Care for the Alps: leave no trace!

Plan ahead

Think before your trip — about weather, equipment and safety.

Planning can make all the difference. Make sure you'll be safe and comfortable throughout your trip, by knowing where you're going, what you need to take and what you need to do. At all times of year, having warm, waterproof clothing means that you’re prepared for sudden changes in conditions. If staying out overnight, a good tent and sleeping bag will keep you safe and comfortable - and you won't have to depend on fires for warmth.

ALWAYS plan to have as little impact on the bush as possible.

Use a fuel stove

- quicker and cleaner for you, better for the bush..

Compared to campfires, fuel stoves are much quicker and easier to use - especially in wet weather - they cook faster and don't leave unsightly and long-lasting scars on the landscape. And of course escaped campfires have led to disastrous bushfires. Collecting wood and fallen branches or twigs disturbs and destroys the local plants, animals and their habitat. In alpine areas where the growing season is short, such habitats are replaced very slowly, if at all.

Barbecues must be used where provided. If you do use an established fireplace, always be very careful to safeguard against the fire escaping. Keep the fire small and don't ring it with stones. (All rocks provide habitat and river rocks can explode!) Use as little wood as possible - remember it provides homes for many of the Alps' tiny plants and animals. Be absolutely sure the fire is out before you leave - Use water, not soil, to put out your fire and always check that the ground beneath the coals is completely cold.

Carry it in, carry it out

- whatever it is. Don’t burn, bury or leave anything.

Many kinds of rubbish can be created during a trip - food scraps, empty cans and packets, used matches, plastic bread ties, sanitary pads, tampons, condoms, cigarette butts - so please be sure that none of it ends up as litter.

Most rubbish does not decompose, even if it's buried or burnt. Instead it just stays where it's left, creating an eyesore and a mess. Worse still, it washes into watercourses and pollutes them, or animals may try to eat it and harm themselves. So always do the right thing and carry rubbish bags with you to take out everything that you bring in. And if you really care, be prepared to collect any litter that you see during your trip.

Got to 'go'? Use a toilet or take a walk.

No toilet? Walk at least 100 paces from water and campsites. Dig 15 cm deep and cover well.

With so many people visiting the Alps - and the potential for spread of infectious diseases - the management of human waste is a serious issue. If faeces, urine or toilet paper gets into the water supply, or are uncovered by animals, the results are very unsightly - and potentially very dangerous for both people and animals. Carelessness upstream could affect you downstream!

So if there is a nearby toilet please find and use it.

But where there are no toilets, please take care - and carry a trowel! Walk at least 100 paces away from creeks, lakes, campsites and tracks, dig a hole as deep as your trowel/hand (about 15 cm) then bury your waste - and the toilet paper - very carefully.

Stay on track

- even if it’s muddy or dusty. Don't widen tracks or take shortcuts.

Whether walking, riding or driving, follow all formed tracks, even if they are muddy or dusty. Please don't be tempted to cut corners or travel right on the edges - this just makes the tracks wider and increases the impact on the bush. Shortcuts can cause erosion and scars on the landscape, especially on steep zigzag paths, and eventually may confuse people as to which is the real path.

But there aren't tracks everywhere in the Alps. So please don't create new ones. Where there isn't a track groups should spread out so that people don't walk in exactly the same places. Many plants can survive being stepped on just once, but are destroyed if trampled by several feet. It's even better to stay on rocks and hard ground wherever possible and avoid fragile vegetation, like sphagnum moss and cushion plants.

Enjoy the Alps but leave no trace.

Walking, driving, camping, skiing, riding, climbing, paddling - whatever you do, aim to leave no trace.

No matter what kind of activities you enjoy in the Alps, you can minimise the impacts you have on the environment by following the simple guidelines described here. Challenge yourself to leave as little trace of your visit as possible.

It's all about caring for the Alps now - then they'll be just as wonderful in the future.