Top Six Tips for a Sustainable School Ski Trip

As a company we have committed to improving our sustainability but there are many small steps everyone on a school ski trip can take to minimise their impact.

See if you can give any of these a try and let us know how you get on!

1. Pack less, pack well

Packing less means less weight and therefore less fuel needed to transport you to the slopes. Follow the classic advice – put everything out on the bed that you’d like to take and then take away half. Then look at your washbag. I admit, I love a mini travel set but am making a real effort to wean myself off them. Buy a set of empty travel bottles and fill them with your own favourite products. They can be washed and re-used multiple times, reducing single-use plastic every time you travel.

2. Water bottles and keep cups

Both of these would love to go on holiday with you! If you’re flying, you will need to empty your water bottle to go through security but once through, re-fill at the water fountain. Use your keep cup for teas and coffees en-route, or if you are going by coach, consider taking a thermos flask to keep you supplied in hot drinks at a fraction of the cost for far longer.

3. Rubbish doesn’t go on holiday

It can feel a bit tempting sometimes to stop recycling when away from home as it might not feel like your responsibility anymore. But it is! Thankfully recycling is often very easy in many European countries, and you will find most public litter bins are separated into different types of recyclables for you. Respect the recycling rules at your hotel or youth centre and if you don’t see where you can put your recycling, just ask the staff. They will usually be more than happy to help you.

4. Think about your kit

Ski clothing is a big investment but there are ways to save money and make kinder choices for the planet. Producing new clothes costs a huge amount of resources, including water and fossil fuels, so think about the whole life of your ski wear. Consider holding a swap event or second-hand sale at your school for people to pick up pre-loved ski wear at a fraction of its new price; encourage families to use e-bay or local websites to find second-hand gear; once you really have outgrown your kit, think about its after life. Can you mend it, customise it or pass it on for someone else to enjoy? 

5. Picnics on the piste

Most of our centres provide packed lunches and while we will work with them over the next year to encourage less packaging, we can all do our bit now. Re-fill your own water bottle to avoid using a new plastic bottle every day. Take bamboo cutlery instead of using single-use disposable cutlery. If you are lucky enough to have a hot mountain lunch on the slopes, we will help you find a local provider, and encourage the same if you choose to eat out one evening.

6. Drive less, walk more

Your choice of transport for this year’s school ski trip was probably made such a long time ago, you can’t really influence or change it now. However, you could aim to reduce your dependency on transport while in resort by pledging not to use your coach or transfer bus for one day. Take the local ski bus to the slopes to save your coach making two return trips. Choose the closest evening activity to your hotel and opt to walk or take the local bus there. Our ski reps will be glad to help you find a safe, enjoyable route and the walk will increase the time you’re out, ensuring that everyone is ready for bed early that evening!

Some of these ideas can be passed directly onto your students; some of them will be in your hands as the party leader, and some of them will even be choices made by the parents. We hope you can use this blog post as a starting point for a discussion on how to make that long-awaited school ski trip a little bit more sustainable!

Let us know how you get on!

Next time: How bad for the environment is skiing really?