Since I founded Ski Flight Free in 2019, I have cut down on my flights considerably in an effort to reduce my carbon footprint. Flight Free in 2024 and 2025 For the last two years, I have gone slightly further committed to the ‘Flight Free Challenge’ – created by Anna...
In June 2025, Eurostar confirmed that they would be running the ‘Eurostar Snow Train’ again for the forthcoming 2025/26 winter season. This is great news, plus there are some key changes to this year’s service that will make the journey more attractive for many travellers. What dates will the Eurostar...
In 2022, I looked at the carbon footprint of a ski holiday, based on some research by French ski resorts. The original research attempted to detail the carbon cost of a day’s skiing, and the differences your choices can make to the final figure. I’ve now updated these figures, to...
The options for train travel to the Alps this winter are outlined here: THE EUROSTAR SKI TRAIN (via Lille) Eurostar have confirmed that their snow train, reintroduced last winter will continue for 2025/26 with more departures, plus an option to return on the following Saturday (six days’ skiing), as well...
As well as founding Ski Flight Free, Iain also presents The Ski Podcast. In September 2023, Iain discussed new train travel options with Krissie Roe from Inghams: In September 2020, Iain was joined by Daniel Elkan from Snowcarbon and Anna Hughes from Flight Free UK in a Facebook Live event to discuss...
Make sure you pick up a copy of this month’s ‘Telegraph Ski & Snowboard Magazine’ encouraging skiers to #SkiFlightFree. You can find Iain’s opinion piece on the existential threat to ski resorts on page 20: Find out more at www.skiflightfree.org
Climate change represents an existential threat to human life on the planet. The evidence for this has been widely published, but you don’t have to take my word for it. This is what Britain’s most trusted man has to say on the subject: An existential threat to the ski industry...
This was the first season of the Travelski Express direct train from London St Pancras to the Tarentaise, but what did travellers think of the service. Review: Charlie Mack Ski Flight Free follower Charlie Mack contacted us with his review of the Travelski Express. Charlie had previously travelled to Arc 1800 seven years in a...
POW Europe have recently launched a sustainable transport hub to raise awareness about transport-related emissions generated by outdoor sports. As regular visitors to Ski Flight Free will be aware, your travel to and from a ski resort generate anything from 50-70% of the emissions associated with your holiday. POW Europe also note that train travel is the...
In March 2022, Iain from Ski Flight Free travelled to Andermatt in Switzerland by train. He left London St Pancras at 08:01 GMT and arrived in Andermatt at 19:06 CET (18:06 GMT). This is his report of the journey. London-Paris Although I started in Brighton, let’s start off this blog post from London, as this...
Last weekend I travelled to Les Arcs on the inaugural Travelski Express train service, direct from London St Pancras to Bourg St Maurice. You can find out more about the experience of travelling overnight on the train in my article for InTheSnow Magazine, this video or in the podcast I published about it for The...
We were delighted to see that whoski.com launched their new website this week. Founded by Sally Warren and Nicola Davenport, WhoSki.com is a peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling pre-owned ski kit. Every season we see more and more interest in the sustainable fashion revolution and WhoSki is one of the platforms that allows users...
I loved this subtle guerilla campaign that Alpe d’Huez recently ran in conjunction with SNCF. Many resorts are encouraging holidaymakers to take the train rather than fly or drive, but the resorts of Alpe d’Huez teamed up for a few days with Ouigo, the SNCF’s low-cost offering. Travel to resort is typically 50-80% of the...
With new announcements about ‘electric planes’ regularly appearing in the press, I found this article by Andrew Orlowski in The Telegraph interesting. He points out that despite the many new prototypes for e-VTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) models, there are precious few in production. Orlowski writes: “Jet fuel has 70 times the energy density of...
SATA – the lift company responsible for Alpe d’Huez and Les 2 Alpes has confirmed it has ordered five new hydrogen-powered snow groomers (fondly known ‘Piste Bashers’ to Brits) and three new zero-emission hydrogen buses. The vehicles from Green Corp Konnection (GCK) will replace existing diesel engines to reduce the impact of slope management on...
Another great train option has arrived with the iconic Italian high-speed train Frecciarossa launching on the Paris-Lyon-Milan route. Trenitalia is offering two daily return trips between Paris Gare de Lyon and Milan Centrale, via Lyon Part- Dieu, Chambéry, Modane and Turin. Prices are being advertised from as little as €29 from Paris to Milan....
Booking.com has launched a Travel Sustainable badge for properties implementing sustainable practices to their agreed standard. According to Booking.com, the badge will be the first of its kind in the hospitality industry and applies to all kinds of properties including hotels, resorts, apartments and holiday homes. This first version of the accreditation uses measures from the...
The exciting ‘Midnight Trains’ project won’t be launching for a long time yet, but their weekly newsletter continues to entertain and inform. The most recent edition awards Switzerland the badge of the ‘Best Railways in Europe’. This is not surprise to us, as we love train travel in Switzerland. Iain had travelled from the UK...
You would think that with COP26 putting carbon emissions at the top of the global agenda, the ski industry would pull together on this vital issue. Yet one ski website is apparently reluctant to accept the facts. ‘Train travel is perhaps better for the planet’ According to this article, the author believes that train travel...
