NSW Nordic Ski Club
MINIMAL IMPACT SKI TOURING
The following is a list of techniques and modes of behaviour which will minimise your impact on the environment. As such you will be helping to preserve the uniqueness of the alpine areas for others, both in the present and in the future.
Keep parties to a minimum rather than going in a great herd. The best party size is 4 to 8.
Ski in the same track and use existing tracks where possible. This is easier than breaking fresh tracks. Beware of following the tracks of a lost party!
If forced to walk, use existing tracks or roads. In untracked areas, have the party spread out to reduce the impact on vegetation.
Select a camp site away from trails and screened by trees. Stay only one night to avoid overloading the surrounding ecosystem.
Where possible, select a level camp site and use a good snow tent so that massive camp site preparation is not required. When breaking camp, push over your snow walls and fill in holes before leaving. Apart from looking unsightly, holes and walls are a hazard to other skiers. Someone may ski into them and break a ski or a leg. Remember, take only photographs, leave only ski tracks.
Carry out all rubbish, and where possible, items left by others.
If you see rubbish, feel desecrated, then lean over, pick it up and pack it out.
Use a stove rather than a fire. Fires use dead wood which is an important part of the natural cycle in alpine areas. Firewood in winter usually comes from dead branches on standing trees, however, when collecting it live branched are often damaged. This in turn reduced the tree's ability to act as a wind break and a soil retention aid, thus increasing erosion.
Clean billies and plates at least 100 meters away from creeks to avoid polluting the water supply.
Use snow and/or a scourer to clean billies, or, if you must, a biodegradable soap. Ideally you should aim to cook meals so that they do not stick to the billies, thus reducing the the requirement for "heavy duty" cleaning agents.
Always use a pit toilet where one is available. Avoid urinating in pit toilets where possible because decomposition in the pit is enhanced if the waste can be kept dry.
At locations where "going solo" is necessary, dispose of your waste at least 100 metres from creeks in a location which is likely to remain dry (free of runoff) during the melt so that your waste can be decomposed aerobically as quickly as possible, reducing the risk of pollution. In areas below the snow line, use a shovel or snow peg to dig a "cat hole" about 15 cm deep.
To lay down a conduct of observance by others, may seem to smack of a degree of regulation and restriction incompatible with the spirit of freedom that ski touring epitomises. The material on this page should therefore be viewed as matters for individual contemplation, consideration and action as deemed appropriate. However, much of the material has been drawn from the literature of the Victorian Bushwalking and Mountaincraft Training Advisory Board and can be considered as being representative of the way most environmentally conscious nordic skiers think and behave.
Last revised 28-Sep-2004. Produced on Sunday, 04-May-2008 09:46:16 EST