Sustainability Val Heliski Family Planting

 

Sustainability & Nature Blog

We hope everyone is getting through these challenging times with COVID 19.

Living in such a beautiful place we have long held deep appreciation for our environment and the area in which we are able to live and take our clients heli-skiing, off piste and ski touring. The Savoie is one of the most beautiful places in the world and we have been developing ideas about how we can best mitigate our own and our clients’ impact on the area, and how we can best have a positive impact on this pristine environment. Val Heliski’s goal is to ensure that future generations get the same joie de vivre from heliskiing and touring in these mountains as we all do.

Pledge – Val Heliski will become carbon neutral

We are aware that by using our helicopters to take our guests on their amazing backcountry and heliski trips we are adding carbon emissions to the environment. In fact, we have undertaken extensive research to understand exactly how much is expended on each trip for each client.

In order to address Val Heliski’s carbon footprint we have started an annual autumn tree planting programme, with the aim to absorb twice the amount of CO2 that we produce. We also hope that this will benefit the local environment by providing an area for wildlife and birds.

Val Heliski has planted a cherry orchard in our first season and hope that we will be able to harvest the fruit in the coming years. Sustainability at its best!

Val Heliski’s pledge is to plant enough trees every year to ensure that we remain carbon neutral, forever. We will also be creating the Val Heliski Carbon Neutral Pledge fund that our guests can contribute to if they wish. More information about this can be found on our sustainability page: valheliski.com/sustainability/.

Sustainability Val Heliski Van Valley

Learn More About Sustainability and Human Impact on Nature

We have found the following resources to be useful in learning more about our impact on nature and how best to create positive impacts in the future:

Prince William’s ‘Earthshot Prize’ http://earthshotprize.org highlights innovations to help mitigate human’s carbon foot print. We believe that all products from clothes to food to activities should have a clear CO2 cost label. This has recently also been suggested in the FT see ‘could carbon labelling soon be routine’ https://on.ft.com/2UJpAvO. This would give people the understanding and choice to mitigate their impact. Each company should be obligated to offset their impacts.

David Attenborough’s ‘A Life on Our Planet’ http://attenboroughfilm.com is a true inspiration; if you have not seen it we highly recommend you do.

An interesting article about carbon offsetting through tree planting: https://www.topgear.com.ph/features/lifestyle/how-many-trees-do-you-need-to-plant-to-offset-your-car-s-annual-co2-emission

Resorts that VAL HELISKI service include: Chamonix, Les Arcs, La Plagne, 3 Valley’s (Meribel, Courchevel, Val Thorens), La Rosiere, La Thuile, Sainte Foy, Tignes and Val d’Isere.

Special thanks for the continued support of our sponsors, Salomon UK.