Environmental Resorts - Where Even the Black Runs are Green

2008-07-24 12:21:19

In recent times, climate change has come to the forefront of the collective consciousness. Thanks to people such as Al Gore, the general population is more aware than ever of its environmental footprint. This is evident when you flip open snowboarding magazines which cover the subject more and more. Granted, snow sports enthusiasts, and thus snowboarders, have a particular interest in preventing changes in climate (especially with regards to warming trends or changes in precipitation; we like cold and we like snow). I've already written about what snowboarders can do individually to lessen their impact via their purchasing power. There's one thing, however, that affects all snowboarders regardless of brand allegiance and that is that all of us need a place to ride. So what are the resorts doing to help us keep winters cool?

Most ski resorts are run as “for-profit” institutions. Traditionally this meant that allocating money to more ecological initiatives, which would often adversely affect the bottom line, were never considered. Many of the resorts now realize, however, that their business is intimately tied to the climate so many are starting to invest in greening their operations. In 2000, the National Ski Area Association (NSAA) started the Sustainable Slopes initiative to help these resorts identify ways to reduce their overall environmental footprint and implement policies and initiatives to follow through on these savings.

The Green Power Program is one part of the NSAA's Sustainable Slopes initiative. It is a voluntary program that encourages its members to offset the carbon footprint of their operations. For its part, the NSAA is facilitating a group purchase of green power for its members under the umbrella of the Sustainable Slopes and Keep Winter Cool initiatives. In total, in 2007, 68 resorts in the United States and Canada were recognized by the NSAA for their participation in this program. A complete and up to date list of the participating resorts is available on the NSAA website.

I Have the Power

Although ski resorts are major consumers of power, their impact on the environment goes far beyond just the carbon emitted to generate it. Ski resorts use water for snowmaking, affect wildlife and vegetation in their areas, and produce a significant amount of waste. These are all addressed by the Environmental Charter of the Sustainable Slopes initiative. Many resorts are endorsing this charter.

The charter encourages ski areas to go “beyond compliance” by proposing principles that go beyond existing federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations. These principles provide guidelines for:

• Planning, design and construction
• General operations, which includes water quality and wastewater management
• Energy conservation and clean energy for use in snowmaking, facilities, lifts and transportation
• Waste Management
• Fish and Wildlife protection
• Forest and vegetative management
• Wetlands and riparian areas (I.e. minimize and mitigate the impact on these areas)
• Air quality
• Visual quality (who doesn't like a pretty ski resort?)
• Transportation
• Education and outreach

These are meant to provide guidance for ski areas on how to achieve good environmental stewardship and are not meant to be a list of requirements that must be applied in every situation. The NSAA recognizes that some areas may wish to endorse these principles but may be limited in their ability to make progress in all of the areas addressed.

The good news is that this program seems to be working. An annual report is published every year by the NSAA which summarizes the accomplishments of the members who endorse the charter. A few notable accomplishments in 2007 include:

Aspen, Colorado

Aspen installed a 10.6 kilowatt solar array on employee housing. This will reduce their dependency on electricity generated from non-renewable resources.

Crystal Mountain, Washington

Crystal Mountain has reduced its electricity consumption by 120,000 kilowatt hours to save the equivalent of 726,359 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually, or the equivalent of planting 29,000 acres of trees.

Park City, Utah

The resort is currently working on a refrigeration initiative that will use the ambient temperature of the outside air to cool walk-in refrigeration systems when possible instead of using air compressors to cool them.

Sugar Bowl, California

For the third year, Sugar Bowl purchased 100 percent of energy from renewable energy wind farms. This purchase of 4,272 megawatt hours of electricity kept 4,588,000 pounds of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. The governator is breathing easier already.

Tremblant, Quebec

Looking to the future, Tremblant plans to integrate a green roof on its new village-to-village gondola (relaying the actual village to the Versant Soleil), which will open in December 2008. Now I can buy my poutine in the village and bring it to Versant Soleil without the guilty conscious.

Whistler/Blackomb, British Columbia

Whistler has hired consultants to study the viability of using onmountain creeks for energy production through turbines. They should also look into harnessing the energy of party goers at Garf's.

