Times Online - Europe's greenest ski lodges

Europe's greenest ski lodgesFebruary 3, 2010

Eco-friendly travel expert Richard Hammond stayed at Hotel Lagació in the Dolomites and recommends five more low-impact locations

(Tim Martin/greentraveller.co.uk)

Mountain Living Residence Hotel Lagació, San Cassiano, Italy

Richard Hammond

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Richard Hammond is the founder of greentraveller.co.uk and co-author of Clean Breaks – 500 new ways to see the world(Rough Guides, £18.99). He will be speaking tomorrow at 12pm at Destinations Holiday and Travel Show, Earls Court, London

What can beat the exhilaration of downhill skiing, the crisp alpine air, the vast mountain panoramas and the adrenaline rush of hurtling through powder and pine?

Yet the energy required to service high-altitude purpose-built resorts, operate chair-lifts and run artificial snow-making machines – as well as the carbon emissions emitted in getting there - means that skiing can hardly be considered a particularly green holiday.

So how can you limit the damage? The Ski Club of Great Britain has produced a Green Resort Guide, which rates over 200 ski resorts on their environmental credentials to help skiers and boarders choose those resorts that are doing their bit for the planet.

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Two of the best performing resorts are Lech in Austria, where almost all the town’s heating energy comes from a biomass heating plant, and Switzerland’s high-altitude resort Saas-Fee, where cars are banned and there’s a free bus service around the resort.

Thankfully there is also a new breed of eco-conscious ski lodges and hotels that aim to keep your footprint only snow deep. In early December, I had a sneak preview of a new hotel in the Italian Dolomites, which has received the highest rating for energy-saving from the Tyrolean certification scheme KlimaHaus Casa Clima.

The elaborately named Mountain Living Residence Hotel Lagació is in the South Tyrolean village of San Cassiano, a small but fashionable village (home to two Michelin-starred restaurants) on the doorstep of the Sella Ronda and Alta Badia – the world’s most extensive ski region carousel with more than 750 miles of piste served by 460 ski-lifts.

Hotel Lagació’s interpretation of green is as much about using natural materials as it is about energy efficiency. The 24 beautifully crafted apartments are made of a combination of local wood, natural slate, loam, loden and linen fabrics as well as swiss pine, larch and spruce with old timber beamed facades and large glass thermally insulated windows.

Breakfasts include fruit, muesli, jams, freshly pressed juices and local delicacies and the hotel’s water comes from the owner’s own spring. However, the hotel doesn’t skimp on creature comforts - there’s a Finnish sauna, steam sauna, low-temperature sauna, ice crushed ice well pool, and a ski shuttle service to and from the Alta Badia ski area.

A room at Hotel Lagació costs from €180 B&B (+39 0471 849 503,www.lagacio.com). For more information on Alta Badia and the Sella Ronda see www.altabadia.org and for travel in the South Tyrol see www.suedtirol.info. Train from London to Innsbruck costs from £213 return (raileurope.co.uk, 0844 848 4070).

More green ski lodges and hotels

La Source (www.sourcealps.com, +33 (0) 9 79 68 41 82)
Luxury eco chalet five minutes from the village of Samoens and the 264km linked pistes of The Grand Massif (Samoëns, Flaine, Morillon, Sixt, and Les Carroz). The food mostly comes from local organic suppliers and farms and ski holidays at La Source include yoga, wood-fired hot tubs and back-country trips. Guests arriving by train, shared car, hitching or by bike receive a €100 green travel discount in the winter and €50 discount in the summer.

Chalet Chatelet (www.chalet-chatelet.com, +33 4 50 73 69 48)
A luxury catered solar-powered chalet near Portes du Soleil with access to 650km of slopes in the French and Swiss Alps.

Whitepod (www.whitepod.com, +41 24 471 38 38)
Tucked beneath the Dents du Midi above the Swiss alpine town of Les Cerniers, this innovative low-impact, hi-tech camp of domed “pods” is a glimpse of how eco chalets could look in the future. The camp has reopened after renovations last winter and now has 15 pods that are a short walk from Chalet des Cerniers where there’s a restaurant and spa. The camp also has access to a 600m private run (with two drag lifts) or you can strap on a pair of snow shoes and explore off-piste woodland trails.

