Leave No Trace @ KISC

Greetings from snowy Kandersteg! As part of my first blog as the new ECO Assistant, I want to share about a topic very important to me from my country. In the United States, I am avid about being in and having fun in the outdoors. Over the years though, others have realized that this can cause negative impacts on the land with more and more peoples each year recreating. That is why the organization of Leave No Trace (LNT) was founded, in order to set aside principles to follow in order to encourage a proper outdoor recreational ethic. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and LNT have a great relationship, but there is no reason why Kandersteg couldn’t also profit from the LNT Principles, since we follow them all very well anyways. What are those principles? Read ahead and find out!

1.   Plan Ahead and Prepare

·         “Be prepared” is not only the Scout motto, but also something we are very active with while running our activities.

·         Programme guides check with all crews to make sure they have all the equipment they need and that they don’t, be it a hiking, climbing or skiing!

·         Our upperhut in the Ueschental already has warm army blankets, so no need to bring weighty and wasteful sleeping bags.

 2.   Travel And Camp on Durable Surfaces

·         When hiking, we always stick to the well marked Wanderwegs and Bergwandern of the Swiss Alps.

·         Not only do we have well marked campsites (over
     60 of them!) we also have two alpine huts (Gfellalp and Ueschinenhütte) to concentrated our impact in a small area.

·         Winter allow us to travel on snow, but we still stick to the main valley for most of our activities to limit or affect on rock fall or avalanches.

                                                                                

 3. Disposal of Waste Properly

·         Mini-Recycling centres are placed on each floor of our chalets and huts to encourage all guests to recycling and think of their waste.

·         We recycle PETE bottles, paper, plastics, wood, metal, and aluminium cans at the centre, with assistance from the local recycling centre in the village.

·         Even in office, we recycle old paper in our printers, making no recycling task too big or small to do!

4.   Leave What You Find

·         Switzerland is full of flora, but we encourage guest to take pictures of the wildflowers rather than pick them.

·         The mountains are also full of old huts and some ruins. We explore these safely with the Scouts but also tell them to be careful of their impact.

·         Sometimes we must clean up what we find. Kate, our Assistant House Manager from Australia, introduced to us Pick 3. It is a program that tells recreationalists to clean up 3 pieces of litter per person while hiking, something easily incorrigible to all guests.

5.   Minimize Campfire Impacts

·         In our Campsite, we strongy support groups to bring stoves to cook meals. Additionally, fire barrels are located at our upper huts to limit scaring of soil and plant life.

·         The wood burner in the Chalet generates most of our heat in the summer and winter seasons. The wood sources comes locally from our own woods, which has been downed and dried.

·         Ashes are collected from our campfires in the summer and winter. 

6.   Respect Wildlife

·         Majestic animals like Steinbeck and local farm animals like Swiss cows can be found all around the mountainsides. We remind guest to be respectful ad keep our distance to these animals both wild and domesticated.

·        Dries, our Ground Manager from the Netherlands, has checked with local wildlife authorities with ways to encourage Red Deer further up in the mountains. Being a beekeeper at home, he also is investigating ways of encouraging insects and avian life to our end of the valley.

7.   Be Considerate of Other Visitors.

·         On and off the trail, KISC is thinking of others. While hiking, we also let other non-scouts have the right of way.

·         International friendship is one of the cornerstones of the Programme Department. Weekly campfires, International activities and workshops are just some of the ways we encourage the mixing of thoughts and cultures from Scouting the world over.

·         Lastly, we think of our favourite local village, Kandersteg. A chalet and campsite wide quiet time of 10:30 PM happens nightly, to give everyone a restful night sleep.

Leave No Trace not only introduces new concepts to explore but also reinforces already existing positive ones. I hope to encourage all my fellow staff, Scouts, and guest to recreate responsible all the while exploring the wonders of the Swiss Alps.

Interested? More info can be found at Leave No Trace’s website.
 
Tad (US)

ECO Assistant

The Kander: The River That Flows Uphill

Two years ago, we wrote about the chameleon-like river on our doorstep: the Kander. Depending on the weather in Gasteretal and what kind of rock the Kanderfirn glacier has recently ground up, the river changes from brown to blue to green to colourless.

But I have noticed another peculiar thing about the Kander, it flows uphill. Not the whole river, but certain parts of it, and only in certain places. If you have visited us you must have seen one of those places, in the river bend underneath the bridge.

