Ski Manufacturers andSustainability
Aswe move deeper into the 21st century, sustainability is a word weare beginning to hear much more frequently. Sustainability is defined as thecapability to endure while taking into account environmental, social, andeconomic impacts. I doubt for many people reading this article thatsustainability comes to mind at all when you purchase new gear. This is mostlikely because there are simply not that many options for an environmentallyfriendly product in the ski industry. And the fact is that most of our gearthat we rely on is petroleum or chemically based substances. This is not reallydue to any fault of our own because up until recently these were the onlymaterials that were easily available and durable enough to withstand the forcesgenerated and impacts taken during a normal day of skiing. As technologyincreases and different materials become more available, the industry ispresented with the opportunity to change the way we make things, to not onlymake the it safer for those manufacturing the skis but also to reduce theimpact we have on the natural environment that we all value as skiers.
Sowhat is unsustainable about ski manufacturing? Bases, sidewalls, and top sheetsare all made from petroleum based plastic compounds such as p-tex and ABS. Mostcores are made from unsustainable and slow growing woods and mixed withfiberglass layers. Fiberglass is a glass reinforced plastic, so again petroleumbased. A plastic top sheet is then layered over the ski and bonded with a epoxyor resin both of which are volatile organic compounds and can be harmful tohealth when inhaled. So what we end up with is a product that is almostcompletely reliant on petroleum-based products. The main issue is the petroleumwe need to use when making a ski. Petroleum is a non-renewable resource and isalso not good for the environment due to the emissions created duringmanufacturing processes that are required to create plastics, resins, andepoxies. Also as we see the prices of oil increase, as supplies decrease, thiscan only mean that the prices of skis will increase, as most skis are verydependent on petroleum in the manufacturing process. Petroleum also comes intoplay when we look at how we get our skis. Only a handful of companies buildtheir skis in America or Canada. The rest, and by far the majority, aremanufactured in either Europe or China. This means in order for the products toreach us in America they need to be shipped across an ocean and most likely toa distributing plant in America, and then off to their final destination. Thisalso means that with increasing oil prices we will see an increase in the priceof skis. Without question both the manufacturing and transportation create ahuge carbon footprint, and a large amount of waste that without question couldbe reduced.
Whenlooking at many of the major companies such as Line, K2, Atomic, and Salomonthe only one that mentions anything about the environment on their website isSalomon. They have a short environmental page stating that they are trying torecognize their impacts, reduce dependence on non-renewable resources, and cuttheir carbon emissions. However the only product I could find on their sitethat had anything even resembling eco-friendliness was the Shogun ski. This skihas a bamboo layer over the wood core (they don’t mention what kind of wood)and part of the proceeds from the ski are donated to Mark Abma’s foundationcalled 1 Step which promotes sustainability in the ski industry. This is agreat step but the 1 Step website has not been updated in over a year, and thisis the first I have heard about proceeds from the ski being donated. It wouldbe interesting to see what is happening with Abma and his foundation. With theother companies though, after a search of their websites and a little researchI could not find anything they were doing to reduce their environmental impactor promote a more environmentally conscious way of business. This isdisappointing because out of all ski manufactures these companies have thefunding and resources to research and push new technologies and manufacturingmethods without the risk of going bankrupt. It would be awesome to see thesecompanies start to take a more conscious stance on production methods as theycould really change and set the standard for the snow sports industry andpossibly the outdoor industry as a whole.
Thereare companies, though, that are a starting to adopt higher environmentalstandards and ultimately leading the way in terms of conscious manufacturing.Mervin Manufacturing is the most notable and probably well known of thesecompanies. Under the Mervin umbrella is Lib-Tech and Gnu both snowboardcompanies, but Lib-tech has started to manufacture skis or Narrow AssSnowboards (NAS). Lib-Tech recently created a technology, which they aremarketing as Horsepower construction. This means they have 100% Columbian goldtimber, which I could not find exactly what they are advertising with this term,but on another page on their website they mentioned that the timber used forcores is fast growing so it can regenerate quickly causing less of an impact tothe environment, than if you cut down a similar slow growing tree that takesmany years to regenerate. Horsepower construction also includes the use ofbasalt fibers instead of fiberglass, which means it does not have to besynthetically created and is much easier on the environment. This does increasethe price of the ski however. Mervin also uses a bio-resin made from beans fortheir top sheets, again eliminating the need for plastic. They use a soy-basedelastomer for their sidewalls instead of ABS plastic as well. Besides all ofthis, they are also made in the U.S.A., which greatly reduces the carbonfootprint of their products as well. While there is still room for improvement,Mervin is pushing environmental consciousness and leading a trend that will catchon in the industry as a whole in the coming years as environmental concernsbecome greater. Another company worth mentioning is Grown eco freeride skis.They are the leaders in sustainable ski design, winning the Volvo Sports Designaward in 2008 for their eco friendly models. In their design they haveeliminated the need for plastic topsheets and sidewalls by replacing them withwood grown in sustainably managed forest in Europe and using basalt and carbonfibers in place of fiberglass. They also use recycled bases, which is a step inthe right direction. Even by their own admittance they are not perfect thoughand are still trying to lower their eco-footprint even further. They are alsotrying to make their skis more recyclable. Recyclability is one major factorthat the industry is missing. If their was a process to recycle parts of skisthe industry could greatly reduce its environmental impact by lowering theamount of new materials that needed to be made from scratch each year.
Clearly the ski industry has along way to go before we can be considered environmentally friendly but atleast we have some people who are taking steps towards this goal. We are agroup of people who value nature more than the average person so it should beour mission to reduce the impact our sport has on the environment. This articleis by no means meant to provide you with all the information on this subject, asthere is much more to learn regarding sustainability in the ski industry. Thisarticle is meant to make you think and present you with new ideas that may helpyou form new opinions on how you should support the current ski industry andwhere your money might be best used the next time you decide you need new gear.I encourage you to do your own research on this subject and form your ownopinions based on your findings. I hope that you will feel similarly to the wayI feel, because if the industry begins to realize the demand for these productswe can create a positive change in the sport we love which will ultimatelybenefit the environment as well.
Thanks for taking the time to readthis.
Here are some links to businesses that have already takensteps to reduce their impact and foundations with information regardingsustainability and environmentalism in the ski industry as a whole:
Purl Wax http://www.purlracing.com/index.php
Liberty Skis: uses bamboo cores http://www.libertyskis.com/
Gown Eco Freeride Skis http://www.grownskis.com/
Lib-tech http://www.lib-tech.com/
Praxis Skis: locally manufactured http://praxisskis.com/
On3p: locally manufactured and sustainablebamboo cores http://on3pskis.com/
Wagner Customs: Locally manufactured in a windand solar powered factory http://www.wagnerskis.com/
http://www.onepercentfortheplanet.org/en/
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/
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