

I would say that the impact on the environment of backcountry skiing is far lower than resort skiing, and furthermore, of all forms of backcountry travel and recreation, skiing and other wintersports have the least negative impact on the environment because the landscape is in essence protected by the snowpack. Snowmobiling is probably not nearly as bad dirtbiking or, you could argue even mountainbiking in terms of soil degradation, but the fuel burned and the noise are absoulutely devastating to the environment.
 
the only positive thing i can think of is that string of resorts that are wind powered. forget which ones. but yeah other than that cats and lifts use a lot of fuel.
 
i understand that mountains have a significant impact on the environment, but think about the tourist they bring in and from how far people drive every weekend to get to these resorts, i know TONS of people that drive from 200+ miles away every weekend to get to their resort, now tell me that doesn't affect the environment either....
 
really really really small compared to the others, but a shitload of people litter when they ski. i ski by the trees and theres wrappers and bottles and shit everywhere. but thats is so tiny in comparison to all the other things said that i dont even know why im saying it
 
ok its good to see that there are people out here who care about the environment. i was thinking(its kind of stupid). but how about trying to use the polymer sodium polyacrylate. When you add water to it, it expands extremely and makes fake snow. The problem is that it doesn't stick too well together. But it is cold to touch, and it dosnt take much water to make it. just check it out.
=related
 
I think the sense of pride we have in our local mountains definitely helps impact the way we treat them and hopefully contributes to balancing the detrimental aspects of our sport.
 
Im going dual major at UVM for Recreation Management and Environmental science....and if you think about it....there has to be a way to make lifts/snowmaking equipment/etc at least a little bit more efficient, along with brining more sources of alternative energy to resorts. Turning Resorts more towards recycling would also be a great step towards the "greening" of the indsutry
I also think ski resorts need to make sure they are doing good green forestry practices when they are clearing glades and forming new trails and what not. Selective cutting among other things will make sure the forests/mountain habitats stay healthy.
 
Can anyone comment on if their local hills are doing anything about their environmental impact? how do they address it? How are they measuring/assessing the problem areas?
 
This is why i really want to ski more backcountry. I do, however, try my hardest to cut down on my own impact on and off the mountain: i carpool to the moutain, bring my own food, recycle any bottles i buy at the mountain, and when im in glades i try to avoid killing little trees with my skis
 
So there is a big issue with hills green-washing weak policies to use as advertising fodder? Can anyone else comment on things like this?

 
I know this exists outside of the industry, I'm just trying to find out what peoples impressions and experiences within our industry show though.
 
i know holiday valley uses vegitable oil (or some other biodegradable oil) in their groomers rather than hydraulic fluid... probably the same case for most mountains
 
As much as it would be an eyesore, I firmly believe that there are areas along mountain ridgetops that they should build wind generators. I know along the Sierra Nevada Crest, it can be a constant gale-hurricane force wind (ward peak at alpine meadows has an all time avg. wind speed of like 50mph or something ridiculous, and rises to 120mph during winter storms.)

They have the ability now to make them strong enough to withstand really heavy winds, and they can make the rotors slow enough as to not kill millions of birds.

Every day I go to work/class I look across the river here and see a giant windfarm (montezuma hills, california) that has the most up-to-date wind generators..

I could only imagine if they harnessed some of the power on mountain ridgetops.. it could be staggeringly high, and lead to less use of Natrual gas burning plants, if not only use them during peak times.
 
I think it would be cool if resorts, especially those in colorado along I-70 provided a bus service at very low fees to shuttle people to the resorts on weekends. It would reduce pollution and traffic on I 70.
 
i can't speak on the half of the validity of this but park city claims that all its 6 person lifts (i believe there are about 3-4) are run on wind energy. I also noticed in the bathrooms of the main lodge (not sure about all bathrooms) have waterless urinals and little signs that claim how much better it is for the environment.

i wouldn't be the least bit surprised of this was just a good marketing scheme aimed at the type of folks that are attracted to PC but a good direction to head nonetheless.
 
nobody has really said anything about lights either,

here on the east coast, night skiing is popular and 3/4 of the slopes at my hill are lit. the thing is, when they shutdown at night, they leave every light on, all night! we have a cabin 8 miles from two separate ski resorts and each one illuminates a section of the sky like a thousand spotlights pointed up. it has to be the largest waste i have ever seen.
 
HAHAHAHAHA

I laugh at this because that would absolutely require money from taxes, or the government in order to subsidize and provide it at low fees.

You are the last person on here that i know that would be chill with that right now..

 
If you read his post he said something along the lines "resorts should provide bus service" Not tax payers or government. It would probably cause a small increase in ticket prices. Many large resorts have free mass transit and encourage carpooling neither of which are government subsidized.
 
