As this chapter shows us: We can have the biggest impact by changing the way we travel. What may initially seem laborious and impractical can actually turn out to be an exciting option and a real benefit. Here you can find practical portals, useful apps and inspiring tips to help you reduce your carbon footprint.
You want to save money? Who doesn’t! Look out for all-inclusive deals and packages. There are various packages combining train and ski tickets, and there are even regions and hotels that offer discounts for rail travelers.
MAKE TIME COUNT
Time is precious. Yet, when it comes to transport, we can focus on saving time – or we could reconsider how to make time count and use it more consciously. Public transit can be relaxing and productive.
Looking for a good read?
How about our ORTOVOX Safety Academy Guide Books filled with alpine expertise. Or Sustainable Travel: The essential guide to positive impact adventures by Holly Tuppen who knows a thing or two about low-carbon and positive-impact adventures. The book offers great advice for those who want to make a difference in the way we experience the world.
If you prefer listening to reading, we recommend the following podcasts:
Dirtbag Diaries (telling stories of how people fit in the wild since 2007), Outside/In (a show about the natural world and how we use it), and Outside Podcast (covering all parts of the outside lifestyle).
JOINING FORCES
We all know Carpool Karaoke – well, there is not a big chance of finding Adele, Billie Eilish or the Red Hot Chili Peppers sitting next to you. But maybe awesome people with similar interests and cool stories?! If you want to save money, meet new people, and protect the planet, look out for message boards or Social Media groups of local outside organizations – or maybe set up your own local carpool group.
GETTING REWARDED
Around the globe, there are numerous start-ups, projects and concepts evolving that are rewarding environmentally friendly mobility, like e.g. the Austrian ridesharing app Ummadum, to Madrid based app Liight (ANDROID) that gamifies and rewards your mobility behavior to US incentives like 511ContraCosta.
CATCH A BUS
From Switzerland to Salt Lake Ciry, many mountain resorts offer free shuttles to get you from town to the ski slopes and hiking trails. For inspiration: In Colorado you can go from the capital in Denver to a few ski areas and mountain towns on the Bustang/Snowstang – buses with Wi-Fi, bathrooms, and bike racks. In Utah the UTA Ski Bus takes you from Salt Lake City to the mountains.
STOP – AND GO!
You want to find great outside spots that are easily accessible via public transport? Check out the websites or social media groups of your local alpine club or any other organization for shared info and recommendations. For large US cities you will find great bus-to-trail suggestions on the GearJunkie website.
LOCAL PEAKS
Is your tour or route too difficult to reach using public transport? Why does it have to be that destination in particular? Why don’t you choose a mountain that’s more easily accessible – or perhaps one that can be reached as part of a combined tour on your bike? Perhaps a mountain that you’ve never thought of before and is normally under the radar of most mountaineers?
Next Chapter
MINDFUL IN THE MOUNTAINS
Are you looking for an alternative to overflowing parking lots and overrun tours, to collecting likes on Instagram and chasing records on Strava? In our next chapter, we’ll give you a few tips and tricks, apps and alternatives for a more sustainable alpine experience.
