The Alps are pretty crowded 14 weeks per year, by skiers and people working with tourism. This winter season has already started with bookings and preparation. Good to say that there is time for management of lift systems and hotel buildings all over the well visited resorts. Summer is declining as tourist season with the exception of a few weeks in July and August.

So now the Alps have time to breath fresh air without cars and buses. Nature goes its own way and soon comes the desired first white flakes everyone is hoping for, as a “must” for a new successful season.

But we still have not solved our climate problems and in a few years there will be consequences for us who live for snow. And then what?

I have heard some solutions from others: get as much as possible out of the snow as long as it falls, and continue to destroy our climate; then go to the sea where it is good if it is warm. Short perspective solution…

My problem is that I really love the mountains and I want that they will be there for my grandchildren as they are for me today: a place for the soul to restore and for the body to breath.

So, my solution is to find a better way of living in the Alps either you are there only for a short vacation or you work to manage a big ski area: it is to stop for a moment and sincerely look around.

We are all trapped in a machinery where the principle is abuse: run, gain, exploit, stress. This is a big problem for the individual but also for our planet. The Alps are not any exception. No one has the time to really notice what there is on the way toward what we all believe is “success”.

Fortunately there is a time as autumn in the Alps. Try to be in the Alps In autumn and see if you can understand the real nature of the place, where you use to swish up and down with your skis on, in a world of artificial snow and fast lifts.

Autumn is time for meditation so trekking, good wines and visits to historically important places are right. We will learn about people who have lived here without lift systems for thousands of years, see the animals and hear the legends of these places, harvest the products that the territory gives to our tables even in the frantic winter season.

And if more of us come to the Alps during “low” season, when the air is highest, the smaller, genuine hotels and resorts that we so much love to guest and visit when we are here to ski, will flourish.

I have tried to follow my heart and put together some travel ideas for you, if you are interested. You can see them at www.monterosa.com and I have some news about climate smart solutions and other genuine tourist events on www.thealps.com Help me to push for a more sensitive kind of approach to the mountains we love and to find long terms solutions to enjoy the Alps.