This list is by no means thorough or complete, I would suggest consulting the annual report to get a more detailed picture of the environmental snowboarding landscape. Even this report, however, will not provide a complete picture since resorts are announcing new initiatives on what seems to be a weekly basis of late. Recently, it was reported that Kirkwood was partnering with its utility provider, Mountain Utilities, to aggressively pursue the installation of renewable energy resources in the Kirkwood Valley, and that Mt. Buller is now making snow from recycled waste water.

What Can You Do?

Knowing that resorts are putting in this effort to encourage a strong environmental ethic is very comforting. Individuals who are concerned with these issues should be sure to lend their support to these organisations by offering their patronage to them whenever possible. If resorts who don't endorse the Environmental Charter of the Sustainable Slopes initiative start losing business to those that do, they might be more inclined to make the necessary changes to reduce their ecological footprint. Ski resorts who endorse this charter should be considered as leaders and hopefully all resorts will follow in their footsteps.

So keep this in mind the next time you plan a snowboarding getaway. The decision you make may affect not only how much fun you have now, but also how much fun you have in the future. So pack up your sustainable snowboard gear, purchase offsets for your flight, and pile into your low emissions car and let the good times roll.

Categories: Snowboarding, Environment | 0 Comments

Summer Shred Experience - New Zealand, South America, South Africa?

2008-07-19 07:44:40

For many of us living in the northern hemisphere, summer snowboarding evinces thoughts of glacier riding in Whistler or Hood, or trips to New Zealand, Chile or Argentina. Of course many other summer shred destinations do exist. One that surprised me was South Africa.

Tiffindell ski resort is located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Nestled in the Drakensberg mountain range (Dragon's mountain), it is the only ski resort in sub Saharan Africa. It is actually located on Ben McDhui peak which is the highest peak in the Eastern Cape province at 3001m (9843 feet) above sea level. The resort itself is located at 2720m (8922 feet), however, so the total vertical available is only 281m (921 feet). The resort spans 2.3 hectares of ride-able terrain which is serviced by a snow making capacity which can blast 120,000 litres of water per hour. That's apparently enough to cover the main slope with 20cm of snow in 24 hours. The terrain consists of three slopes as well as a terrain park so you can get your jump and jib on. The winter ski season runs from the middle of May to the beginning of September.

For most people, the idea of snow in Africa seems like a foreign concept (like out of this world foreign). The Drakensberg mountain range, however, sees regular snow falls in the winter. On the tops of some of the mountains, the temperatures have been known to plunge below -20 degrees celcius (-4 Fahrenheit). In some places, snow has also been observed in the summer; Cathedral Peak Hotel, one of the most popular resorts in the Drakensberg, has experienced a white Christmas. Tiffendell, will receive as much as 250cm of snow in a good ski year. When supplemented with their crazy gladiator snow making on steroids, a good base is not out of the realm of possibilities.

The Scene

Until looking into Tiffindell ski resort, I had no idea South Africa even had a snowboarding scene, much less competitive snowboarders. Snow Sports South Africa is the development organisation for their national snowboard team. Their big star seems to be Bart Czarnecki who has been competing for South Africa since 2005. In this short period of time, Bart has represented South Africa at two World Championships. At the 2007 FIS Snowboard World Championships held in Arosa (Switzerland) he finished a respectable 47th place in the parallel giant slalom. Bart is currently training to represent South Africa at the 2010 winter games in Vancouver.

At the local scale, Tiffindell will be hosting the South African National Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Championships at the end of the month. Sponsored by Quiksilver South Africa Quiksnow will be going down from July 28th through to July 30th. Now in its fifteenth edition, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it before. The event will be filmed by Boardrider TV which is a popular local boardriding television program.

This recent discovery of snowboarding in Africa has been an interesting and enlightening happenstance. I have a general road-map of where I want my snowboarding to take me: Alaska, Andorra, Kashmir, Argentina. I guess every once in a while, I learn something that requires a slight rework of that road-map. Perhaps South Africa will find its way onto it. Although likely not the gnarliest place I'd ever go shred, it would certainly be one of the more interesting. One thing that comes to mind is that, if other peaks in the Drakensberg also get snow, what are the possibilities of backcountry lines in South Africa? Food for thought.

Categories: Snowboarding, Travel | 0 Comments

Daily Flights to Mammoth - how does mother nature feel about it?

