Can sustainability and skiing ever work together? Everyone who has a close relationship with the mountains is experiencing first hand the impact of global warming and climate change. So all of us, who have a passion for the mountains and a passion for snowsports in general have a duty to try to do what we love doing in the best way. But what does that mean?
‘We’re lucky enough to live and work in the Alps, so we are completely invested in looking after our home.
The resorts in which we have our chalets are very dependent on tourism so they are doing what they can, Courchevel is part of the national charter for sustainable development in mountain resorts and St Anton has just joined Climate Change Adaptation Model Regions for Austria’
Then in the chalets themselves we have to strike the balance between creating the luxury experience our customers deserve and doing what we can to cut down on everything from plastic to paper and food waste.’
We are delighted to partner with The Little Loop, great friends of ours on a great mission.
As an avid skier, passionate about the outdoors, our friend and founder of The Little Loop, Charlotte, was incredibly keen to help reduce the impact of the outdoor industry so jumped at the chance to add ski wear to thelittleloop’s offering.
Charlotte told us:
‘I’ve worn the same Patagonia Ski Jacket for 15 years….both for skiing and hiking and generally anything outdoors and gnarly. It’s an incredibly technical piece of kit, which I layer with other clothes for versatility, and I’ve just never felt the need to buy another. (Patagonia also happen to offer an incredible and ethical product range whilst also helping with sustainability and the environment) But the same can’t be said for kids. For ski clothing to be effective it has to fit properly. Which means you can’t buy big and hope it will fit for a few years or your little ones will freeze. But it’s so expensive (and wasteful) to buy new for them every year. So many people tell us they end up buying cheaper brands for their kids as a result then immediately regretting it when they’re cold and unhappy on the mountain. thelittleloop kids skiwear rental aims to change all that!’
Here are some top tips from Kaluma and thelittleloop’s top tips for sustainability whilst skiing:
- Rent your gear – save money and stop waste. With thelittleloop, the clothing has approx 4 times more usage vs buying new and using for one season.
- Take your water bottle on the mountain – Alpine tap water is some of the best in the world, Kaluma provide all their guests with a re-useable bottle just for that reason!
- Look for ski companies that have sustainability values, you can see Kaluma’s here
- Question your host company – ask them to only use local produce where possible – at Kaluma we tailor our menus to suit our guests, be that vegan, vegetarian and such, to local and very local produce , supporting our local community wherever possible.
Long may there be snow!
The Little Loop is only currently available to our UK based guests, but this is being looked at by the team. For any of our international guests please do ask us regarding local, sustainable ski rental clothing.
Currently on thelittleloop (https://thelittleloop.com/skiwear) we have ski and snow bundles available from £35 for 8 days. There are also options for 12 and 16 days and we cater for ages 2-10 years old.
How it works:
- Choose your items/ bundle and pre-book
- Your gear will be sent to arrive the day before the booking date given
- When you’re back, just pop it all back into the reusable bag and stick on the pre-paid returns label
- (No need to launder, we’ll do all that on our end)
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