Go Fernie Gooo....

Since we have been here, on this Beautiful Mountain, we have been observing the "green" ways of being practised on the Hill & we thought we would share them you:

1. In the bathrooms on the hill, they have the 1/2 or full flush toilets: if it yellow 1/2 flush, if it brown definitely the full flush... why does this sound so familiar?

2. The hill ONLY uses 100% biodegradable garbage bags, yaaaa!

3. In order for the lifty's to put the covers on the t-bars, they have devised a bicycle ridding/pulley system to help them. Very smart, and green... many other hills would simply use a ski-do to do the job. Way to go Fernie-o!

4. They are also promoting healthy lifestyles with various contests and are giving away free passes as the prize!

Although it's not an earth shattering effort, we have seen little steps that show that the hill is aware of it's impact on the environment.

Today is our last day together and we are going to live it to the fullest! We are really hoping that Fernie, used as a catalyst, will continue to motivate us when we return to Saskatoon. We will be having a few of our friends and acquaintances who are trying to live greener, more environmentally responsible lifestyles, writing articles on their successes, challenges, and priorities. We are SUPER excited to have you reading our blog, and hope you will continue to learn with us.

Happy Trails Folks, Step Lightly!

Lots of Love, Chanel and Heather

Snow snow snow...

Hurray, it is snowing, the snow dance worked! And we are prayin' for it to continue.  

We ended up heading out on the hill near the end of the day and it was just what we needed.  There is nothing like cruising down the slopes on a beautifully sunny and inspiration-filled day (added bonus:  working off some of the food we have been downing continuously (seriously 24/7).  Today the plan is to go on the trek we promised yesterday.  We had a chance to meet up with Dirty Hairy and he is in the process of getting us some info.  

Our top 10 vacation tips for trying to be a bit more "eco":  

1.  Take big trips into town to get food, and then use the deck outside to refrigerate beer, wine, beverages, food, left-overs, etc.  That's a great bonus of going on a chilly  vacation.

2.  Using reused materials (ie. pizza pans from 2007 to cook and store pizza... great job Pat) to transport, cook, and store food.

3.  Because there are so many of us in the cabin using valuable non-renewable resources, we have an unwritten standard for the bathroom:  when it's yellow let it mellow, and when it's brown... well... you know what to do.

4.  Showers are brief because of a lack of hot water and we're trying really hard to leave more water for the dolphins :P :P :P :P

5.  Even though there is A LOT of us together, we have not used one disposable plate, piece of cutlery, or beverage container.  

6.  Going a step further... we have put masking tape on our own glasses (with our names on it) in order to wash less and drink more... :P  To say the least... our cup is ALWAYS half full!

7.  We have been reusing our towels so as to reduce our number laundry loads.

8.  Stink is the new black...  the smell of teen spirit tells us that we have been working hard!  We haven't been washing our gear everyday, and so far we're all in the same boat, so we haven't noticed a change!

9.  Instead of driving to places that can easily be walked to, we have been taking our sweet time (we are on vacation after all) and leisurely gabbing as we use more renewable and less non-renewable resources.

10.  And last but not least...  we haven't been relying on technology to entertain us.  We have been playing pictionary, charades, and other games with one another!  

We have taken some pics of this oasis and they will be posted later tonight.  We also want to thank you for coming to our site and reading our entries... we LOVE to see our counter movin' up, footprint movin' down!

Stay clean, go green (note: showers optional)!

Chanel and Heather