2008-07-16 11:04:28

On July 14th, Horizon Air announced that they would be offering daily flights from Los Angeles to Mammoth Mountain for the 2008/2009 winter sports season starting December 18th through to April 12th, 2009. The one-hour-and-five-minute flight departs Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) daily at 2:20 p.m. and arrives at Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH) at 3:25 p.m. The return flight leaves Mammoth at 4:05 p.m. and arrives at LAX at 5:10 p.m.

“Winter sports enthusiasts, can you smell the powder? Horizon is now providing a quick and convenient way to access this world-class recreation area,” said Dan Russo, Horizon’s vice president of marketing and communications. “Instead of a drive of five hours or more, you’ll be able to take a 65-minute flight, arriving in Mammoth in time for a relaxing dinner before hitting the slopes the next day.” Clearly this a 65-minute flight, from a travel perspective, is much more appealing than a five hour drive so yes indeed, I can smell the powder. The question is: can the powder smell the jet fuel? What exactly will this new non-stop flight mean from a carbon footprint point of view?

The good news about the Horizon flight is that it will be serviced by Bombardier Q400 aircraft. This is a 74/76-seat, high-speed, twin-engine, turboprop which Bombardier boasts to be 30 percent more efficient than comparable jets. According to the Q400's website, the Q400 will emit approximately 5000kg of CO₂ in a flight of 500 nautical miles (nm). Some quick math reveals that on the 255 mile flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Mammoth Yosemite (MMH), approximately 2200 kg of CO₂ will be emitted. Assuming the plane has 75 passengers (the average between the 74 and 76 seater), this is approximately 29 kg of CO₂ per passenger.

Road Trip!

Now that the carbon footprint of a flight to Mammoth is known, it's time to see what that footprint would be for a drive. According to the Carbon Rationing Action Groups, 1 litre of petrol (regular unleaded gas) will emit 2.3 kg of CO₂. If this is converted to US gallons, 1 gallon of fuel, when burned, will emit approximately 8.7 kg of CO₂. Assume you were to arrive in Los Angeles and rent a small car for the drive to Mammoth. Using an average fuel economy rating of 30 mpg (according to EPA statistics) the 307 mile trip would emit approximately 89 kg of CO₂. If you decided to rent a Prius with an average fuel economy of 46 mpg, the trip would emit 58.06 kg of CO₂. Los Angeles is far from Mammoth geographically, however, it would probably be better to drive from Reno instead which is only 165 miles away. In this case, the carbon footprint for the trip would be 47 kg for a small car, 31 for a Prius.

Fly or Drive?

It would seem that, in this case, flying actually offers a smaller carbon footprint than driving, however, the emissions of a plane are known to be more severe since they are emitted directly into the troposphere. According to the Carbon Rationing Action Groups, a multiplier of approximately 2.7 must be applied to the emissions of planes to account for these effects (such as the creation of O₃). Once this multiplier is factored in, the case for the drive from Reno becomes much more appealing (assuming you're not an LA resident).

This analysis is by no means complete. Although the emissions statistics for the Q400 are accurate for 500 nautical miles, the translation to the 255 mile trip from L.A. to Mammoth was a strict linear interpolation. This is incorrect because most of the fuel is burned on takeoff and landing so the actual emissions will probably be far more than 2200 kg. The analysis is also based on the assumption that the plane is full (let's not forget that this is a daily flight and that 2200 kg of CO₂ will be emitted whether or not there are 75 people on the plane). Potential savings from car-pooling are also ignored. The important thing to remember is that it's not always straight forward to figure out the most ecological way to shred the gnar. The ideal would be to take a train, however, it doesn't seem as though Amtrak has service to Mammoth.

So if you find yourself trying to decide how best to get to Mammoth this winter, from outside of California with other traveling companions, consider driving from Reno. Otherwise, carbon offsets on a daily flight from L.A. are probably the way to go. The important thing is to have fun when you get there and hope that, through a little math, you'll continue to be able to have fun there in the future.

References

• Ask Umbra: Driving vs. Flying
• Atmospheric effects of aircraft emissions

Categories: Snowboarding, Environment, Nerdiness, Travel | 0 Comments

Tracker DTS - Gear Review

2008-07-11 19:06:56

It seems that every time I go to Sunshine Village in Alberta these days, and want to take a run down the Delirium Dive, I can never find another person in my group who owns an avalanche transceiver. This being one of the restrictions for accessing the Dive kinda makes things a bit difficult. In order to avoid this situation in the future, I decided to get a second avalanche transceiver. This has two benefits: the first is that my friends will no longer have any excuse to not follow me down the dive the next time we're in Sunshine, and the second is that I can now practice my search technique on my own during the off-season. This should be an added encouragement for my friends wanting to follow me since I'll be well practiced at finding them if something goes wrong.

