Chamonix Chalet news

It’s good to see more companies making headway into greener products for the mountain. Amongst the first in this area and still at the forefront is Arbor who practise what they preach with carbon offsetting and recycling at their offices, use of sustainable and recycled materials in their shops and promotions and of course their foundation of superb snowboards made of natural materials.We’re big fans of Arbor’s boards, having owned many of them, from the monster big mountain S-series, via the A frame and the Element to the fun poppy Draft over the years – and this year’s lineup looks superb once again. I personally am very tempted by the gorgeous marquetry of the new Wasteland:

whilst Monsieur prefers the bamboo-based Coda:

Another company that’s been making good environmental efforts for years is Lib Tech. The world’s most EnvironMental snowboard factory! (it says on their blog). Good for them – also their Skate Banana reverse camber board has been getting rave reviews. I hear nothing but good things about these boards and hope to give one a go this season. Monkey suit possibly not included, more’s the pity…

Burton joins in this year with the Green Mountain Project range. Good to see more boots, bindings and clothing available in environmentally friendlier materials. The Cartel GMP and Lexa GMP are particularly interesting as it’s unusual to see a more eco-friendly binding

…and also these are the first boots I’ve seen making strides (ho ho ) in this direction. Looking forward to trying them on and seeing how they feel.There are also gloves, jackets and pants available in the range, made from recycled fibres.  Burton say they are hoping to use these products as a lab to improve environmental friendliness across all products – let’s hope so. Green Mountain Project.Salomon’s Sick Stick is a very nice looking bamboo board:

which you can see in action here.It’s won the Volvo SportsDesign Award for Eco Design (interestingly, over the Arbor Wasteland) so well worth a look – a good direction to see Salomon moving in.Colorado-based Venture snowboards are a small company putting big emphasis on sustainability – they make a good range including the only eco-friendly split board I’ve found:

Skis seem to be a bit thinner on the ground but New Zealand based Kingswood look interesting with their carbon neutral bamboo cored skis, and Movement in Switzerland use FSC-certified wood cores.In the handy stocking filler department, waxes are always good! Burton have got a greener soy-based wax out now:

and Oneballjay are have their Biogreen wax – every little helps!Finally, the humble underlayer – you can avoid synthetics and go with Merino wool instead. There are many companies making good Merino products but I am a big fan of Icebreaker who combine excellent sustainability credentials with hard-wearing, well designed clothes. Merino undies are a whole new level of luxury – until you’ve tried it, you have no idea what a difference it makes! It’s nothing like regular wool – very soft and comfortable.

They are also brilliant for travelling in as they’re warm and light. The accessories make good presents too. And of course Patagonia have always scored well, with a string of firsts in their production and materials.  Some useful links:Keep Winter Cool