Paying tribute to the gods of snow...

In honor of the upcoming ski/snowboarding season, I decided to take a look at what impact one of my beloved sports has on the environment. I had always assumed that skiing or snowboarding is a fairly sustainable activity, not taking into consideration the drive to and from the mountain and the impact that the lifts and lodges have. After all, you're enjoying the great outdoors, ideally surrounded by nature, blue skies and powder! How bad could it be right?

What I had failed to think about was the most critical component; my actual snowboard. Traditionally, every ski or snowboard is made from some combination of wood, foam, plastic, fiberglass, carbon fiber, steel, and aluminum. The finished ski or board sandwiches these materials with a chemical bond, most commonly epoxy resin. The result is an amazingly durable ski or snowboard. While this is considered an asset by those of us that enjoy the sport, it makes the ski or board impossible to separate or recycle. As a result, almost every ski and snowboard ever made still exists today, and once it has been discarded will typically end up in a landfill. Although the life cycle of skis and snowboards varies, most people will get a new one at least every few years, and some enthusiasts kick off every new season with new gear. That's a huge quantity of skis and snowboards that are being thrown away every year, which suddenly makes my sustainable sport not so very sustainable after all...

Recently it seems that some ski and snowboard companies have reached the same conclusion; if the sport is slowly contributing to the destruction of the very environment it relies on, something better change or eventually the industry will end up taking a long ride off a short cliff. As a result, theses companies have begin offering skis and snowboards built using sustainable materials. Here is a list of some of the companies using sustainable practices. If anyone is in the market for something new to play on the mountain with, check them out!

- Movement Skis- uses all Forest Stewarship Council (FSC) or Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) certified wood to build all their cores

http://www.movementskis.com/

- Arbor Snowboards - uses all farmed aspen, poplar, oak, cork and bamboo to build their boards

http://www.arborsports.com/

- Venture Snowboards - uses all sustainable wood that is farmed in Pennsylvania (the company is located in Colorado)

http://www.venturesnowboards.com/

- Kings-wood Skis - the world's first carbon neutral ski manufacturer; uses farmed bamboo for the core of all their skis

http://www.kingswoodskis.com/

"There is neither heaven nor earth, only snow..." Happy Riding!