Environmental Efforts
NEW HAMPSHIRE SKI AREAS STRENGTHEN ENVIRONMENTAL EFFORTS
One of the most alluring attributes of New Hampshire ski areas is the beautiful environment in which they are located. Surrounded by beautiful mountains and lakes, it's logical that ski resorts want to be environmentally-friendly and encourage sustainable practices. Over the past several years many of New Hampshire's ski areas have begun to embrace and implement policies that will help to ensure these places are here for future generations to enjoy.
How you can help the environment during your visit to a Ski NH resort!
What ski areas are doing behind-the-scenes
As a guest at a NH ski resort, there are many ways you help ski areas protect and create a better environment for future skiers & snowboarders.
The two easiest are:
1) turning off your vehicle's engine when you're in the drop zone, and
2) recycling what's left from your snacks and meals
ANTI-IDLING INITIATIVES
One of the most effective ways for ski areas to help combat the rise in greenhouse gases is to reduce the amount of time stationary engines and vehicles idle by encouraging guests to participate in anti-idling initiatives. So turn off your engine when you're dropping off family, friends and equipment in the ski area drop zone! If you idle for more than 10 seconds, you're wasting energy - plus idling is against the law in NH!
These areas listed below use signage to help remind you to turn off your engine, and also ask drivers of group ski buses to turn off their engines and come into the base lodge for the day.
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Even if your favorite ski area doesn't have signage to remind you, do it anyway ... you'll be saving money and saving the environment!
RECYCLING
It's been difficult for ski areas to launch recycling in guest cafeterias because of their mountainous, remote locations. Unfortunately, it is not cost effective for waste management companies to come to ski areas to haul away recyclable trash, so many ski areas have decided to start it on their own, and drive the separated trash to the local dump. Hopefully, with the advent of simpler recycling processes, waste management companies will begin to work more closely with ski areas to help them reduce the significant waste that can be generated on a busy Saturday in a lodge cafeteria or restaurant.
Separate your reusable trash into recycling containers at these areas this winter ... and keep in mind, we'll be adding more areas to this list as the winter progresses:
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Loon Mountain has switched from disposable plates and silverware to washable dining plates and utensils, so please help out the effort by separating what's washable from what's not.
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN BE AN ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY GUEST
Carpool. If you've got some extra room in your car, share a ride with other friends or families that are heading to the slopes for the day or weekend. It'll save a ton of gas (& money) ... and catching up on what's been happening with friends has a way of making the trip go by a lot faster too.
If you're staying at a lodging property that offers shuttle service to the ski areas nearby, hop on in! Just think, you won't have to head out in the cold early hours of dawn to scrape off your windows, or sit in a cold car for the first five minutes of your trip.The bus will bring you right to the base lodge, so you won't have to drop off your family or friends, park the car and hike back. And at the end of the day, it'll pick you up right at the base lodge and deliver you right to your doorstep.
Turn off lights and heat when you leave your hotel room, your condo or your home to head for the slopes.
Pick up your trash after a meal or snacks in the lodge, and separate it into appropriate waste containers. And please don't leave your trash behind in the ski area parking lot, but put it in an appropriate waste receptacle. (This may sound ridiculous, but you wouldn't believe how many guests leave their trash behind!)
If you can't find one in a convenient spot at the ski area, please consider carrying it with you until you find a convenient spot - maybe when you stop to put gas in the car.
Contact your elected representatives and ask them to do more to reduce carbon emissions.
Educate yourself on the dozens of no-cost and low-cost ways to save energy! Our local electric coop has a program called "Small Steps" with a great website that offers tons of ideas for reducing waste at home, at work and on the road. So does
Clean Air, Cool Planet.
Spread the word to your liftmates, family and friends.
In addition to the environmental programs you see, there are many behind-the-scenes programs that help ski areas operate as environmentally-efficiently as possible.
The most significant is the widespread use of energy-efficient snowguns. These guns produce as much snow at warmer temperatures as older snowguns did, while using less compressed air per gun. This results in a signifiant reduction in the amount of energy necessary to create the snow. Many ski areas invested in new tower guns and fan guns this past summer, including Pats Peak, Dartmouth Skiway, Mount Sunapee, Loon Mountain, Wildcat Mountain, Granite Gorge, Crotched Mountain and Waterville Valley. Many areas use products that enable more snow to be made from every gallon of water pumped into snowmaking systems, and at higher temperatures, which enable ski areas to make snow more quickly and efficiently.
Biodiesel fuel has become a popular fuel alternative for many NH ski resorts. In 2003 Cranmore Mountain became the first ski area east of the Mississippi to run its grooming equipment and other equipment on biodiesel; now all four groomers at Cranmore operate on biodiesel. Bretton Woods, King Pine, Loon Mountain, Mount Sunapee, Ragged Mountain, Jackson XC, Mount Washington Valley Ski Touring and Waterville Valley have all made the move to biodiesel fuel for their grooming fleets, heavy equipment and/or facility heating sources. At Waterville Valley, all resort shuttle buses are currently being converted to biodiesel. Several other NH areas such as Pats Peak, Cannon Mountain and the Balsams Wilderness are actively researching making the switch as well.
