Snow with No Melt

Guilt-free ski travel

Known for distant, lofty locations and cumbersome aeroplane journeys, enjoying a skiing holiday has long rattled with the scruples of conscientious skiers, afraid of the harsh environmental affects of flying. But now thanks to a new travel website, skiers can combine their love for the slopes with their love for the environmentally friendly, carbon reducing, conscience-clear, train.

Launched in September 2009, snowcarbon.co.uk is an independent website that supports rail transport to European ski resorts in favour of gas guzzling planes. Following concern in recent years that air travel emits huge amounts of carbon, an increase in rail transport instead will reduce the affects of travel on the environment.

By making rail information more accessible to skiers, snowcarbon hopes to cut each skier’s carbon footprint by 90 per cent. Co-founder of snowcarbon, Daniel Elkan said: “Every skier who switches from plane or car to train makes a big difference.”

According to carbon emission analysts Best Foot Forward, a round trip by plane to the Italian ski resort Sauze d’Oulx produces 180kg of CO2. The same trip by train produces only 20kg.

Snowcarbon comes with an online booking facility so that you can book your journey to popular resorts, such as Tignes, Meribel and Courchevel, directly on the website. It also emphasises the other advantages of mountain rail.

Elkan said: “The great thing is, skiers aren’t even making a ‘green sacrifice,’ because there are clear benefits of taking the train: for example, its views. Watch the landscape and scenery change and sit there with the frisson of knowing that you're gliding towards the mountains.”

Other benefits include no luggage charges, no transfers, and no check-ins. Many resorts have mainline stations and some of these are reachable by a direct train from London. On the website it reads: “We aim to be a catalyst for change…The more people who [travel by rail instead of air], the more the travel industry will respond by increasing the choice of rail holidays.” Including information on which resorts have stations, how to change trains and get the best fares, snowcarbon makes your choice to be a skier with a conscience an easy one.