my environmentally friendly ski holiday in Austria

The sight amazes me. Not the panorama of 80 snow-capped, rugged peaks rising up to 3,000 meters, nor the lone skier making perfect turns on a forest-lined slope. They’re beautiful, of course, but the important view that few winter sports enthusiasts ever get to see lies behind an inconspicuous door next to the bakery, hidden in the valley floor next to the ski lift station. This may be the answer to the question that brought me to the Austrian SkiWelt: Can you ski green?

I have always been a skeptic in this regard. Skiing feels like the biggest possible waste of earthly resources for the benefit of a privileged few. From the consumer porn stores filled with the latest space wear to the ugly rattling elevators, the overheated hotels and the occasional use of helicopters, the entire industry is a giant middle finger to a burning planet, isn’t it?

Mario Gruber doesn’t believe it. He is the managing director of Bergbahnen Söll, an important part of the SkiWelt with 275 kilometers of slopes, 80 mountain huts and 81 ski lifts. He sits in his office next to the bakery at the Söll ski lift and looks at two large flat screens. “We can determine the snow depth in any location at any time,” he says. He turns to the other screen and flips back and forth between a complex diagram of a hydraulic engineering mechanism, water flow diagrams, and a weather map. “Here I can access weather forecasts for different altitudes as well as the electricity we have available from our lakes and our new hydroelectric power station. Then I can find out if we need snow, how much of it and how much electricity we need. When a snow gun is needed, it is used minimally – and all water and electricity is locally sourced and renewable. No additives. No extras.”

I realize that the view I’m getting here is a glimpse into a possible future for winter sports: sustainable energy pushing water up the mountain, turning it into snow, then harnessing the power as the water melts and flows back down.

Later in the day I go to the slopes with Gerhard, my 80-year-old ski instructor. He has seen the entire life of this SkiWelt area, from its humble beginnings after the war to the current situation. “It started with an elevator built from World War II debris,” he tells me. “It was just for the people in our nine villages. Before that, skiing was just a means of transportation – it was all we had in the winter.”

Demand for recreational skiing began to grow and villages cooperated and shared the burdens and benefits. Many of those involved were Tyrolean farmers whose summer pastures became winter slopes. A traditional commitment to the quality of their milk and cheese evolved into a determination to make good environmental choices for the region’s booming winter roll.

For now, however, I’m concentrating on more immediate matters: Gerhard’s guide to basic skiing techniques. For many years I have felt that I never reached my full potential when skiing. In my mind’s eye I’m racing down vertical slopes and jumping over crevasses, but in reality I’m falling over on flat surfaces and getting a queasy feeling if I slide too fast.

My skiing history didn’t help: a school trip, followed by years in the tropics, then a few false starts and unfortunate mishaps. Now I’m sharing the practice slope with a class of three-year-olds who are already way ahead of me. But Gerhard is a gentle genius who gives meaning to my movements and helps overcome the panic that comes when I slide faster than I can run. Finally he lets me go on a blue slope with co-teacher Mary.

We make our way to where SkiWelt has built a new solar-powered eight-man ski lift. “It even works when snow covers the panels,” she says. However, this tremendous technical achievement is dwarfed by Mary’s ability to perfectly demonstrate how I should wind my way down the slope. And I do. The blue run is repeated. And then I do it alone. I never fall. I don’t even come close. I sit at the foot of the slope and look at the solar-powered lift. Is it possible that a remarkable one-two punch is on the horizon: the winter sports industry goes green and I learn to have fun skiing?

Before I left the UK I asked some ski industry insiders about the environmental aspect. Richard Sinclair from the ski tour operator Sno summed it up: “Despite everything, the biggest CO2 cost factor of a ski trip remains the flight. Go overland.”

For this reason I used an Interrail pass which included a night in London and then the Eurostar to Amsterdam before boarding the Nightjet sleeper to Austria.

Mountain resorts in France, Germany and Switzerland are easily accessible by train and offer the greatest carbon savings. Instead of strolling through Terminal 3, I use the trip to explore Amsterdam and visit the recently reopened Rembrandt House Museum.

Another important factor is the equipment. Renting is definitely the best environmental policy (try Ecoski), but there are also second-hand markets like Skibörse and Whoski to consider. Some resorts have second-hand clothing stores. Manufacturers are also striving to produce more sustainable and environmentally friendly clothing. Check out brands like Jöttnar (a British company whose use of recycled fishing nets in down jackets has reduced production emissions by 20%), Oosc (also recycled plastics), and Houdini (a Swedish innovation leader).

Back in the SkiWelt, I drive up the valley to a hotel that has always been a driving force for the environmental aspect of the entire region. In the early 1960s, the Gasthaus Stanglwirt was a small family farm that rented out a few rooms in its traditional farmhouse. When 17-year-old Balthasar Hauser inherited the company, he began expanding it in completely unexpected ways: there is, for example, a boxing ring and a tennis academy, as well as a spa complex that may have been designed by Bilbo Baggins.

However, Balthasar’s son Johannes points out to me that the farm remains the heart of it: “We still make our own organic cheese and butter.” They have also installed a wood gasification system that supplies the entire farm with local wood, without producing CO2. It is typical of the entire SkiWelt area: a beguiling mix of modernity and tradition.

But for me the final experience has to be a toboggan ride. No ski slope can match the shared joy of whizzing down at high speeds with a gang of like-minded speed freaks. And at €10 per day to rent a wooden sleigh, it’s definitely affordable and eco-friendly fun.

At the top, however, I look at the almost vertical beginning and swallow. Old fears resurface, but a family with young children waits. There is no escape. I tighten the strap of the helmet, push myself off and get going.

Kevin was a guest of Austria Tourism, whose website provides further information on ski holidays. Sno offers seven-day trips to Söll at SkiWelt from £405 a person (B&B). A four-day Interrail pass costs around £235 (additional charges usually apply for sleeper and express trains). Kevin’s route was the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam, then the Nightjet to Wörgl (vicinity innsbruck). His accommodation in London was provided by Sawdays