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What is snowshoeing? Snowshoeing in the Portes du Soleil Snowshoeing as an eco-friendly activity Alpine spring flowers

Alpine spring flowers

Here is the start of our Alpine spring flower collection. All taken in Spring 2011. More to come as we identify them all! If anyone has an identification suggestion please tell us!

Snowshoeing as an eco-friendly winter sports activity

Snowshoeing has been growing in popularity in recent years with more and more people discovering what it has to offer as an exciting and eco-friendly alternative to other winter sports. Choosing an environmentally conscious ski chalet is an excellent first step to reducing the impact of your ski holiday but the sport itself has a long way to go before it can be considered a low impact activity.

Why Choose Snowshoeing? Snowshoeing is for the independent minded. It’s for those who want to strike out into the winter wilderness with nothing but their four limbs and a sturdy bit of plastic strapped to their feet, for those who want to hear nothing but the satisfying crunch of walking in snow and see nothing but mountains, trees and sky. Snowshoeing offers the chance to escape the crowds and set off along your own trail leaving nothing but footprints and taking nothing but memories as they say (or more likely photographs).

Snowshoeing can be a bit of fun, a serious mountain adventure, a good form of cardiovascular exercise and a chance to get closer to nature. Snowshoes are also an excellent way for amateur naturalists and photographers to explore the winter landscape.

What Makes it More Eco-Friendly?
Infrastructure
Snowshoeing does not require the use of cable cars and ski lifts to reach the mountain tops and only one return journey (often possible by bus) is required to access your walk. Whilst benefiting the local community financially the infrastructure required for skiing and snowboarding has a huge impact on the landscape, environment and culture of the areas it affects. Just look at a photo of a ski resort taken at the beginning of the 20th century to see the dramatic changes to the landscape skiing has had.

Appreciation
It is hard to appreciate much more than the tears streaming from your eyes, the pounding of your heart and the adrenaline thumping through your body whilst skiing at 30mph. Whilst making your own trail through the deep powder between the trees high up on some rarely visited alp on snowshoes you have plenty of time to appreciate your environment. When taking a guided snowshoe walk your guide will also be able to tell you all about the flora, fauna, culture and even geology of the area you are walking in, deepening your appreciation, and therefore respect, for the environment you are in.

Manufacture and tuning
Although I have no reliable data I think it is reasonable to assume that the smaller, simpler and lighter snowshoes have a smaller carbon footprint in their manufacture than skis or snowboards. Snowshoes also do not require maintenance in the form of edging or waxing and rarely require repair as they are simple and sturdy. Most brands of ski wax are also undesirable pollutants which remain in the environment after the ski season is over.

Compaction of snow
All winter sports activities cause some compaction of snow. This reduces its insulating properties and leads to damage to plant life with a knock on effect for animal life. Because fewer snowshoers walk the same route as each other the amount of compaction of the snow on each route is reduced and the large surface area the snowshoe provides also reduces the impact.

All in all this exciting and eye opening activity is an ideal winter sport for those looking to try something new and with a smaller environmental impact.

Snowshoeing in the Portes du Soleil

The Portes du Soleil is a perfect resort for snowshoeing. It has a lower altitude than many in the Alps meaning it has more trees and less wind but due to its northerly latitude it maintains an excellent snow record. The Portes du Soleil resort management are keen to promote non-skiing activities and put a lot of effort into maintaining groomed paths for ski-de-fond and snowshoeing and are very amenable to allowing snowshoers onto the ski lifts. This makes it easy to gain altitude and access the higher snowshoe trails. They also offer a special walker’s lift pass which is much cheaper than a ski pass.

There is a great variety of snowshoe walks available in the Portes du Soleil from the completely flat but breathtakingly beautiful one hour walk round lac de Montriond to the six hour trek up the wild Vallée de la Manche to the Col de Cou (1920m/6,299ft). There are beginner’s walks along well groomed tracks such as the Sentier de Renard (the Fox’s Track) which passes by the Nyon waterfall and the Pleney circuit which tours the top of the Pleney ski area (1,505m/4,937ft). The Pleney walk gives you marvellous views of the Morzine and les Gets valleys as it winds in and out of the trees. There are also much wilder and more serious walks just round the corner in Samöens where you are more likely to bump into a chamoix or wild boar than another person. These trails are also perfect for spotting tracks in the snow- because so few walkers are seen here the animals happily trek up and down the path leaving perfect paw prints in the otherwise undisturbed snow.

The geography of the Portes du Soleil lends itself to snowshoeing because many of the mountains and ridges have rounded tops allowing you to walk safely in high areas with panoramic views in all directions. Many of these rounded mountain tops are effectively avalanche free meaning there are always plenty of safe places to walk. The mountains of the Portes du Soleil are cloaked in forest offering those silent and magical moments you only get from treading deep into a snow drenched woodland.

