By far the most damaging aspect of travel to the environment is the burning of fossil fuels.
So the solution seems easy, lets just go electric!
Unfortunately, cold weather is pretty essential to create and maintain the snow that we love so much.
In an interview, with wired.com, Anna Stefanopoulou, Director of the University of Michigans Energy Institute.
Says that batteries are like humans.
By that, she means that they perform best in the same sort of temperature range as humans.
Anything below 40 or above 115 degrees Fahrenheit and theyre not going to deliver their peak performance.
They like to be around 60 to 80 degrees.
As the temperature drops, the electrolyte fluid inside the battery cells becomes more sluggish.
You dont have as much power when you want to discharge, says Stefanopoulou.
The situation is even more limited when you want to charge.
Despite these issues, PistenBully recently introduced the 100 E, a zero-emissions snow groomer.
They claim that its the worlds first all-electric snow groomer.
A 100 E uses a 126 kWh, 400V battery.
This gives the 100 E an average driving time of 2.5-3 hours.
The first 100 E is not even available for sale yet, but the tests have gone well.
A major focus has been diet, but he’s also hugely reduced his air-travel mileage.
Most people can look at the options way closer to them.
Maybe re-assess whether its worth going across the Pacific to Japan, just to get another foot of powder.
you could probably find something closer that has good powder and has trees.
That just kills the range, but were constantly progressing in that field."
At the same time planes are becoming a lot more fuel-efficient.
They’re lucky to be based in Europe where trains are far more common and practical.
“It’s actually surprisingly easy, especially with interrail,” he tells me.
And of course theres a lot of different standpoints there.
One person who definitely has looked at those numbers is,Protect Our Wintersfounder, Jeremy Jones.
For him to take to the skies, he has to make it worth it.
If you do the math on flying, its significant.
My snowboarding has really been based on that for a long time.
Doing fewer trips and making them grander is Jones approach to it.
In North America, if you compare driving to flying or what have you.
My focus has been driving distance from my home.
Thats been my focus in snowboarding.
Just take a stab at understand the impact and really think before you get on a plane.
There is more to ski travel than electric cars and planes.
Mark Abma says that some of the eco-friendly methods of travel can actually be more fun and social.
I know that between Vancouver and Whistler, we do have a bus system.
We dont have a train here, unfortunately, but there are a lot of shuttle companies.
Youre hanging out with a bunch of other people; youre watching ski and snowboard videos.
We cant all have alternatively fuelled vehicles to get us to the hill.
Of course, there’s the matter of getting up the hill too.
Its the same the world over, where allowed and without lift services.
Maybe you bought a pair?
All the backyard setups we see every summer?
They work with snow on the ground too.
Street skiing is generally pretty low footprint too, especially if you forgo the winch.