Some ski areas further reduce their carbon footprints by producing heat from their own sources. Crotched Mountain and King Pine recycle waste oil to heat their base lodges and other buildings on their properties. The Balsams Wilderness produces electricity and heat using bio-mass resources. Windblown XC has produced 300 tons of chips so far this year from its property to provide electricity from biomass, and all 11 lodging properties at King Pine/Purity Spring Resort are heated with bio/fuel. Windblown XC and Pine Hill XC Ski Club heat their buildings with firewood from wood that is grown and harvested on their properties. Overnight guests at Windblown XC stay warm by feeding a wood stove.
Respect for forest extends even into marketing efforts. Approximately 80% of print collateral for King Pine/Purity Spring Resort and its related businesses are printed using a FSC certified paper source. FSC certification is a product group coming from well-managed forests, controlled sources and recycled wood or fiber.
Recycling happens behind the scenes, too. Mount Sunapee, Loon Mountain, and Windblown XC recycle scrap metal and vehicle oil; at Loon, more than 300 gallons of waste oil & vehicle fluids are recycled through a 2800 gallon oil-water separator, which separates oil and other waste from water before it is flushed into the septic system. Dartmouth Skiway, Bretton Woods, King Pine Ski Area and Loon Mountain recycle motor and other lubricating oils for use in their waste furnaces to heat facility buildings. Many areas have also begun using more sustainable practices in lodge kitchens, including the broad-scale recycling of materials used in food storage & preparation, such as paper products, cardboard, glass, cans and kitchen oil. The Balsams Wilderness minimizes its food and beverage waste through bulk purchasing.
Another sustainable food & beverage practice is the use of environmentally-friendly food service products. At Waterville Valley, the cafeteria uses biodegradable plates and cups. Wildcat Mountain uses Greenwave environmentally-friendly food service products in its dining areas. Ragged Mountain uses corn starch utensils rather than plastic, and the cafeteria at the Balsams Wilderness features corn starch base biodegradable tablewear and organic food stocks.
Kitchen and laundry areas at King Pine Ski Area and the Balsams Wilderness utilize, or are testing, environmentally-friendly organic-based cleaners.
Wildcat Mountain's rental & tune shop uses New England-based Green Wax for its fleet of rental skis & snowboards and general universal wax needs for all tuning services. Green Wax is a performance wax made from all natural ingredients, free of PFC's and petroleum. Each batch of wax is then placed in a recycled tube packaging, eliminating the need for extrusion machines and further reducing energy and waste. In addition to Green Wax, Wildcat Mountain also uses biodegradable emulsion, a necessary liquid component found in all tuning machines.
Business-related deliveries are asked to observe anti-idling policies. Delivery trucks burn large amounts of fuel through stationary idling for extended times as the delivery is unloaded, so it makes sense to shut down the engine.
Energy-efficient compact fluorescent light fixtures and timers on exterior lighting have been installed in many base lodges and ski area facilities, at areas including Cannon Mountain, Bretton Woods, Cranmore Mountain, Loon Mountain, Wildcat Mountain, King Pine Ski Area, Balsams Wilderness, Mount Sunapee, Waterville Valley, Pats Peak, Ragged Mountain, Granite Gorge, Jackson XC and Great Glen Trails. Jackson XC was the first facility to be totally CFL-lit when it changed over its base lodge lighting way back in 1998!
Low flush toilets, water conserving sink faucets and other water-saving devices have been installed at Cannon Mountain and Mount Sunapee. Water use at The Balsams Grand Resort is minimized by offering guests the option of towel/linen reuse, low-flow showerheads & limited landscape watering.
Loon Mountain is the first ski resort in the eastern United States to make SkiGreen Tags available. They cost $2 each, and can be purchased at the same time a lift ticket is purchased. Each SkiGreen Tag represents 100-kilowatt hours of wind energy and offsets 140 pounds of global warming pollution.
Ski areas take great care in preventing soil erosion on the hill and integrating sustainable building and renovation practices whenever possible. At Balsams WIlderness, any new or renovated construction is done under its GreenPath environmental management system. All of Windblown XC's buildings werebuilt with lumber grown & milled on property. Bretton Woods, Cannon Mountain, Jackson XC, King Pine Ski Area and Ragged Mountain have made significant commitments to sustainable construction. Even little steps make a difference: Pine Hill XC Ski Club replaced 60% of its plastic trail signs with wood-routed signage.
Bretton Woods is expanding a wetland (Lake Carolyn) that is a natural habitat for fish and wildlife.
Wildcat Mountain is implementing a vegetation restoration project with the U.S. Forest Service in Mountain Jag glade.
The Balsams Wilderness started and sponsors a Green Expo for community members.
Given the number of guests annually hosted by Ski NH member areas, ski areas can have an enormous influence in helping these guests to understand the impact of their actions on the environment. King Pine/Purity Spring Resort, Cranmore & Jackson XC are participating in programs that will inform guests (and staff) about its environmental practices, why they are important and how others can make an impact as well. Windblown XC, which was devastated by the December ice storm last winter, hosted a walk & talk about the damage and ways to cope by restarting the forest in the best way possible, with minimal soil damage.
From something as simple as Cannon Mountain's comprehensive energy audit to something as rigorous as the Balsam Wilderness' GreenPath Environmental Management System, ski areas are always looking for new ways to reduce waste and protect our environment for the enjoyment of future generations of skiers and snowboarders. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please let us know: Alice@SkiNH.com