The Portes du Soleil is easy to get to as it’s only a 1hr transfer from Geneva airport. Once you’re in resort free shuttle buses give you access to all the chairlifts and cable cars as well as lac de Montriond and the Vallée de la Manche. Morzine is right on the border with Switzerland and its easy to ski or walk across the border. Chamonix is a 2hr drive away and Mont Blanc can be seen from the Les Gets side of the resort and when walking on Mont Chery.

Morzine itself is a fully functioning French Alpine town rather than a purpose built ski resort. The town dates back at least 700 years (in fact you can stay in the oldest building in Morzine as it is a B&B) and as such it has a real sense of a community and history. It has everything you could need from a cinema and a supermarket to pubs, clubs and restaurants. The many little hamlets and villages in the area have real Savoyard charm and coming across a tiny snowbound cluster of houses high up in the mountains has an almost mystical feel to it. The Portes du Soleil’s culinary traditions are known as Savoyard and are rich in local meat, potatoes, cheese and cream to keep you warm and satisfied on the cold winter nights. If that’s not to your taste though you can easily find excellent pizza, pasta, homemade burgers and dishes from other French traditions. There’s even a fish a chip shop in the high street…

An important question to ask yourself when planning a snowshoeing holiday in the Alps is: do I need a guide? The simple answer is no if you stick to the paths which have been pisted for snowshoeing and ski-de-fond and avoid going out if the weather forecast is bad. You will need to visit the tourist offices in Morzine, Montriond, Les Gets or Samöens depending on where you’d like to walk and ask for their mountain activities guide (guide de activités de montagne) or snowshoeing guide (guide de promenade en raquette). However it is not easy to follow these guides and many people we have spoken to have said they wasted a lot of time looking for the trails. Therefore if you want to make the most of your snowshoeing time or would like to explore off the beaten track (all the snowshoeing walks we go on only follow pisted paths for a little way before heading off into the deep snow) in safety it is advisable to hire a guide. Your guide should hold one of two qualifications in France: the International Mountain Leader qualification (IML) or the UIAGM Mountain Guide qualification (Guide for short).

What is Snowshoeing?

‘Is that the thing where you wear tennis rackets on your feet?’ This is the usual response we get from people when we mention what we do out in the Alps each winter. And the answer? ‘Um… kind of.’ Snowshoeing is basically just going for a walk in the snow with specially designed devices strapped to your feet to spread your weight out and give you more traction on snow and ice using metal spikes on the bottom. Their resemblance to tennis rackets has pretty much disappeared as the modern generation of snowshoes has been developed.

The reality of snowshoeing is that it is one of the most wonderful and enjoyable ways to spend time in the snow. It’s easy to learn, doesn’t require much fitness, is cheap and accessible to all and allows anyone to access the snowy wonderland of the mountains in winter.

So why should I go snowshoeing? Snowshoeing is growing in popularity and becoming interesting to everyone, not just as a backup for those who don’t want to ski or can’t ski anymore. Essentially snowshoes allow you to go for a stroll down a snowy path; trek across vast snowfields to reach a wintry summit; access the best off-piste runs with your skis strapped to your back; or explore the forests, ridges and valleys looking for the perfect view or a rare wildlife sighting. Snowshoeing is silent, majestic and breathtaking.

Who goes snowshoeing? Our clients have ranged from 70 year old ex-skiers who no longer trust their knees, to expectant mothers not willing to risk skiing to 20 somethings looking to improve their fitness whilst having a great day out. Snowshoeing can be relaxed, exciting or a real workout depending on what you want to get out of it.

Why hire a guide? Snowshoeing is not difficult and getting used to having big bits of plastic strapped to your feet takes only about half an hour or so of trying them out so you might think why can’t I just give it a go? You certainly can and if you live in a snowy environment I’d really recommend it. But if you are on holiday in a snowy area and want to get the best out of your day it really does pay to hire someone to take you out for a half day or a day. They will know all the best routes, won’t get you lost, can take you to much more remote and exciting areas without risk, will understand and know how to avoid avalanches and can predict and avoid rapid and potentially dangerous changes in weather. We’ve spoken to people who hired snowshoes but no guide and found they didn’t really know where to go and so just wandered around on well-marked trails which didn’t offer them the views and excitement of the real thing.

In conclusion snowshoeing is an up and coming winter sport which is fun and accessible to all so why not give it a go this winter? You can read more in our other articles on snowshoeing found on our website and blog.

Snowshoeing Holidays
Snowshoeing Holidays blog