The transceiver I decided on purchasing is the Tracker DTS by Backcountry Access. I ordered the beacon from the Backcountry Safety store, which is based in Canada, saving me from having to pay import duties. The reason I chose the Tracker DTS is because it is thought to be one of, if not the, easiest transceiver to use. If this claim proves to be true, this will be a perfect backup avalanche beacon as it should not take long to teach even the most novice of adventurer how to use it.

Unpacking

The Tracker DTS comes with a harness, batteries (which surpised me), and an owner's manual. The manual for the Tracker includes a short reference on basic avalanche awareness and a quick reference page of the transceiver's functionality which, theoretically, can be detached and kept with you when you're in the backcountry. This may be useful for circumstances where, in a panic, your mind goes blank. The avalanche awareness section is a simple bullet list of things to remember and is by no means adequate unless you're traveling with someone more experienced.

The search procedure described in the quick reference is broken down into three parts: the primary/signal search, the secondary search, and the pinpoint search. Each is describe in four to five sentences. The quick reference also has a brief overview on performing a multiple burial search.

In addition to the manual, the Backcountry Access website provides animated demos on the use of the Tracker DTS. There's even an interactive demo where you can guide the Tracker around using your mouse to try and locate a buried victim. All of this is no substitute for practicing with the actual device, however, and that is one of the reasons why I bought it.

Construction

The tracker is well put together. The display is LED based which makes its susceptibility to damage from shock very low. The LED display is also recessed into the case so if something smashes the covering, the display will probably continue to work (although if it's smashed, you're probably under snow and not so much concerned about the display as the transmission antenna).

The on button is of the push-twist variety with a colour indicator. Vertical/red means off, horizontal/green means on. The action of the button is very stiff, at least currently, so chances that the transceiver be turned off when jostled are pretty minimal.

The battery door on this transceiver is very solid. It requires a screwdriver (or as I have discovered, a house key) to open it via the lock screw. Once the batteries are in and the door is closed, you can be confident that the batteries will stay where they are while, god forbid, you're being bounced down the mountain at 150km/h by a wayward slab of snow. Just make sure that the lock screw is tightened all the way when you change the batteries, however, otherwise the battery door will have some give and will not stay fully closed. This could lead to a situation where the top-most battery loses its connection with the contacts turning your potentially life saving device into a talisman of cruel irony.

Operation

The tracker is, as advertised, very easy to use. The only button you really need to know about is the big red one in the middle. You press and hold it to put the Tracker into search mode. You press it again to put it into receive mode. So easy, George Jetson can do it.

The only other button is the options button. While in search mode, if you press and hold this down, it will turn off the beeping sound that you hear as you pick up other signals. This button also allows you to use the special search mode for situations of multiple burials. This feature is only really useful for experts.

One feature that I find is missing on the Tracker, which exists on my Ortovox, is a test mode. This is useful for ensuring that everyone's transceiver is working properly before heading out into the backcountry. Although in reality, this test can be easily done by switching the transceiver into search mode to see if everyone else's beacon can be detected. It just means that you'll have to contend with more lights and beeping and whatnot.

Overall Impression

The Tracker DTS lives up to claims that it is easy to use. Its solid construction also ensures that it will survive many adventures. One disadvantage with the construction, however, is a lack of tactile feedback for the "Mode" and "Options" buttons. Even without a glove on, it's sometimes difficult to tell if the button is actually being pressed down. This would be even more difficult when wearing gloves or when your fingers have frozen because you took your gloves off because you couldn't tell if you were pressing the button. The good news is that the occasions where you absolutely need to press them are infrequent. You must hold the "Mode" button down for a few seconds to first put the transceiver in "Search" mode, and press it once every five minutes or so to keep it from reverting back to "Transmit" mode (if the auto-revert feature has been enabled).

So if you're in the market for an avalanche transceiver, definitely consider the Tracker DTS. Whether your an experienced backcountry traveler, or a green novice, its ease of use will definitely mitigate the stress of finding your imperiled friends.

Categories: Snowboarding, Gear | 0 Comments