Another Word (or two) About Skiing

I do applaud the efforts by a number of Colorado ski mountains to reduce their environmental impacts. Programs to purchase wind power to power the lifts, bio-diesel to run the snow cats, and even recycling programs to handle waste and even compost are impressive. But no matter how hard the various mountains work at these efforts, by far the largest impact from skiing is out of the hands of the resorts.

I am talking about the tens of thousands of cars, trucks, SUV's and numerous airplanes which carry the skiers from their homes to the mountains and back. In some places the traffic generated by these trips causes traffic jams miles and miles long.

The bottom line is that we are being forces to look at our lifestyles in all areas and reinvent how we can still have fun and do our work while generating a much smaller ecological footprint in the process.