Figure 1: Point bar in the Kander

The little “beach” in the picture above, called a point bar, was a lot smaller half a year ago (And it was not because of higher water levels). Over the course of the summer underwater currents in the river deposited more and more sand and gravel in the inside of the river bend.

The way this works is that because of the water flow through the bend the water pressure in the outside of the bend is higher than on the inside of the bend. This difference causes water at the bottom of the river to flow from the outside to the inside of the bend, (uphill!) as shown in the sketch.

The way this works is that because of the water flow through the bend the water pressure in the outside of the bend is higher than on the inside of the bend. This difference causes water at the bottom of the river to flow from the outside to the inside of the bend, uphill (!), as shown in the sketch.

Figure 2: Secondary flow

As the water flows uphill, it moves sand, gravel and rocks across the river, creating the point bar. You can see this for yourself when you put a lot of sugar in your tea and start stirring it: the sugar moves to the middle of the cup.

This underwater current is called the secondary flow. It’s a funny coincidence that the first to describe this process was Albert Einstein. Okay, maybe that’s not so funny, but it’s small and slow processes like this that make rivers define or even create entire landscapes with their meanders, like the Argentinian Río Negro and U.S. Colorado River pictured below.

Stay tuned for more posts about the Kander in the near future!

Dries (NL)

 

Figure 3: Rio Negro, Argentina (all the curves are routes the river took in the past, sometimes leaving a lake behind)

 

Figure 4: Colorado River, U.S. (“locked” meanders; weird colours showing different geological layers)

Dries (NL)
Grounds Manager

On the SCENE at Kandersteg International Scout Centre

NEWSFLASH: Kandersteg International Scout Centre is a SCENES accredited centre!

A what centre?

SCENES.

You know. SCENES.

Scout Centres of Excellence for Nature and Environment.

Ok. So it isn’t exactly a NEWsflash. KISC was one of the first centre's credited with the SCENES award. Since then, the SCENES Network has been growing and there are now SCENES centres in countries around the world.

We asked Paul (UK), our Assistant Programme Director, a bit more about the scheme after his recent trip to Costa Rica for the 3rd SCENES Seminar.

In a nutshell, what is SCENES?

To be a SCENES centre, there are three key requirements that the centre needs to fulfill.

 
1. The Centre must have a natural area.

2. The Centre must provide environmental education.

3. The Centre needs to practice environmental management.

So how does being a SCENES centre help?

Being a SCENES Centre has several benefits. After all, as Scouts we should all aim to have the smallest impact on the environment as possible. In working with the natural area around us, we can practice efficient and sustainable environmental management while still providing our full service to our guests.

Nice. But thats it?

Well no. There is also something called the SCENES network. This is a platform to share ideas and information between all existing centres as well as to all Scout Centres that are interested in gaining the SCENES accreditation. WOSM has recently rolled out the new scouts.org website and the SCENES Network should have a place on here in the near future.

How about these other SCENES Centres. Where could I see one?

Well actually the number of accredited Centres is always increasing. In Denmark alone there are 3 Centres you can visit. Recently, Zellhof in Austria has been awarded the certificate. Further afield, there are 2 Centres in Canada (Camp Nemo and Blue Springs), one in Australia and many more.Kakani in Nepal is one of the most recent, check out Jon's (UK) Eco blog all about Kakani. And if you go to one of these, be sure to check out what they are doing for environmental education or witness some of their environmental practices in action.

It sounds great. But what does KISC do?

Well you will see in the SCENES Guidelines document, a list of actions that KISC does.

1. KISC has a very advanced system of recycling and reusing for guests and staff.
2. KISC use bicycles and trailers wherever possible instead of the vehicles.
3. KISC has maintenance staff to repair instead of replace broken items.
4. KISC uses the wood burner as much as possible to heat the chalet and its water.
5. The timber used in the wood burner comes mostly from its own forests and is dried for two years to maximise efficiency.
6. KISC aims to use 100% energy saving light bulbs, timers and sensors to reduce energy consumption.
7. KISC use solar energy to heat the water in one of their campsite shower blocks.
8. The Tower (accommodation building) is heated using water (heat – exchange system) from the Lötschberg train tunnel.
9. KISC use eco friendly chemicals for cleaning.
10. KISC constantly improves and extends its available Eco Programme for guests
11. KISC buys products wherever possible from local suppliers.
12. During Staff training at KISC, a very large emphasis is put on the eco practices and staff are strongly encouraged to improve their eco footprint personally, professionally and in their staff accommodation
13. KISC has obtained the EU Eco Label for hospitality companies

And finally, where can I find more information?

