Five green winter wonderland holidays

Former Ecologist editor Jeremy Smith and greentraveller's founder Richard Hammond reveal new ways to experience the ski season in an extract from their book Clean Breaks...

"What can beat the exhilarating freedom of the slopes, the first sip of a cold beer at 3000m and a fondue with friends at the end of a muscle-aching day? Yet the purpose-built resorts, chair-lifts, snow cannons and high-altitude infrastructure necessary to service downhill skiing hardly do the mountain ecosystem a favour.

Photo: Klaus Tscherrig, SCGB

It's ironic, given that most skiers and snowboarders care passionately about the mountains, that by visiting most resorts they hasten the destruction of the wilderness they love. So here are five new ways to enjoy the winter wonderland - in the Alps and other mountains of western Europe - where you can enjoy the powder and fresh mountain air, but where your footprint will be only snow deep..."

Read the full extract on the Ecologist.