Tour specific travel advice to cut carbon emissions – for your tour starting in Gressoney
The Eagles now has a target to emit net zero carbon from its activities within two full seasons, by cutting emissions by swapping from air to train, for example; and by offsetting. At the moment, annual net emissions from club tours are 280 tonnes. (To keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees by 2100, each person should emit on average no more than 1.5 tonnes per year.) If you would like to help reach the club’s target, there are two main things you can do:
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Choose lower emission mode(s) of transport for all or part of your trip. (Taking a direct flight from say Edinburgh to Munich then continuing to Innsbruck by train, instead of taking connecting flights, will still cut emissions. Or travel by train in one direction and plane the other.) And/or;
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Offset your travel (by whatever mode) by buying from the Club’s emissions offset scheme at a cost of around £3.50 for an average return flight within Europe and less for other modes.
Per passenger, the rough CO2 emissions for a return from London to Geneva are as follows
Direct flight, Economy Class 400kg
Large car, 4 passengers 160kg
Small car, 4 passengers 80kg
Coach 50kg
Train (e.g. Eurostar ) 25kg
(Source of data: here)
This document gives a few tips on booking lower carbon travel to the start/end point of your tour, Gressoney, from London. Gressoney is in a side valley of the Aosta Valley in northern Italy. The nearest railway station is at Pont Saint-Martin in the main valley, from where there are regular local bus services to Gressoney see http://www.vitagroup.it/linee-urbane-extra-vda
Train. The most feasible route is from London via Paris to Turin (9 hours), though you might be able to travel by train to Geneva and then take shuttles and buses onwards from there, via Courmayeur. For train (and in Germany and Switzerland also local bus) times see www.bahn.co.uk – just enter origin London, or your local GB station, and your final destination, pretty much anywhere in Europe. From Turin, www.trenitalia.com offer an hourly service to Pont Saint-Martin. It is possible to reach Pont Saint-Martin in a day from London via Turin.
Eurostar does not offer through London-Turin or Geneva tickets. You can buy a ticket to Paris on www.eurostar.com, and another onwards from Paris www.oui.sncf.com. To be on the safe side allow 60 minutes in Paris. Booked well ahead Eurostar charge around £60 for a single from London to Paris and SNCF charge as little as €39 from Paris to Turin. From Turin to Pont Saint-Martin a ticket on the day costs around €6.50 and you can buy the ticket on your mobile at www.trenitalia.com
Eurostar and German Rail (DB) tickets go on sale 6 months in advance and SNCF 4 months. More train travel info at https://www.eagleskiclub.org.uk/plan-your-trip/low-carbon-travel/train-travel-tips-and-hints.
Bus. Prior to the pandemic, it was possible to get from London to Aosta by bus with one change in Paris in about 20 hours. You can check current times and prices at www.flixbus.co.uk.
Car. The Michelin route planner www.viamichelin.com suggests a drive time from London to Gressoney of around 13 hours, a distance of 1259 km/800 miles and tolls of €150 one way. It also calculates fuel costs for your car, though not Euroshuttle. A motorway payment tag can be convenient – see www.bipandgo.com – but prices are the same as cash or card.
Carshare. Blablacar is a carsharing app, heavily used in continental Europe. You pay for a lift – www.blablacar.com. If driving, register to offer lifts and make money - €70 Lyon-Calais, for example.
Travelling from outside London? Apologies if this info all seems a bit London-centric but pretty much all rail and bus travel from the UK to the continent is via London, though when driving, the Hull-Zeebrugge or Newcastle-Amsterdam ferries may be good (though still carbon intensive) alternatives to Euroshuttle. By train, it is possible to return as far north as Edinburgh in one day from some stations in the western Alps (Modane, for example; or from Zurich), though more difficult on the outward due to the time difference. See www.bahn.co.uk