Like I said, scouts.org is constantly updating with more information. Keep checking back to that.

Meanwhile, you can find lots of information about SCENES, the recent SCENES Seminar and the SCENES Network here.

More Links:

SCENES on YouTube

Scouts Canada

Mafikeng (South Africa)

Iztaru (Costa Rica)

Zellhof (Austria)

KFUM Denmark

Out of sight out of mind.

     The Swiss Alps, a pristine mountain environment enjoyed by millions of holiday makers every year, is perhaps one of the very reasons that many people strive to protect the environment. I know that rolling pasture and jagged mountains motivate me more than tarmac and concrete.

 

 

      The environmentally friendliness of tourism has been discussed before, but could it be argued that some types of tourist are better than others? The beached sunbathers? The latte sipping town tourers?  And what about mountaineers? If ever there was a group who were more appreciative of their environment, surely it would be those who’s very hobby rests upon it.

 

 

      This was certainly the case in the 1930s, with  mountaineers living a simple existence, using locally sourced stream or melt water, eating simple but filling food while being in the mountains with little or no mod-cons. However the 60s and 70s saw this all change; peoples free time and disposable income grew and mountaineering was revolutionised with the entrance of synthetic clothing and equipment. The tiny mountain huts of old turned into mountain hotels where you not only had a roof and somewhere to cook, but received duvets and were cooked 3 course meal.

 

 

     This presented the hut wardens with a problem, albeit quite a simple one: an ever increasing pile of rubbish to deal with.  I say it’s a simple problem because in those days it came with  a simple solution: just burn the rubbish and bury it. Out of sight out of mind.

 

 

40 year old cans lying partially decomposed under moraine behind the Fründenhütte. Labels are still visible on many, as it can take up to 100 years for these to decompose.

 

 

     Towards the 70s more and more huts began to take advantage of chartered helicopters to bring supplies up the mountain, but many still would not send the rubbish back down with the helicopter. With a helicopter burning around 1 litre of fuel every minute and time being money (in this case, a lot of money!) the rubbish would still be left behind. You have to ask yourself what it says about our mind set all those years ago; would it be acceptable to do such a thing these days? Was it even an acceptable thing to do then? Thankfully  it isn’t acceptable to do this anymore and huts instruct guests to carry their own waste down and fly down what is left with the helicopter.

2 Cubic meters of batteries, broken glass and tin cans dug out of the moraine around the Fründenhütte, Kandersteg, waiting to be taken down the mountain having sat in the ground for the last 20 years or more.

What inspired me to write about this is my recent work at the Fründenhütte Swiss Alpine Club mountain hut for KISC this year. Here several volunteers and staff from the hut took a stand and decided to do something about the rubbish left behind, rubbish left behind years before they even first stepped foot in the hut. It’s really impressive that not only somebody has started to clear up this mess but also that the hut warden is prepared to pay for its removal. It would be extremely easy to just leave it there and forget about it.

 

 

I think these things serve as little lessons to us all. We should not only look out for our environment in the present and future but also be prepared to take responsibility for the past. I hope to see more mountain huts follow suit and check that they don’t have any skeletons still hiding in their closets.

Dave (UK)

Snow and Ice Guide Summer 2013

Cleaning up for a greener planet

Here at KISC, we try our hardest to have the smallest possible impact on the environment, be this through reducing energy use or through the products we buy. Having over 12,000 guests staying with us every year we are in a unique position to make a real difference by changing our actions, and being a friendly role model for all. One big way we help reduce our effects on the environment is by using eco-friendly cleaning products. I spoke to Benny Hygiene Business Unit Manager at vanBaerle, the company who make the eco-friendly cleaning products we use, to find out more about the products they make and how they are trying to help the planet.

What motivates you as a company to develop eco-friendly products?
All Cleaning products impact the environment. Considering the actual situation of our planet it is obvious that minimizing this impact is indispensable.
 

What is it that actually defines your products as eco-friendly? Are some products more eco-friendly than others?
The combination of carefully selected raw materials, energy optimized production facilities and processes, and of eco-friendly use of the product. The latter implies product efficiency, economical dosing (e.g. using appropriate dosing tools) and well trained users.


