240: Montagne Verte, Patagonia’s ‘Announcement’ & the Mer de Glace in Chamonix

Today is a sustainability special, looking at train travel to Morzine, the impact of global warming on the Mer de Glace in Chamonix, plus we take a closer look at Patagonia’s decision to become a company for ‘purpose, not profit’.

We also have our regular snow reports, the latest news from GB Snowsports and your feedback.

Iain Martin was joined Sara Burton from Montagne Verte in Morzine and Matt Barr from the Looking Sideways Podcast.

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SHOW NOTES

Sara was last on the podcast in Episode 74 (0:45)
Listen to Iain’s experience of staying in an unmanned refuge in Meribel (3:00)
Catherine Murphy is in Kaprun, Austria (6:15)
Betony Garner reported from Combloux, France (8:10)
Floss Cockle from FreeFlo Ski reported from Tignes, France (9:15)
Charlotte Bankes is on course for the Snowboard Cross Crystal Globe (10:45)
Jasmin Taylor could win the Crystal Globe in Telemark Spint and Telemark overall (11:00)
Montagne Verte was formed in 2019 (12:00)
They run their own pre-loved shop in Morzine (14:00)
You can buy and sell second-hand ski wear at WhoSki (16:40)
Other initiatives include collection of food waste (17:00)
Find out about Verbier Green in Episode 206 (17:45)
The AlpinExpress Pass offers discounts to those travelling to resort by train (19:30)
Vialattea (the ‘Milky Way’) in Italy offer discounts for travelling by train (21:45)
Montagne Verte have published a very detailed Train Travel guide (22:00)
Matt has been mentioned in my interviews with Ed Leigh, Chris Moran and Stu Brass (27:00)
He is a previous editor of WhiteLines and runs his own agency, All Conditions Media
He is the host of the Looking Sideways Podcast (28:00)
Listen to 'The Announcement' (32:00)
Patagonia’s announced in September 2022 that it was ‘going purpose, not public’ (32:30)
Patagonia’s famous ‘Don't buy this jacket’
Bernie Sanders: “Billionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections” (37:30)
Watch Iain’s video about the new €23m Mer de Glace gondola (42:45)
Read Iain’s article about Montenvers and the Mer de Glace at welove2ski (42:45)
The Mer de Glace has thinned 160m since 1990 and lost 3km in length since 1820
By 2019, there were 580 steps to make it back to Chamonix (43:30)
Brad Carlson is a mountain guide in Chamonix (43:45)
Check out the Glacorium if you visit Montenvers (53:15)

Feedback
I enjoy all feedback about the show, I’m always interested to hear what you think, so please do contact me on social @theskipodcast or by email theskipodcast@gmail.com

Julian Holland: "Episode 237 was great as always! Keeping my fingers crossed for a few more dumps in Austria before my two weeks in Lech"

Skiingpostie (Spotify): "3 Zinnen sounds great and I will definitely be looking at a train ski trip soon."

Reid Aiton: "Another great episode"

There are now 252 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with and 137 of those were listened to in the last week. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, why not to go theskipodcast.com and take a look around the tags and categories – there is so much in there you’re bound to find something of interest.

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