SIf you search the internet for the terms “Courmayeur” and “sustainable”, you will find t-shirts made of organic cotton that are named after the town in the Aosta Valley. Also on the website courmayeurmontblanc.it there is almost no reference to climate or environmental goals. The Italian winter sports destination is exceptionally environmentally friendly for a ski area: In summer, it consistently closes the high valleys to hikers, the shelters are built from ecological modules, and the cable car runs with renewable energy to the Mont Blanc, which is called Monte Bianco here. For this reason, the “New York Times” voted Courmayeur one of the 52 most worth seeing sustainable travel destinations in the world a year ago.
Courmayeur has one of the eight highest ski areas in the Alps. None of them are in Austria or Germany. Pitztal and Ötztal follow in 9th and 10th place. In terms of altitude, the Eastern Alps don’t stand a chance against Zermatt, Chamonix, Saas-Fee, La Grave, Les 2 Alpes, Tignes and Val d’Isère, all of which are located in France, Italy and Switzerland. The areas in the Western Alps are above 3000 meters and get more snow than areas below 2000 meters. And if you look to the future of winter tourism, natural skiing fun will soon be limited to significantly fewer places with sufficiently reliable snow conditions. Only: will this also make skiing more sustainable?
