Mobilität

What happens when you lose your car from one day to the next and turn it into a spontaneous experiment: a reflection on the inner conflict between freedom, time efficiency, convenience and environmental protection as well as the discovery of new paths.

Heavy equipment, waiting times at cold railway stations, high planning costs... there are plenty of reasons (or excuses?) not to travel by public transport, especially on ski tours. A reflection on my efforts to leave the car at home more often and to outwit my own comfort.

Martin is a volunteer with "Protect our Winters Austria". In his last guest article, he dealt with moral questions of being constantly confronted with being an active winter sports enthusiast and also an environmentally conscious person. Part of his answer to these questions lies in his commitment to POW, and now it is time for him to introduce "Protect our Winters Austria" and dispel a few preconceptions.

With the thaw of the last few days, the fantastic winter landscape in the Black Forest has unfortunately been washed away for the time being. For over a month, the conditions - apart from a brief warm period - were almost Canadian. At least the fir trees looked like deep snow-covered Sitka spruces in Canada the whole time. And the snow quality was most reminiscent of North America, but certainly not of the Black Forest - synonyms such as "Baden Columbia" or "Little Canada" were heard again and again.

Hikers, mountaineers and ski tourers - all genders are addressed equally with these terms - are actually considered nature-loving and ecologically oriented contemporaries: they seek freedom, exercise and nature away from large tourist centers. However, their travel behavior is neither nature-loving nor ecological, as most of them travel to the mountains by car.

Skiing usually also means that you have skis with you. Depending on how you get to the desired starting point, you have to pack the skis in, on or behind the car.