Sustainable Ski and Snowboard Manufacturing: What's Being Done?

Introduction

As the ski industry is heavily reliant on consistent annual snowfall, it is directly and heavily impacted by climate change. Not only have the effects of climate change contributed to the increase in the average global temperature, resulting in lower global snow totals, but they have also caused less predictable and consistent snowstorms. As a result, companies across the ski industry are at the forefront of sustainability initiatives and creating environmentally friendly solutions. Within the industry, I've been particularly impressed with the initiatives and solutions that are coming from the ski and snowboard manufacturing companies. But before exploring these solutions, it's important to grasp the environmental impact of ski and board production and its role in climate change. Then we can explore different companies' commitment to mitigating their environmental impact in their manufacturing processes.

Ski and Board Manufacturing & Its Environmental Impacts

The manufacturing of skis and snowboards has a significant environmental impact (to understand the manufacturing process better, I found this video by Dynastar and this video by Burton to be very informative). As is the case with any discrete manufacturing process, producing skis and boards is very energy-intensive, as it involves many high-powered machines that have to run for extended periods of time. It's also inherently wasteful, as excess material is produced with each manufactured ski and board. Furthermore, many wasted materials can be environmentally harmful if they are not properly recycled or disposed of. Let's break this down. The figures below are simplified diagrams that show the typical composition of present-day skis and snowboards.

1. Plastics: Several plastics are used to construct a ski or snowboard. The bases and tip fills of skis and snowboards are usually made from extruded or sintered ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE), also known as P-tex. The sidewalls are usually made from acrylonitrile-butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic. And the topsheet material can vary but also tends to be made from different plastics including P-tex, ABS, and nylon. Although plastics are recyclable, recycling them has been challenging, especially in the United States.
   

2. Epoxy Resins: Epoxy resins are used in multiple layers of skis and snowboards, as they are essential for bonding the different layers together. Epoxy resin is non-biodegradable and cannot be recycled. As resins are made from fossil fuels, if excess epoxy resin that results from ski and snowboard manufacturing is not properly disposed of, it may spread petrochemicals throughout the environment.
   

3. Fluorocarbon and PFAS: Ski wax is spread across the bottom of the ski base to make skiers and boarders glide across the snow better due to its hydrophobic nature. It's spread on the base at the end of manufacturing and is usually re-applied every year to enhance ski performance. Most ski wax is also environmentally harmful, as it contains a large amount of fluorocarbon, which falls under the broader category of harmful per- and polyfluoroaklyl substances (PFAS). PFAS materials are non-biodegradable, can move through soils and contaminate drinking water and sources, and bioaccumulate in fish and wildlife.

What are the Manufacturers Doing to Reduce Their Environmental Impact?

To combat the negative environmental impact of manufacturing, many ski and snowboard manufacturers are committing to sustainability initiatives and spending a lot of time and resources coming up with innovative solutions to reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact. For example, Burton, who produces half of the world's snowboards in Austria, has built a culture of pushing the boundaries of innovative, sustainable design without sacrificing quality or performance. They produce all snowboards with an alternative bio-based epoxy resin, use water-based glues during production, and a lot more (I highly encourage you to visit their website to learn more). Another large company that's developed more sustainable production methods is Nordica. They have constructed a large photovoltaic (PV) system that supposedly generates 430,000 kWh of renewable electricity per year for their ski production in Austria. Sustainability initiatives and innovative sustainable solutions aren't just limited to the large ski and snowboard manufacturers either. I've found a couple of other companies that are doing great work in the realm of sustainability.

Folsom Custom Skis

Headquartered in my hometown of Denver, Colorado, Folsom Custom Skis recognizes the negative environmental impact of typical ski manufacturing, and they are committed to reducing their carbon footprint in a variety of ways. First, all of the wood used for all of their ski cores is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified, meaning that the wood is both high quality and sourced in an environmentally friendly manner. It is also locally sourced from a Denver producer. Furthermore, rather than throwing away the excess wood from their production processes, Folsom turns their larger wood pieces into coasters and recycles their smaller excess pieces at a local Denver plant. Folsom also promotes sustainability through the reuse of their dye sublimation paper. Dye sublimation paper is a material used when creating the topsheets of their skis, and they reuse the paper as packaging material for any customer delivery order.

Rocky Mountain Underground (RMU)

RMU is a ski company with store locations in Breckenridge, Whistler, and Truckee. Not only do they have a great origin story that includes the owners building their own ski press while working as ski bums in Summit County, Colorado, but they have since taken many steps to promote sustainability across their organization. Claiming "the world's most sustainable ski production", sustainability is embedded into the culture of RMU, as they are actively fighting climate change and working toward carbon neutrality by 2025. Their sustainable solutions include using recycled materials to make their steel edges and top sheets, treating their skis using 100% biodegradable ski wax, re-using excess heat from their two ski presses to heat their production factory building in Sweden during working hours, and producing all their skis with 100% renewable energy from local Swedish hydropower stations.

Conclusion

Climate change significantly affects the ski and snowboard industry, and companies must adopt and implement innovative sustainable solutions. Fortunately, many amazing companies are taking this to heart by embedding sustainability into their culture and working diligently towards achieving carbon neutrality. These companies and their approaches are setting a precedent for others in the industry, and will hopefully serve as a guide for any company aiming to reduce their environmental impact.