Might be nice to know for some folks.
How green is your mountain? Ski resorts rated on environment
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Kirkwood Mountain Resort might be pretty nifty in the ski department, but it is hell on the environment, according to an annual scorecard of California ski areas, which gave the wooded resort an F.
In fact, many of the most popular and beautiful Sierra ski resorts are at the bottom of the hill when it comes to impact on the environment. The Bear Valley Mountain Resort and Northstar-at-Tahoe were second and third from the bottom with D's. And Heavenly Mountain Resort is far from heavenly in Mother Nature's eyes, according to the grade card, getting a C from the panel as the fourth-worst environmental steward.
The good news is that nature-loving skiers and snowboarders won't have to put biodegradable bags over their heads at Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley, which ranked 1 and 2, the only California ski resorts to get A's in the complicated scoring system.
The eighth annual Ski Area Environmental Scorecard ranked 19 ski resorts in California on such things as storm water runoff, wetlands destruction, the amount of energy burned and how many pollutants are spewed into the forests and atmosphere. The idea is to encourage the snow-loving public to stop spending money at resorts that, according to the scorecard, shirk their responsibilities as protectors of the alpine environment.
