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Peak Retreats operate holidays to very beautiful
places in the French Alps and we want to keep them
this way. We also believe in acting responsibly to
preserve the environment where we can.
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Peak Retreats only operates holidays to the French
Alps. This means that:
1. As the French Alps is the closest major ski area
from the UK, travel distances and therefore CO2
emissions are kept to the minimum.
2. Travelling to France and the French Alps can be
done by land transport ie. car via ferry/Eurotunnel
or train. These are the most environmentally friendly
ways to travel.
3. France is, very much like the UK, an
environmentally aware country. Recycling is
widespread (an amazing 17 Billion carrier bags are
issued in the UK each year so do bring some with you
as you won’t find these issued in French
supermarkets)
4. France is famous for its food and wine. Most of
the food, fruits & vegetables available locally
come from within the country, therefore avoiding
damaging carbon emitting imports.
At the same time:
We don’t book flights for clients. We only
arrange ground transport so that you can minimise
your carbon foot print.
We don’t tend to offer all inclusive packages
as we prefer to stimulate the local economy in the
resorts we feature. In nearly all our resorts, you
will feel you are abroad rather than in
a’little England on the slopes’ enclave.
You will be able to sample a great range of locally
produced food & wine.
We support resorts that have dedicated green
practices in respect of building policy, recycling,
traffic reduction, sewage reduction, bio-diesel
use…
We act responsibly within our own UK office (ensuring no
energy is wasted, minimising paper use by promoting
e-mail use as much as possible and
avoiding to print
unless absolutely necessary, recycling waste paper
and unused brochures, directors drive small 1.1 cars
or use public transport rather than large
4x4).
A bit about snow cannons and artificial snow
making
We often hear that these are damaging to the
environment and we do agree that snow making must be
used with parsimony but we also think the facts
should be put straight.
Chemicals: Whilst it is true that snow cannons did
use chemicals in the past all modern snow cannons now
in operation in France don’t use chemicals any
longer, just water.
Water waste: Snow on the mountains (including the
pistes) melts naturally in the spring and the
resulting water feeds waterfalls and rivers. Snow
made from snow cannons simply follows the same path
and therefore the water that was used is not wasted.
The only factor which can be damaging to the
environment is the use of energy to run snow cannons.
Many resorts are looking at ways to reduce their
energy consumption by using solar panels for heating
and hydro or wind energy for power for instance.
In France artificial snow making is based on only two
components: air (pure) and water (pure).
The mixture of air and water is sprayed at several
meters off the ground and by cooling down in the
ambient air, the water droplets become snow
through a natural process. No additive or chemical is
used whatsoever.
Snowmax which is a chemical used by Swiss, Italian
and Austrian resorts in snowmaking is not used in
France. It was tested in 2005 and it was decided
not to use it for environmental reasons.
Snowmaking is also highly regulated to ensure
any impact on the environment is minimal.
How can you help too?
1. Recycle as much as you can when in resort. In all
our resorts recycle bins are widely available. There
are usually several different types so do ensure you
use the correct one.
2. Do dispose of any rubbish in the correct way and
don’t leave litter on the mountain.
Smokers particularly should not leave cigarette ends
in the snow.
3. If you ski off-piste, do use a local guide and
check you are not skiing in an area where fauna and
flora may be disturbed. This is particularly true in
National Parks (eg. Parc National de la Vanoise, Parc
National des Ecrins).
4. Do walk or use free ski bus within the resorts
rather than your car.
5. Reduce your carbon foot print. Each time we take a
flight or drive the car, CO2 is added into the
atmosphere. Offsetting means paying someone to
reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by the same amount that
your activities add. In this way you can 'neutralise'
or 'balance' the CO2 added by your activities. If you
would like to offset your CO2 emissions from
traveling to the French Alps please visit www.climatecare.org.
To tell you the truth we don't really believe in
carbon offsetting ourselves. As Patrick Thorne, the
"Snowhunter", the ski journalist who set-up the
SaveOurSnow campaign says “It's the traveling
to the resort rather than the resort itself which has
the biggest carbon footprint. I found the average
carbon output from a week in the Alps
(accommodation, plus a figure per skier for use of
lifts/snowmaking arrived at by taking total carbon
output of a resort and dividing it by number of
skiers!) = less that the carbon output involved in a
short haul flight. So the shorter the journey
(eg to French resorts), the less carbon output. A
flight to Geneva from London puts out a third of the
carbon as a flight to Bulgaria, or a tenth of the
amount to Colorado/Vancouver so they are 3X or
10X more carbon output for your ski week regardless
of what the resort itself is doing... what we are
saying is that French resorts are, on the whole, the
best for minimal carbon output towards global warming
for British skiing based primarily on the obvious
proximity, lowest-carbon-emission travel options and
in an increasing number of cases - their green power
of resorts, ski lifts, snowmaking and bio diesel in
the trail groomers”.
At Peak Retreats we believe it is best to minimise
one's carbon footprint in the first place rather than
to try to repair the damage done.
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