This fall I decided to do a water quality analysis at my local hill in Wisconsin for my AP Environmental Science Class. Basically I took three water samples; one from the retaining pond at the bottom of the hill where they draw all of their snowmaking water, one from the Baraboo River which runs just below the hill, and one from a wetland area less than a 1/4 mile away,right across the interstate. My data showed no effects on the wetland (Leopold Wetland Management District). There was some variation in the quality of the water at the retaining pond and the Baraboo river, but I couldn't draw any conclusions because the water could have been contaminated by some of the surrounding agriculture.

So, I guess you could say this is proof that one ski hill is not directly harming any aquatic ecosystems. I was very pleased to see no alarming results. Anyone who is interested in reading my actual paper can PM me and I would be more than happy to send it to you... it's only like 8 pages long.
 
Have you ever thought about all the additional cat hours from building your precious terrain parks?
Also, since everybody is only talking about the resorts, have you noticed the "Made in China" stickers on new skis from big companies.
 
sure this is true,

but consider this

A boeing 747 can use up to 2 million litres of jet fuel, similar to diesel as far as enviromental effect goes in one flight. And think of how many more jet there are flying, than snow cats driving. Sure ski hills aren't super environmental friendly, but it's better than some other tourism industries. And the taxes that ski hills pay go towards government research into more green ways to power a ski hill.
 
What about the effects on the local animal ecosystems. Do resorts effect animal distribution patterns?
 
Skiing is not green...well at ski centers. But in the back country, when you walk up to get the fresh pow, its not as bad.

I just dont feel like arguing about it
 
I'm not looking to argue this time :P

I just wanna hear opinions and reasons for both sides (like how it compares to other sports impacts).
 
Yes of course. Resorts have a huge effect on animal ecosystems, especially on mammals, because the animals are afraid of humans. Most all resorts I have been to, you can find animal tracks in the snow in the morning all over the mountain, but you rarely see them during the day, part of this has to do with feeding patterns, but still, more animals would chill on the slopes if there weren't snowcats, sleds and skiers everywhere.

Some ski resorts try to preserve highly sensitive areas (or are forced to). Vail is a good example of this. Basically that whole little chain of hills is all completely developed, except for one bowl area, Mushroom, which has been identified as a potential Lynx habitat. Vail has done a good job, IMO, of clearly marking this and trying to prevent people from poaching.

A clarification about Wind Energy for those who are not aware. No resorts, to my knowledege, actually run on wind power. There might be a one, or a few on the East Coast, but I doubt it. The way the system works in Colorado is that basically there is one utility company for the majority of the state. They purchase power from individual coal plants, hydro stations, and wind farms, whatever. Then, they sell the electricity to the consumer. Now, when companies like Vail, or New Belgium, which are Colorado companies claim they are "wind powered," they aren't directly receiving their energy from wind. They are simply buying energy off of Excel's grid, but buying what are called Wind Credits, which suggest that you are getting energy from wind. Basically, the consumer pays a few cents extra per Kilowatt-Hour to say they are "wind powered". Better than nothing, but slightly midleading, in my opinion.
 
Skiing is not good for the environment at all. Lift accessed is extremely wasteful.

The only true benefit is that it may make some more respectful of nature and look at other ways to be "good" to the environment.
 
I have no idea if the ski industry is bad for the environment, but if it is I feeel as though skiers make up for it. As a whole I see most skiers as pretty green, and hopefully each skier is environmentally aware enough that they can help cover up the footprint left by the industry.
 
skiing is wasteful, not unlike everything else our world does. Options to be efficient would be using solar power (Aspen's Save Our Snow campaign) or use wind power to run resorts. These are two great options that have no setbacks other than initial cost.
 
this is true, the only explanation is to try and change humanities thinking. We are fighting ourselves
 
i believe the ski industry needs to look into greener ways. especially with making products- think about all of the plastic ski boots out there. insane. and skis and resorts as well. its nice to see some resorts taking matters into their own hands and focusing on being more clean.

also- ski wax. that shit needs to be looked into more. i know there are some better waxes out there for the environment, but that needs to be more widespread for sure
 
ethica wax.

it's non-carcinogenic and bio degradable.

when looking into ski wax you will find that that shit is pretty fucked.
 
Edward Abby talks about the"ideology of the cancer cell" in his books. I think you would like them (Desert Solitare, The Monkey Wrench Gang, Heyduke Lives).

Ski areas are horrible for the environment. Getting to them is inefficient. Boots, bindings, skis all use lots of plastic, a petroleum derivative. Epoxy is nasty. Lots of waste is generated when making skis. The processed used to make waterproof fabrics are also not friendly, much less the feet of cotton that everyone is layering on in tall tees.

Skiing is not good for the planet, no matter how you look at it. But if you are off touring the bc and avoiding lifts (which I personally should do more of), then you are doing something.

 
Im stoked that companies are messing around with Bamboo. I havent riden them/or even know anyone that has so Im not sure how they ride, but its a start.

[SHAMELESS PRODUCT PLUG] We plant a tree for every hat, and hats arent nearly as profitable as some of the big ticket items in skiing, so it would be sweet if other companies made some sort of donations to helping out the big picture. [/END PLUG]
 
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