21st January 2008

Helen and I have just got back from Arolla in Switzerland where we filmed an installment of On The Push.  Snowboarding has close connections with surfing and with so many surfers enjoying their time in the mountains we thought it important to look at an environment and a sport which relies totally on regular seasons and snow fall.

Arolla, near the Swiss/Italian boarder, sits at 2,000m and with the top of it's piste's at over 3,000m it has regular and reliable snowfalls until quiet late in the ski season.  It is also home to 4 glaciers one of which is the Arolla glacier the snout of which comes down into the valley behind me in this photo. The glacier can be seen in the top right hand corner. 

Like most glaciers around the world the Arolla glacier is retreating. The effect this will have on people around the world will be through sea level rise. (Tony Butt discusses the implication of sea level rise in issue 6.) Being landlocked it would take a massive amount of sea level rise for this to affect Switzerland but there are other effects which I hadn't though about, such as the glaciers supplying most of the water for the hydroelectric stations from where the Swiss get a lot of their electricity.

The glaciers are retreating because they aren't being replenished each winter through snowfall. Less snowfall is also a blow to the Swiss economy as the ski season gets shorter and snow is only found at higher altitudes.  

We interviewed Rob who runs www.snow-forecast.com who said that a lot of the big ski resorts were built at lower altitudes in the 1950's a period of consistent snow fall at lower altitudes. These resorts now regularly  use snow machines to create enough snow. The banks will not fund the building of new resorts at low altitudes any more.

We also interviewed a bar and chalet owner and a glaciologist who lives in Arolla and has studied the glacier for over 30 years.

It was my first time on a snowboard and I love every minute. I can see why people love both the mountains and boarding. It took me a couple of days to get round using my front foot so much because with surfing your turns all come from you back foot. Once I'd got the hang of that I hit the main piste with Helen to record some action shots and links.  Normally I'm rubbish at remembering my lines but I was so focused on trying not to wipe out on camera that the lines were easy, maybe I should do all my links from now on while attempting a new sport. There are lots of shots of me wiping out though so I'm hoping Helen doesn't edit in an out take section.  We did film some proper snowboarders too so there will also be some fun snowboarding footage alongside the interviews.

Helen goes on a ski holiday each year and normally takes the ski train but for this trip we flew - yes it is hypocritical of us and our reason for flying was,

It would cost 4 times as much and take 4 times a long to get there.  The way things are set up in the modern world doesn't make it easy to be green especially if your on a tight budget. 

Much as I would have loved to have taken a train through Europe this film is being made on a wing and a prayer and I couldn't take any more time off work.

What can we do about all those extra hydrocarbons? Well we have thought about carbon offsetting but in some ways that just seems like an excuse, a way of alleviating guilt. But at the same time planting a few more trees isn't going to do any harm either. 

It's got us thinking a little more about carbon offsetting so we're going to visit a carbon offsetting company in Devon, see how offsetting works and offset the production of On The Push.