What kind of testing do you put your products through to ensure that they perform just as well as less environmentally friendly ones.
All products are tested in-house in our labs and in the field prior to market introduction. Equivalent performance is essential  for any of our products.

 

How does a company like yours manage to stay eco-friendly and still compete with other companies?
As a Swiss company, our strategy is not based on a cost leadership strategy. In fact we provide a range of products and services which meet our customer’s demands in a sustainable manner. Individual consulting, intensive training and eco-friendly products are the key elements of this approach.

If you could get the swiss government to pass one new law to help the environment, what would it be and why?
Instead of adding a new law, we would suggest to have Switzerland to spend substantially more financial resources on eco research and to continue using the tool of an incitement tax on ecological/ non ecological behavior.


What three changes would you suggest people make at home to be more eco-friendly?
Since the key challenge might be different for every person and home, a specific analysis is mandatory. At the end of the day it usually results in reducing the use of non-renewable resources such as petrochemical derivatives and in minimizing carbon dioxide emission.

 

KISC too shares this passion for the environment, and we hope that you are inspired to help save the planet during your stay with us!

Pete (UK)

ECO Assistant

Of Mountains and Mars Bars

                              

“The mountains are calling and I must go” is a familiar line by preservationist Jon Muir to all Americans. Muir, as much he adored the American west and wildlife, would have also fallen in love with these, the alps of Switzerland. The story of the mountains have an effect as grandeur as the carvings they create but yet have much humble beginnings. In order to have a river, one must have a trickling stream. This KISC Eco Blog will explore the mountains, snow and avalanches of the Alps compared to that of my home in the western North America.

                While they stand lifeless, all mountains start with explosive beginnings. The Alps themselves were formed over 50 million years ago when the African tectonic plate slammed into the Eurasian plate. Think of it as two candy bars, Africa in this example being an old fashion Snickers and Europe a Mars bar. Africa’s strong nuggety and peanut mass is not match for Europe’s soft inner. As they collide, the Snickers apply more force and bend the Mars bar northerly. That is why most of the North Faces in the Alps, such as the Eiger, are notoriously steep. Unlike the candy bars though, the Eiger lacks a sugery core, instead igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Much less delicious indeed, but important in the start of our culinary allegory.

                          

 

                While the mountains, or candy bars, might differ little from continent to continent, it is the snow that is truly the different factor. Snow in this case is the sugar or frosting we will throw on top of our candy bar. The white sugary mass in my native home of Interior Alaska is just that, like sugar. Lacking lots of water in the snow crystals, the snow at home is very dry and is much like pouring sugar on the Mars-Snickers collision. Sugar snow does not bond together and creates sluff or loose snow avalanches, similar to sand dunes. This snow creates smaller avalanches that are less destructive. This differs from the snow in the Swiss Alps around Kandersteg that create slab avalanches. Because of more water from the nearby Mediterranean ocean, the snows in the Alps stick together like frosting. Also like cooled frosting, its creates slabs, or chucks that break away at the top of the mountain, bringing thousands of pounds of snow, ice, debris and none happiness to the valleys below. These are much more large and violent but is the reason why the Swiss protect with constant surveillance, snow fences, and manually triggered avalanches. It may look pretty, but the frosting is not delicious when it comes down on top of your head.

                We finally come towards the closing but the most important part of our mountain and candy adventures. Glaciers.

Glaciers are moving rivers of ice built up overtime over time by consolidating and melting snow. Lets take those Mars and Snickers bars, and in the middle of the folds poor lots of frosting. Heat and cool the frosting repeatedly, let gravity take control and let bake for a few 1000 years. The glacier of frosting slowly start to carve out the sides of valleys and into what are called U-shaped Valleys, much the Gastental here in Kandersteg or Yosemite Valley in California, United States.

                                             

 

 

This differs from V-Shaped valleys that are carved out my rivers. Like poring milk down our candy bars, it is less ground moved on the whole, like the Ueshental where our KISC upper hut is located.

                                              

 

 

                The similarities and differences between the KISC mountains and that of my home are diverse yet on the whole not at all. I beg all to pick up their rucksack, a good pair of boots and maybe a few Mars Bars, and explore the mountain ecology around Kandersteg. They are something that never visually dull with time, yet physically speaking, do. To sum, American author Normal Maclean said that “eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the worlds great flood and runs over the rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops.” Timeless like the mountains in my life.

Tad (US)

STS Summer 2013