Maison Coutin (www.maison-coutin.fr, +33 4 79 07 93 05) a small family-run lodge near Les Arcs, for those that want all the benefits of the Tarentaise Valley but without having to stay in the crowded resorts.

Chic Chocs Mountain Lodge (www.sepaq.com, +1 800 665 3091)
A ski-in ski-out lodge where guests have exclusive use of the 60-square kilometre Matane Wildlife Reserve in the east of Quebec.

Driven by a dream

The Dream
Driven by a dream, and going against all advice, we bought a 19th Century Savoyard Farm in 2007. We moved into the Farmhouse downstairs and drafted a plan for The Barn above. We wanted a low impact, sustainable and low energy house.

Renovation 'a gusto'
We started the renovation with a general building contractor who was going to ‘do it all’. It all started ‘a gusto’ but after a few months and a fat check later, there were fewer and fewer people on site. There was a treacherous hole in the front garden for the non-existent septic tank and we had no toilet for a month over Christmas. The workers were not being paid and finally, as we were about to tear our hair out and give up, the builder completely disappeared. The company went into liquidation. The insurance papers were false.

Angels appeared...
A few weeks later, angels appeared out of no-where.. Wandering along a path near the house, we met a retired English architect, David Ford, who lived along the road. He took us under his wing. Our eco- insulation company Pen Y Coed helped us find a dream team to put up all the stud walls and plaster. A friend put us in touch with 2 lovely wandering French craftsmen carpenters. The crew grew and grew until we nick-named it ‘The Commune’ - everyone supported each other, worked hard and played hard. Often we’d start the day with yoga and end it with jamming together on the porch.

So how is La Source ‘eco’?
We super insulated with Warmcell, used triple glazed Internorm windows, and a highly efficient wood pellet burner and low temperature under floor heating. The large windows face the sun. The water source feeds the house and hot tub. The materials, flooring and paints are as natural as possible. There are compost and recycling bins integrated into the kitchen design and the lights and appliances are low energy.

The La Source Commune
It just shows that with a lot of passion, ignorance, determination and an open mind... good things happen! We love The Commune... thank you guys!!!!

Chris, having left school at 15, dyslexic, was transformed by the La Source Commune experience. He travelled across India after finishing the renovation, moved back to Samoens and got into CAT to do a Masters in Ecological Architecture. He is cycling 1500kms to Uni. See www.cycle2uni.com

David, our longest serving Communer went back to New Zealand to start a degree in Landscape Architecture.

Ricky and Andy, the most awesome pair who single handedly made La Source as beautiful as it is today are still travelling. Andy is going back to Uni to study Graphic Design and Ricky is making beautiful custom designed furniture.

Paul went back to NZ to help is brother open a shoe design company. Mark and Kyle are still travelling around Europe.

Saskia went to India, leaving the family for over a month for the first time in 7 years, to do her yoga teacher training course.

Thanks also to Victor, Pierrick, Agniezka and Dean...

But the story continues...
At the end of the first ski season, the recession bit. Our only choice was to get jobs, or start generating income from La Source. We decided to set up Climbing and Yoga courses thinking it might help us and Agniezka. Agniezka - a single mum of three, was the only local ‘communer’ and had just got her Brevet D’Etat 2 year French Qualification to instruct climbing.

The Magic of La Source
I began work on our website... and finding partners like Responsible Travel. Within 3 weeks we had our first bookings. We set up a multi-adventure course, a yoga holiday and a Family Adventure. They all filled. People’s lives were evidently enriched by their experiences here. The magic of La Source was destined to spread. We love what we do. The house is always full with wonderful and interesting people.

Live your dreams!
Live your dreams.... and if you don’t know what they are, just live to your fullest potential, take risks, dance, cry, go against the grain, follow your gut, be you and be free!